Kenya Country Technical Sr. Specialist – FEWS NET Full Time NEW

Introduction

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is an integrated set of activities funded by the United States Government (USG) and is intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food insecurity early warning information and analysis. Created in 1985 in response to famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET provides global coverage of acute food insecurity. FEWS NET’s work is implemented across several mechanisms by a team of partners that includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the University of California-Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center (UCSB-CHC), University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences, American Institutes for Research (AIR), and Chemonics International (Chemonics). Chemonics implements FEWS NET’s Decision Support Team (DST), which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support the United States Government’s (USG) policy and programmatic decisions. The DST operates through a Washington-based technical office, regional FEWS NET offices, and national staff presence in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe.

FEWS NET’s objective is to produce timely, evidence-based decision support to enable the efficient allocation of humanitarian assistance on the basis of need.

Based on an in-depth understanding of local livelihoods, FEWS NET monitors information and data on factors that affect food security, such as conflict, weather and agroclimatology, crops, pasture, markets and trade, and nutrition. The FEWS NET DST produces regular reports, including Food Security Outlooks and Outlook Updates, emergency alerts, market and price updates, and targeted analyses. FEWS NET makes reports available at www.fews.net and distributes them globally to governments, relief agencies, and other organizations engaged in humanitarian response and development programs.

The eighth phase of FEWS NET began in 2024. The work of the FEWS NET DST relies on close collaboration with international, regional, and national partners on food security-related data and information gathering and analysis. Major activities include joint monitoring and assessments, data sharing and exchanges, collaborative analysis and reporting, and support of local and regional food security networks.

Position Description

The FEWS NET DST maintains virtual and physical field offices in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Five regional offices coordinate and oversee the technical and administrative management of over 40 country offices. Each country office falls into one of three tiers, depending on the complexity of the context and operating environment. Tier 1 countries require a larger staffing footprint, while Tier 3 countries require a smaller one. There are four main technical positions at the country level: Country Technical Lead (CTL); Country Technical Manager (CTM); Country Technical Senior Specialist for Food Security (CTSS-FS); and Country Technical Senior Specialist for Conflict (CTSS-C).

The CTSS-C will be responsible for providing an assessment of conflict and violence dynamics in support of food security analysis. The CTSS-C, under the direction and guidance of the CTL and the Regional Technical Senior Specialist–Conflict (RTSS-C), who work in close alignment with the home office-based Security & Conflict Advisor, is responsible for supporting the following activities, in collaboration with other technical staff in the country:

• Providing efficient monitoring, assessment, and early warning analysis as it pertains to conflict, food security, and conflicts’ impacts on food insecurity. This support may involve sub-national level analysis.
• Producing analyses on the relationship between conflict and food insecurity, with a focus on early warning
• Continually tracking potential conflict drivers, conflict triggers, and key actors and institutions.
• Effectively communicating conflict and food security early warning analysis to national and sub-national partners and decision-makers through high-quality reporting and participation in briefings and formal and informal meetings.
• Closely collaborating with key partners, such as host government ministries, UN agencies, and international and local NGOs, among others, nationally and sub-nationally
• Helping to build strategic partner networks nationally and sub-nationally, addressing identified gaps in effective conflict early warning systems
• Engaging in Integrated Phase Classification (IPC)/ Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analyses
• Regularly collecting and analyzing conflict and food security-related qualitative and quantitative information.
• Coordinating and effectively collaborating with other FEWS NET mechanisms

Responsibilities

The main responsibilities of the CTSS-C include, but are not limited to:

• Providing early warning analysis of conflict, and enhancing the project’s understanding of potential drivers of conflict
• Reviewing and providing guidance and inputs on conflict forecasts as a critical input to the Food Security Outlook and Food Security Outlook Update reports in collaboration with regional and country-level technical specialists to ensure alignment between conflict, livelihoods, agroclimatology, and markets and trade analyses
• Monitoring, assessing, and analyzing social, political, and/or economic events that are likely to have an impact on the trajectory or intensity of conflict for integration into conflict projections
• Supporting the collection, organization, and storage of primary and secondary conflict-related data and information, as directed, in support of the project’s integrated food security analysis and reporting
• Developing a strong subject matter expertise on political and conflict dynamics in the country.
• As directed by the Regional Technical Senior Specialist for Conflict (RTSS-C), engaging with the other mechanisms of FEWS NET and network partners to ensure the integration of available conflict-related analyses into the DST’s analyses and products, and to support the project’s continued development of conflict analysis approaches, tools, and guidance
• Contributing to the FEWS NET DST’s efforts to identify as early as possible potential or emerging conflict-related shocks as they pertain to acute food insecurity
• Under the guidance of the CTL, supporting the fulfilment of designated requirements related to food security analyses (FSOs, FSOUs, FAOB input) and monthly reporting, including providing critical inputs to the Food Security Outlooks (FSOs), FSO Updates, Price Watch, and Key Messages; contributing to Food Assistance Outlook Brief reports; and providing briefings to national and sub-national partners
• Supporting the CTL in meeting USG’s expectations on timely delivery of national and sub-national decision support products, which include, but are not limited to: delivery of monthly reporting for all presence countries no later than 7 days after the last day of the reporting month; responding to urgent questions on acute food insecurity within one day; and providing briefings within one week of request
• Supporting the CTL and CTM where relevant, in maintaining a national and sub-national knowledge base comprised of, at a minimum, livelihood zone profiles, commodity trade flow maps, seasonal monitoring calendars, commodity price data, nutrition data, security monitoring, conflict data, migration, remittances, labor, humanitarian food assistance, and other technical data covering rainfall, agricultural production, population, etc., in collaboration with other FEWS NET 8 implementing partners, as applicable
• With support from the CTL, overseeing the collection of data by in-country enumerators or field monitors and liaising with the Regional Data Coordinator to ensure effective management (cleaning, storage, uploading, etc.) of all field data/information, and uploading to the FEWS NET Data Warehouse (FDW) where relevant
• Providing input into developing and updating national and sub-national seasonal monitoring plans and participating in national and sub-national acute food insecurity monitoring, as applicable
• Supporting proactive, high, and effective early warning of acute threats to food security at the national and sub-national levels, and supporting efforts to mitigate acute food insecurity and prevent food crises through effective communication of actionable food security analysis
• Supporting collaboration with Regional Technical Senior Specialists (RTSSs) to improve the integration of conflict into regular and ad hoc decision support products
• Developing and maintaining strong collaborative national and sub-national relations, both formal and informal, with USG representatives, US Embassy technical contacts, UN agency representatives, government ministry staff, and key international, regional, and national NGO counterparts to facilitate technical exchanges, promote consensus-building, and facilitate joint, coordinated actions to mitigate food insecurity.
• Conducting regular independent and joint field assessments of food security conditions in areas of most concern in the country, under the guidance of the CTL
• Collaborating with partners in food security monitoring and analysis in the country, including through participation in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) or Cadre Harmonisé (CH) protocols, as well as representing the project at formal and informal meetings, as delegated by the CTL
• Any other support as directed by the CTL, including supporting the development of annual workplans, organization of project documentation, contributing to information products, participating in network development and capacity strengthening efforts

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in a discipline relevant to the work of FEWS NET, such as peace/conflict studies, international relations, political science, economics, agricultural economics, agronomy, climatology, anthropology, or social geography, is required; an advanced university degree (Master’s degree or higher) is desirable.
• At least five years of relevant experience (with a Master’s degree), or seven years of relevant experience (with a Bachelor’s degree) is required.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English is required; other local language skills relevant to the country are desirable.
• Excellent planning, organizational, analytical, and report-writing skills
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with others at all levels, including an ability to effectively liaise with supervisors, national and sub-nationally government authorities, UN, NGO, and other relevant stakeholders, and an ability to coordinate effectively with remote colleagues
• Excellent computer skills, GIS applications, and mapping skills are desirable
• Unrestricted work authorization in Kenya.

Location and Reporting

The CTSS-C will be based in Nairobi, Kenya and is directly supervised by the Country Technical Lead (CTL), with technical direction provided by the RTSS-C and the Security and Conflict Advisor. For technical activities, the CTSS-C collaborates and coordinates with the in-country and regional technical senior specialists in the region, relevant home office-based food security analysts, and the Security and Conflict Advisor under the guidance of the CTL or their designee. For office administration and financial management, the CTSS-C collaborates with the country-level or regional office administration and finance staff and the relevant Washington D.C.-based Project Management Units, under the direction of the CTL or their designee. The CTSS-C will be required to travel regularly nationally and sub-nationally, and some regional and international travel may also be required, security permitting.

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