Information Management Consultant at Food and Agriculture Organization Of the United Nations

Job ID: 1900247
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Organizational Unit: FRNIR
Job Type: Non-staff opportunities
Type of Requisition: NPP (National Project Personnel)
Grade Level: N/A
PrimaryNigeria-Maiduguri
Duration: Contract: 6 months
 
Background

• The Food Security Sector (FSS) in Nigeria is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) at the Federal level and the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MOANR) at the State level. The Food Security Sector is co-led by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme.
• The FSS provides an action-oriented forum for bringing together national and international humanitarian partners to improve the timeliness and impact of appropriate humanitarian food security assistance to food insecure population and communities in North-Eastern Nigeria (Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States).
• Specifically, the FSS helps to ensure coherent, coordinated and integrated humanitarian responses, driven by the assessed food security needs of the affected population. This is achieved through the following specific activities:
• Regular sector and technical working group meetings held once at Abuja (Federal level co-ordination), twice a month at state level (state-level co-ordination), and through Mini Coordination Groups;
• Evidenced-based assessments achieved through the Cadre Harmonise and joint food security assessments;
• Information management and dissemination-co-ordinating the who, what, where, when, and for whom (5Ws) translated into maps and gaps analysis, which are shared with partners on regular basis; and
• Inter-sectorial co-ordination – co-ordinating with OCHA and other sectors such as Nutrition, Health, Protection, and WASH.

Reporting Lines:

• The International Information Management Officer (IMO) reports to the Sector Coordinator and under the administrative supervision of FSS co-management team (FAO-WFP).

Technical Focus

• The International Information Management Officer (IMO) plays a vital role in collecting, analysing, and sharing information that is important for the Sector stakeholders to make informed (evidence based) strategic decisions on:
  • The needs of affected populations
  • The prioritization of areas according to Food Security indicators
  • Where there is a need for Food Security actors and to what degree
  • What are the key gaps in activity and need
  • What capacity (human, material, financial) exists to be used in support of the identified prioritised response need
• The IMO supports the Food Security Sector Coordinator and partners through provision of data and reliable information required to make programmatic decisions. As such, he/she needs to be able to liaise and communicate with diverse audience/partners and act as a ‘bridge’ between Food Security decision makers and technical team.
• Fundamental to the job is the ability to present information in a way that is easily understood by the Sector members. Sometimes this is through graphic means such a mapping but also through tables, charts, and narrative writing
• The IMO is expected to provide overall secretariat support to the FSS and to manage the FSS work plan and information management. The IMO is also expected to provide robust support in humanitarian assessment, preparedness and response planning  processes including assessments (rapid and comprehensive assessment) training and food security assessments and preparation of Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).

Tasks and Responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the Sector Coordinator, the IMO will perform the following specific duties and responsibilities as detailed below:

• Provide IM services and support especially in the areas of assessments, data collection, analysis, reporting,  information dissemination and training;
• Provide narrative inputs for various situation reports and information inquiries as needed
• Prepare regular FSS updates and bulletins to inform partners on food security situation especially in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria;
• Maintain and update the FSS Nigeria website; ensuring Sector leads, Government partners and international and national NGOs feed relevant information on a regular basis;
• Co-ordinate and support the conduct of FSS co-ordination meetings as appropriate to ensure invitations are circulated in a timely manner, agendas and attendance sheets and other relevant documents and PowerPoint are prepared and that meetings are sufficiently documented;
• Proactively gather information from other Sectors/organizations which may be of use to the Food Security Sector for informing decisions’
• Provide overall secretariat support to the FSS as required including the management of the FSS work plan
• Facilitate and coordinate training, food security assessments and other activities as part of the overall FSS preparedness and response measures
• Provide inventory of relevant common Sector data sets, including population data disaggregated by age and sex;
• Identify secondary data and information resources as needed;
• Organize and manage the data input and initial analysis and presentation of data for the FSS, including setting up the FSS IM Tool in accordance with the country context.
• Create, manage and maintain contact directories and mailing lists of Food Security Sector partners;
• Establish, collect information for and maintain Who does What Where and When for Whom (5W) database and derivative products and analysis as needed beyond data visualization but also trend analysis.
• Based on collected data, conduct needs and gap identification for the sector; facilitating and agreeing benchmarks to enable prioritisation within the sector;
• Conduct inventory of and identify relevant common Sector data sets, including population data disaggregated by age and sex;
• Develop simple, user-friendly emergency Food Security monitoring reporting formats in consultation with the local authorities, providers of Food Security assistance and other key stakeholders;
• Collect data on the humanitarian requirements and contributions ( financial, material, human – as appropriate);
• Liaise with OCHA and IM Focal Points in other Sectors – share information as appropriate and identify and gather information from other Sectors which can inform Food Security response and preparedness decisions;
• Assist in organizing and following up with FSS Meetings (including preparing and disseminating meeting minutes)
• Any other tasks that may be required (within reason) to achieve the objective of this assignment.

Minimum Requirements

Candidates will be assessed against the following:

• Advanced University Degree (for Consultants)/ University Degree in Information Management and Communication;
• Minimum of 10 year experience in information management in humanitarian context; Humanitarian affairs, political science Information Technology, Information Systems;
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO languages (French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic) for Consultants. For PSAs a working knowledge of English is sufficient.

FAO Core Competencies:

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

Technical/Functional Skills:

• Strong knowledge of computer programmes such as: Publisher, Illustrator, Excel or MS Access or other databases.
• Ability to present information in understandable tables, charts and graphs.
• Ability to maintain and manage website content for the Sector.
• Data storage and file management knowledge and expertise.
• Assessment, survey, monitoring, evaluation and information management systems expertise.
• Communications and technical writing using both graphic and narrative presentations.
• Information Technology and networking skills.
• Experience in web design and programming.
• Knowledge of ArcGIS or other mapping software an advantage.
• Knowledge in food security, agriculture and social sciences;
• Cultural and Gender awareness and sensitivity.
• Knowledge of Visual Basic/macros a plus
• Willingness and ability to work in difficult environments, in often stressful/critical situations;
• Willingness to work in the field, as and when required;
• Experience in food security data collection and analysis
• Past working experience in the north-east Nigeria context
• Previous experience working with the Food Security Cluster/Sector