Climate Risk and Anticipatory Action Specialist

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Job Title: Climate Risk and Anticipatory Action Specialist

 

Type of Contract: Consultancy

 

Division: RAM-RAMAC

 

Duty Station (City, Country): Remote, home-based

 

Duration: 11 months

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

 

Context

 

The Climate and Earth Observation (ClEO) Team in WFP’s Research Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) Division is responsible for enhancing WFP’s capacity to monitor, assess, anticipate, and respond to climate risks through research and data analytics. The ClEO team provides technical and operational support, and capacity building to field offices and regional bureau, as well as inter-agency coordination that helps WFP to better characterize climate conditions detrimental to food security on the ground. An increasingly important component of the ClEO portfolio is the provision of technical support to the Anticipatory Action (AA), initiative. This consists in the assimilation and processing of seasonal forecast data streams to produce current and historical sets of forecast derived indicators on seasonal rainfall performance and to derive thresholds and triggers for the decision process of implementation of AA. Setting up Anticipatory Action programs is a growth area for WFP and as a result, technical support to its implementation has become a strategic direction for ClEO.

 

Current Requirements

The ClEO unit is already providing the required technical support on Anticipatory Action to the Country Offices of Mozambique and Zimbabwe with activities likely to be extended to other COs.
 

The Unit has been developing and deploying modern approaches involving the integration of seasonal forecasts and satellite and station based agro-meteorological indicators to the support of early response options and in analysis of impact-based forecasting approaches. Specifically, the ClEO team is currently engaged with the Mozambique and Zimbabwe Country Offices to provide support and capacity development to the National Meteorological Services (INAM and MSD) and the Ministries of Agriculture in the areas of drought early warning and seasonal monitoring as applied to the definition of anticipatory/early action and early response.
 

We are currently seeking an experienced agro-climatological risk and anticipatory action specialist to provide strategic direction to this ClEO workstream and supervise the operational work for the COs in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and others in the pipeline.

 

The specialist will define and manage overall approaches and detailed work plans for the integration of climate forecast information with satellite derived agro-climatic data-streams into improved technical solutions for the implementation of AA activities. Supervision of more junior staff, such as Earth Observation Analysts and Data Scientist / Developers will be required for specific tasks and product development.

The specialist will also handle the required multi-institutional coordination for the support of anticipatory actions, early actions and early response activities by WFP RBs and COs and in-country and regional level stakeholders (e.g., National Disaster Management Authorities). Active presence in international Communities of Practice and maintaining a high profile for WFP is a requirement.

 

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Technical strategy for AA support by ClEO Unit:

 

• Develop a technical strategy for AA support and implementation by the ClEO Unit, considering sources of seasonal forecasts, methodological approaches for optimized tuning of anticipatory action triggers, integration of impact determinants such as vulnerability status and the impact of seasonal forecast skill on the decision processes for the deployment of humanitarian interventions.
• Supervise and guide a VAM consultant and ensure appropriate support in the integration of seasonal forecast information and satellite agro-climatic indicators with the anticipatory/early action and early response interventions of WFP.
• Conceptualize and support the development of tools such as online dashboards to support the communication and implementation of Anticipatory Action in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
• Write original scientific papers and reports for dissemination of WFP anticipatory action methodologies.
• Collaborate with lead data engineer to harmonize processes, provide solutions and integrate AA processes into ClEO cloud computing infra-structure

 

2. Operational solutions for AA implementation:

 

• Develop methodologies to derive impact-based thresholds and probabilistic triggers for droughts to be used in AA SOPs.
• Lead the development of analytical methods related to piloting forecast-based insurance.
• Monitor the behavior of the seasonal forecasting and seasonal monitoring systems outputs in terms of quality and regularity of the reporting outputs and provide specific advice on possible institutional responses to coming developments.
• Lead extensive support activities to COs and RBs engaged in AA implementation on the use of forecasting tools and the interpretation of weather information andidentify tailored collaboration and support opportunities, including through dedicated field support missions to COs/RBs and provide ad-hoc, on-request, and tailored support to field offices.

 

3. Multi-institutional Coordination for AA activities:

 

• Support the development and implementation of AA trigger governance and validation procedures to access internal anticipatory financing.
• Collaborate with and train regional bureaus and country offices to strengthen their seasonal forecasting and early warning capacity for natural hazards and anticipatory action.
• Provide tailored support to governmental institutions in the provision of high-quality climate services
• Provide advisory services to WFP Innovation Accelerator projects in areas of or related to AA implementation
• Establish cross-institutional and cross-departmental collaborations for leveraging technical developments of FbF including SHAPES, PRISM and WFP’s index-based insurance

4. Presence in Communities of Practice and Academia:

 

• Assume the coordination and liaison role between the WFP Anticipatory Action team and the RAM division, and externally between WFP and stakeholders such as the Red Cross, UN OCHA, Anticipation Hub, FAO, governmental institutions, and academia to ensure the appropriateness and quality of meteo/climate-related analysis and approaches.
• Represent WFP at relevant climate and natural hazard events, workshops and summits, and technical working groups such as the Anticipation Hub.

 

 

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

 

 

 

 

Advanced University degree in economics, agricultural sciences, physical geography, biology, physics or related fields.

 

Experience:

 

Minimum of 6 years of professional experience on:

• Short-range weather forecasts and seasonal/sub-seasonal forecasting, natural hazard early warning systems, and impact-based forecasting
• Agricultural risk management in relation to natural hazards.
• Analysis of climate and Earth Observation data applied to natural hazard risk management with focus on drought and floods.

 

Knowledge and Skills:

 

• Strong knowledge of machine learning and statistics for risk analytics.
• Working knowledge of seasonal forecast models, Forecast-based Financing, agricultural forecast models.
• Good level of R and Python as applied to the processing of climate, Earth Observation and agronomic datasets.
• Familiarity with Earth Observation datasets such as satellite rainfall estimates (CHIRPS), NDVI (MODIS, Sentinel-3) and Sentinel-2
• Good presentation and team working skills, with the ability to follow and develop a given scope of work.
• Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds.

 

Languages:

 

Fluent English with excellent technical reporting ability. Portuguese is an advantage.

 

Terms and Conditions:

 

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

 

 

Deadline for applications: 22 July 2022

Ref.: VA No. 169161

 

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

 

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service