IPC Specialist

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• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination　　
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

Organizational Setting

The Agrifood Economics Division (ESA) conducts economic research and policy analysis to support the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, nutrition, environment and life, leaving no-one behind. ESA provides evidence-based support to national, regional and global policy processes and initiatives related to monitoring and analysing food and agricultural policies, agribusiness and value chain development, rural transformation and poverty, food security and nutrition information and analysis, resilience, bioeconomy, and climate-smart agriculture. The division also leads the production of two FAO flagship publications: The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) and The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).

The Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) is responsible for ensuring FAO's efforts to support countries and partners in preparing for and effectively responding to food and agricultural threats and crises. It is responsible for coordinating the development and maintenance of corporate tools and standards to enable Decentralized Offices to assist Members to prepare for, and respond to emergencies. OER ensures humanitarian policy coordination and knowledge, liaison with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee as well as with humanitarian resource partners, co-leadership with the World Food Programme of the global Food Security Cluster, organizational preparedness, surge capacity and response to large-scale emergencies. OER supports food and nutrition security assessments and early warning activities related to emergency and humanitarian analysis and responses. OER plays a major role in the development and leadership of the Organization's programme to increase the resilience of livelihoods to food and agriculture threats and crises.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a global, multi-partner innovative initiative to facilitate decision-making with improved food security analysis. The IPC is a set of tools and protocols for classifying the severity and nature of food insecurity that integrates food security, nutrition, and livelihood information into a clear statement about the nature and severity of food insecurity and implications for response.
IPC incorporates a meta-analytical approach drawing on evidence-based analysis that includes a broad range of data sets and stakeholders. This global initiative is governed and strategically guided by fifteen major food security and nutrition agencies: Action Against Hunger, Care International, Comité Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS), Joint Research Centre of the European Union (JRC), Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), FAO, Food Security Cluster, Global Nutrition Cluster, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Oxfam, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Save the Children, Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA), UNICEF and WFP.
The IPC Global Support Unit (GSU), hosted within FAO and co-managed by FAO’s Agri-food Economics Division (ESA) and the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER), is the operational arm of the IPC Steering Committee and is responsible for the coordination of IPC normative development, IPC global standards on quality and compliance, as well as the global coordination of capacity building support to IPC activities worldwide.

IPC Call for Expression of interest

As part of the implementation of the IPC Global Strategic Programme, the IPC engages experts to work on activities and projects as international consultants or under personal service agreements (PSA) at various levels of experience (see minimum requirements below). The assignment may involve full-time or part-time functions and have a duration of up to 11 months. The possibility of extension is subject to satisfactory performance and depending on the availability of resources and needs of the Organization.

Assignments can be home-based or in a specific duty station based on needs of the programme and may require travel.
Individuals meeting or exceeding the requirements of the Call will be included in the ESA Divisional Roster. Experts who are registered in the Roster are available for consideration whenever relevant opportunities arise matching the required profiles.

Reporting Lines

Selected applicants will work under the overall guidance of the ESA Division Deputy Director, the IPC Global Programme Manager and relevant IPC Global Leads, and under the direct supervision of the GSU team leaders or Regional Coordinators depending on the team allocation and the duty station.

Technical Focus

Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) - Acute and Chronic Food Insecurity analyses, capacity enhancement, technical development, partnership and institutionalization.

Tasks and responsibilities

The IPC is looking to identify experts with knowledge in at least one of the areas of work identified below. Specific assignments would include detailed activities and deliverables under one or more of the broad areas of expertise which include the following:

• Provide technical support to IPC acute and chronic food security training and analyses – from planning to communication;
• Support coordination of efforts to enhance IPC analyses’ quality, in terms of both processes and products – including real time and retroactive quality reviews;
• Contribute to the technical and normative development of tools and protocols for food security and nutrition analysis and conduct piloting of new technical development initiatives in IPC analyses;
• Provide support to IPC learning cycle, including facilitation or support to lessons learning exercises and any other learning processes, contribute to the preparation of strategic missions;
• Provide support to the IPC consolidation and expansion, promoting IPC institutionalization at global, regional and country level and IPC partners’ engagement in the implementation of the IPC Global Strategic Programme

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Agriculture, Economics, Nutrition, Statistics, Economy, Social/Political Science, Agro-finance or a closely related field.
• Relevant experience in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or food security and vulnerability analysis:
- Category A (Senior Expert) – for COF A, at least 12 years/ for PSA A, 15 years of relevant experience
- Category B (Expert) – at least 5 years of relevant experience
- Category C (Junior Specialist) – at least 1 year of relevant experience
• Working knowledge (level C) of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge (level B) of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian. Knowledge of Portuguese would be considered an asset in specific locations.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Selection Criteria

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable.
• Extent and relevance of experience in food security and nutrition analysis and programmes.
• Extent and relevance of experience in the application of IPC scales and analytical processes. IPC Level 3 (lead) or Level 2 (facilitator) would be considered an asset.
• Good facilitation and communication skills (oral and written), and demonstrated ability to tailor messages to different audiences, ranging from national level analysts to senior management of agencies.
• Extent and relevance of experience with statistical (SPSS, STATA, R) and/or data visualization software. Knowledge of ArcGIS would be considered an asset.
• Familiarity with the architecture of development and humanitarian assistance architecture at country, regional and global level. Previous experience with IPC Partner Organizations would be considered an asset.

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency