Regional Technical Sr. Specialist-Livelihoods

Chemonics International Inc., HQ

The FEWS NET DST is responsible for providing decision support to the USG in over 40 countries located in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The project operates out of a home office, based in Washington, D.C. and five regional offices located in LAC (Guatemala), West Africa (Niger), East Africa (Kenya), Southern Africa (Zimbabwe), and Asia. Regional technical senior specialist (RTSS) for livelihoods (LH) will be based in each regional office.

The FEWS NET DST uses a livelihoods-based food security analytical framework grounded in Household Economy Analysis (HEA) principles. In line with the requirements of this framework, the project maintains a livelihoods knowledge base that includes livelihood zones and descriptions, profiles, and/or livelihood baselines for all FEWS NET presence countries, and the DST aims to develop a functional evidence base for many non-reporting countries to allow for broader global coverage. These knowledge products are essential for the FEWS NET DST s capacity to conduct acute food insecurity analysis and projections. Understanding livelihood systems - that is, the ways in which people gain access to the food and cash income they need to meet their essential needs - is at the root of understanding which hazards will undermine this access. This analysis allows for an integrated and sophisticated predictive system one in which multiple hazards can be projected for various wealth groups across myriad geographies.

The FEWS NET DST uses this livelihoods approach in looking particularly at how different wealth groups cope with a shock or hazard (or combination of shocks/hazards), such as a drought, flood, market disruption, or conflict. For the early warning of food insecurity, livelihoods analysis provides insights into the ability of households to cope with and respond to shocks. The analysis also provides detailed information for humanitarian assistance planning and ongoing monitoring.

The RTSS-LH will liaise extensively with Household Economy Analysis (HEA) working groups throughout the region and must be able to articulate FEWS NET s livelihoods approach, and its relevance for acute food insecurity analysis, to partners. The RTSS-LH will be expected to provide critical inputs to regional decision-support products, technical assistance and guidance to country teams, and training on relevant HEA food security analyses and tools, for FEWS NET and partner staff. The RTSS-LH will contribute to high-quality and effective early warning of threats to food security by supporting efforts to mitigate food insecurity and prevent food crises through the provision of actionable, evidence-based food security analysis.

To support this effort, the RTSS LH serves as the regional decision support specialist for the livelihoods sector and primarily supports livelihood activities within the region. The RTSS LH will work under the guidance of the Washington D.C. home office Livelihoods Advisor in close collaboration with the Regional Technical Lead (RTL) and the other technical specialists in the regional team, the country teams in the region, other mechanisms across the FEWS NET 8 project, and network partners to design, execute, and coordinate regional livelihoods activities. The RTSS-LH works under the technical supervision of the Livelihoods Advisor, with administrative management provided by the RTL.

Responsibilities

• Providing regional leadership for the identification, review, and compilation of appropriate livelihoods data, by supporting national offices in maintaining a livelihoods knowledge base composed of, at a minimum, livelihood zone profiles and maps, sub-national seasonal monitoring calendars, and technical databases relevant to maintain livelihoods profiles and/or baselines in presence countries within the region.
• Contributing to the identification of priority HEA livelihood activities in line with the strategic orientation of the DST s work, including directly carrying out monitoring activities through field assessments in presence countries monitored by FEWS NET within the region.
• Providing high quality and effective early warning of threats to food security and supporting efforts to mitigate acute food insecurity and prevent food crises through the effective communication of actionable, evidence-based HEA food security analysis.
• Providing HEA livelihoods-related inputs into monthly reporting requirements in a timely and high quality manner, including conducting, interpreting and sharing outputs from Outcome Analyses and other livelihoods analyses to contribute to Food Security Outlooks (FSOs) and FSO Updates
• Collaborating with regional and international partners in food security monitoring and analysis through the implementation of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) or Cadre Harmonis (CH) protocols, including providing technical support in the use of HEA within those protocols.
• Under the direction of the Livelihoods Advisor, helping establish and/or maintain systematic, timely, high-quality, and efficient HEA livelihoods data compilation and management processes among country, regional, and home office staff. Supporting the collection, organization, and storage of primary and secondary livelihoods data and information for submission to the FEWS NET Hub and USG. Liaising with FEWS NET DST project staff and partners to facilitate timely data flows.
• Contributing to the regular collection, organization, and storage of data as set out by the FEWS NET Senior Management Team in collaboration with the FEWS NET Data, Knowledge, and Learning Hub (Hub).
• Collaborating closely with the FEWS NET Knowledge Base (KB) mechanisms to support their work especially in the following areas: contributing to country prioritization and HEA baselines implementation strategy in collaboration with the LH Advisor; linking the KB mechanism to key HEA partners and working groups within the region; supporting initial baseline activities and validation workshops; supporting closeout and transition plans after the conclusion of KB baseline activities; developing a plan to facilitate the DST s and partners use of completed baselines in subsequent years after conclusion of KB activities as directed by the DST LH team. .
• Liaising with other technical sectors of FEWS NET, including the Quality Assurance and Methods sector and Data sector, as well as other FEWS NET mechanisms (namely the Hub), to enhance the functionality of various livelihoods data domains in the central storage for HEA livelihood products.
• Collaborating with other regional technical specialists to ensure alignment between conflict, M&T, agroclimatology and livelihoods assumptions.
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