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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 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 ESA (FAO), is the operational arm of the 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.
FAO International Consultants and Call purpose
The Organization frequently engages experts to work on short-term activities and projects as international consultants or under personal service agreements (PSA) at various levels of experience (see minimum requirements below). International consultants or PSAs are engaged by the Organization to provide expertise, skills or knowledge for the performance of a specific task or piece of work, which is short-term by nature. The assignment may involve full-time or part-time functions. The assignment can be from 1 month 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.
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. Contracts will be home-based with possible limited travel.
Reporting Lines
Selected applicants will work under the overall guidance of the ESA Division Director, the IPC Global Programme Manager and the IPC Global Leads, and 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) – Information Systems team focusing on developing and supporting web-based applications for IPC stakeholders. The work involves application design, testing, development, infrastructure set-up, maintenance and monitoring, and end-user support.
Tasks and responsibilities
The IPC seeks to identify technical experts with expertise in at least one of the broad areas of work identified below. Specific assignments would include detailed activities and deliverables under one or more of the broad areas identified below. The assigned tasks and responsibilities related to this area of work can consist of the following:
1. Development-Operations (DevOps) for the IPC Analysis Platform and other products:
• Set up of architecture, develop, and maintain a cost-efficient and scalable AWS cloud environment.
• Continuous integration/development and deployment of IPC applications in AWS.
• Writing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and provisioning it in AWS.
• Keep cloud environments secure, prevent downtime or security breaches, and maintain a secure backup system.
• Maintain updated documentation of logs, audits and other best practices.
2. Web application UI/UX expert for the Analysis Platform and other web products
• Evaluate and collect user requirements.
• Create UI mock-ups and design UI elements such as widgets, input controls and navigational components.
• Produce high-quality UX design solutions through wireframes as prototypes to guide development.
• Identify, troubleshoot, and provide solutions to UX issues that may arise after development.
3. Full-stack Web Application Developer for the Analysis Platform and other web tools
• Design and develop web tools infrastructure and architecture.
• Develop and manage well-functioning databases and applications.
• Design and develop APIs.
• Test software to ensure responsiveness and efficiency, troubleshoot, debug and upgrade.
• Maintain up-to-date technical documentation on coding standards, version control systems, and other programming best practices.
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
• University Degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, interaction design or other related subject
• Relevant experience in technical field of focus:
- Category A (Senior Expert) – for COF A, at least 12 years/ for PSA A, 15 years of relevant experience
- Category B (Specialist) – at least 5 years of relevant experience
- Category C (Junior Specialist) – at least 1 year of relevant experience
• Working knowledge of English (level C) and limited knowledge of another FAO language (level B): French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian. For PSA, working knowledge of English.
FAO Core Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
One or more of the following:
• AWS-related Development-Security-Operations using Teraform, Serverless, Elastic Beanstalk, and other Amazon Web Services or similar platform tools.
• Working knowledge of Figma, Sketch, InVision, Visio, Framer, and/or similar wireframe design tools.
• Full-stack application development using industry-leading frameworks, libraries, and languages such as JavaScript, Python, Java, PostGreSQL, and similar; code repository using Bitbucket or GIT
• Project Management documentation using industry-standard tools (Jira, ClickUp, or MS Project)
• Expert knowledge of industry standards and best practices related to the subject matter.
• Proven ability to work remotely and communicate regularly with team and supervisor.
• High-bandwidth internet connection from the place of work
• Proven ability to use project management tools for task management.
• Ability to perform repetitive tasks with a high degree of precision and quality.
Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency