Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) Associate

Organizational Setting

FAO Uganda supports extremely vulnerable populations throughout Uganda to achieve sustainable food, nutrition and income security through resilient agricultural livelihoods.

To support the immediate needs of extremely vulnerable populations experiencing acute instances of economic crisis and food insecurity, FAO provides CASH assistance through a combination of cash to enable households to meet their basic needs and protect their productive assets.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative (FAOR), in consultation with the Deputy FAOR, the CVA Programme Associate is directly supervised by the Food Security and Livelihoods Coordinator and is under the technical supervision of the Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) Consultant.

Technical Focus

The CVA Programme Associate will support the creation, planning, supervision, implementation and monitoring of cash transfers activities as part of the Desert Locust emergency response and support the integration CVA as suitable as part of FAO’s CASH to build resilience of agricultural households.

Tasks and responsibilities

The CVA Programme Associate will be responsible for the following tasks:

• • In consultation with the CVA Consultant, support the M&E Department to establish CVA-specific methodologies and tools for regular assessment (e.g. market, feasibility) and surveys; data collection, cleaning, analysis and management (e.g. excels modules for data collection, data analysis syntaxes, databases, etc.); and monitoring and reporting (e.g. post-distribution monitoring, dashboards, guidelines aligned to SMART indicators, etc.) to assess performance and inform programmatic decisions;
  • In coordination with the CVA Consultant, collaborate with FAO seed experts to assess the capacity of sub-regional seed markets/commercial hubs in Uganda based on Seed Security Assessment results, to assess the technical and operational feasibility of Cash- and/or Voucher-based activities to support agricultural interventions, and to establish monitoring tools for potential CVA;
  • Contribute to the interpretation of data analysis results using statistical techniques and support application of such results in project activities, reports and knowledge products;
  • Support the development of SOPs for FAO Uganda CVA in emergency and development contexts with alignment to, both, the humanitarian principles of ‘Do No Harm’ and ‘Leave No One Behind’, and the UN Code of Ethics and Conduct; building from good practices from the sector; ensuring high operational standards and compliance with FAO corporate rules and procedures (including Manual Section 702 on Cash Transfers);
  • Support the integration of cash transfer modalities in other ongoing activities;
  • Support, in coordination with the Procurement Unit and the CVA Consultant, the development of contractual arrangements with FAO’s implementing partners and service providers, including Financial Service Providers, where CVA will be used;
  • Support stakeholder engagement processes on the roll-out of CVA in partnership with FAO service providers;
  • Provide technical assistance (as needed) to FAO implementing partners on the roll-out of CVA through routine monitoring of partner activities in the Desert Locust response under the pillars of surveillance and control and livelihoods protection and recovery;
  • When needed, represent FAO in the Cash Technical Working Group under the refugee response and other relevant forum and discussions to facilitate learning, information sharing, alignment to national standards and approaches;
  • Undertake any other activities as requested.

Interested applicants who have also applied to VA 2002038 and VA 2001541 and meet the below requirements must apply again as their previous applications will not be considered for this posting.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Agriculture Economics, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Computational Sciences, Commerce, Business Administration, Development studies, or related subject.
• A minimum of three years of relevant professional experience.
• Proficiency in English is obligatory.
• National of Uganda.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience and knowledge in CVA for food security and livelihoods in humanitarian responses, preferably with the United Nations or other international or multilateral organizations.
• Extent and relevance of experience and knowledge in data analysis and management and monitoring activities using widely used statistical packages such as SPSS, STATA, MS Excel.
• Coordination skills (communication) and ability to technically support on CVA needs across different thematic areas.
• Experience working along the humanitarian-development nexus and in displacement settings.
• Extent and relevance of experience with international or multi-lateral organizations, preferably FAO, and/or with government is an added advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural team, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Writing and communication skills.