Regional Food Security and Livelihoods Advisor, Nairobi

Regional Food Security and Livelihoods Advisor, Nairobi

Closing Date: Thursday, 23 September 2010

Regional Food Security and Livelihoods Advisor

Save the Children UK
Save the Children is the world's leading independent child rights organisation. We're outraged that millions of children are still denied proper healthcare, food, education and protection and we're determined to change this.

Closing date: 23 Sep 2010
Location: Kenya - Nairobi

Job purpose
The post-holder will oversee and provide technical and strategic assistance to food security / livelihood programme activities in priority country programmes; including Ethiopia, Kenya, southern Sudan and Zimbabwe. This new post will play a critical role in raising new institutional funds (increasing our potential to resource the single and multi-country funding currently being made available (by EC, ECHO, WFP and DFID amongst others) and supporting the delivery of quality programme implementation, though sustained quality technical advice. The post-holder will be a credible and authoritative voice in regional policy, situation analysis and response discussions.
The Post-holder will work closely with food security and livelihood advisors, nutritionists and programme managers from across country programmes in East and Southern Africa, the Hunger Reduction Team in London and other managers in the East & Southern Africa Regional Office as well as Save the Children Alliance colleagues in the sector.

Key Accountabilities

Fundraising (40%)

    * Research and provide intelligence to country programmes and Head Office on regional funding trends and opportunities relating to Hunger (food security, livelihoods and nutrition).

    * Provide support to the technical development of funding proposals - ensuring proposals are based upon quality needs assessments, demonstrate a sound understanding of the causes of malnutrition and are in-line with Save the Children agreed Hunger Reduction frameworks.

    * Lead on proposal writing for multi-country/regional food security, livelihoods and nutrition programmes in close coordination with country teams.

    * Work with regional / country teams to ensure that 80% of post costs are recovered from grants secured.

Technical support, assessment and overview (35%)

    * Provide technical support for specific programmes to ensure good quality implementation for beneficiaries and donors, organisational learning and contribution to broader policy analysis on what works.

    * Maintain an overview of food security, livelihoods and nutrition issues affecting children in the East Africa, monitoring trends in the external environment.

    * Communicate common frameworks and guidance to country programmes to ensure high quality operations, fundraising and advocacy through field visits, advice on request, covering the application and integration of different approaches (nutrition surveys, household economy / Cost of Diet analyses, etc)

    * Support innovative research, documentation and dissemination to tackle underlying causes of malnutrition

Advocacy / networking (15%)

    * Develop and maintain good relations and partnerships with all key stakeholders related to food security and livelihoods work in East Africa. (e.g. FSNWG, FAO, other NGOs, WFP, EU, AU, DFID… )

    * Lead in networking and advocacy, articulating Save the Children's position and strategy in regional forums and meetings. Engage in key debates in coordination with other Save the Children staff. Host events highlighting Save the Children's work on Hunger in the region.

    * Support country level advocacy led by country teams where possible, informing them of the debates, Save the Children position and ensuring consistent, credible and strategic messaging.

    * Contribute to global advocacy strategies on food security, nutrition and livelihoods.

    * Write and contribute to policy reports and briefings for external audiences

Coordination (10%)

    * Coordinate and liaise between Save the Children country programmes, ensuring consistency of approach, common understanding, identification of capacity gaps and technical support needs

    * Liaise with Save the Children regional and/or head office technical advisers to ensure that programmes and advocacy are consistent with relevant organisational strategies and priorities

Working contacts

External: Significant liaison with government officials in relevant departments at national and regional levels; liaison with donor representatives; liaison with other NGOs, UN agencies, humanitarian and development bodies. Significant networking with relevant stakeholders to advance advocacy aims and objectives.

Internal: Collaboration and coordination with technical advisers and food security, nutrition and livelihoods managers in respective country programmes. The Regional Food Security and Livelihoods Adviser is also responsible for communicating and coordinating with head office policy and technical teams and provide input to global advocacy strategies and policy formulation.

Person specification

Essential

    * Substantial operational experience and a track record of success in delivering high quality food security, nutrition and livelihoods response programmes in emergency and development contexts

    * Track record of success in donor liaison, successful proposal development and grant management

    * Fluency in spoken English is essential with highly developed English writing skills

    * Strong analytical capacity and understanding of food security and nutrition analytical methods

    * Proven conceptual skills and an ability to think and plan strategically

    * Strong communication skills at a level appropriate for high-level external representation

    * Proven advocacy skills and experience

    * Sound understanding of and commitment to Save the Children generic programming approaches

    * Ability to travel at short notice, occasionally to remote and insecure locations, for up to 40% of work time

Desirable

    * Experience in nutrition (and/or nutrition information systems) and an understanding of the complex and inter-related causes of under nutrition

    * Experience in working in an advisory role, with the capacity to influence multi-cultural teams at varying levels

    * Experience with Household Economy Approach, Cost of Diet and possible uses

    * Experience in programming safety nets, such as cash-based programmes

    * Experience working to improve early warning systems including the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification

    * Experience of working in the East Africa region

    * Knowledge of regional food security institutions

    * An academic/professional qualification at post graduate level or equivalent in nutrition, economics, rural development, development studies or related subject

    * Knowledge/experience of Save the Children

    * Ability to speak French, and/or Kiswahili.

How to apply

For a full job description and details of how to apply please visit: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/jobs.htm

Reference Code: RW_88MD2M-33