Food Security & Livelihoods Specialist at Plan International

As the Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) Specialist you are expected to provide technical, practise and thought leadership on food security and livelihoods both within the Federation and for external engagement.

The FSL Specialist will be responsible for providing technical support to Plan International country teams in order to successfully design and integrate food security & livelihoods into programme interventions and support implementation through both surge and desk support. The FSL Specialist will also support new emergency responses, provide capacity building / on the job training and support emergency preparedness.

The FSL Specialist will be part of the Global Hub Hunger Response and Resilience Unit if the Global Humanitarian Team. The post holder will work within the Hunger Response and Resilience Unit and with technical teams within the other three units, ,with other teams, departments, Country Offices, National Offices within the organisation to ensure that all Plan International’s work contributes to strengthening food security. The FSL Specialist is expected to travel 50 % of their time to provide technical assistance to country offices. This position demands technical knowledge, training experience, and work experience in a wide range of humanitarian contexts

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE

• Responsible for leading Plan International’s global technical work on food security and livelihoods including the development and dissemination of sector integrated guidance, tools, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management and training materials.
• Providing high level guidance, capacity building & technical support in the development of quality integrated programs that support and inform policy positions.
• Responsible for supporting Plan International’s Country Offices, Regional Offices and development networks/hubs to incorporate food security and livelihoods into development and humanitarian programs.
• The post holder will be expected to strengthen and foster a global internal network of food security and nutrition practitioners within Plan International
• Responsible for strategic external representation of Plan International in relevant Networks and events related to food security and livelihoods bringing evidence from the field and technical expertise.
• The post holder will ensure all work is developed and implemented in ways that improve gender equality and empower girls and women.
• Work closely with key advocacy and influencing colleagues as well as National Organisations to support fundraising and policymaking efforts.
• Work with the internal and external communications team to create visibility on food security and livelihood programming and its integration with other sectors, highlight best practice and lessons learned.
• The post holder is required to travel for up 50% time to provide technical support to Country Offices The post holder will potentially have budget management responsibility related with any relevant global project on food security or livelihoods.
• The post holder manages one deployable nutrition in emergencies expert.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Technical Leadership & Programming (60%)

• Support Country Offices and Plan International’s National Organisations in real time to scale up food security, livelihoods and nutrition work especially in large scale emergencies.
• Lead the mapping of FSL programmes and develop visual analysis/synthesis of the portfolio, building on existing portfolio mapping of ongoing programmes in food security, livelihoods, and nutrition, including youth economic empowerment initiatives in Plan’s Long-term programmes.
• Update and share Plan International’s FSL programmatic approach, with a particular emphasis on how FSL and nutrition contributes to protection and education outcomes , building on existing approaches.
• Guide and provide practise and thought leadership on Plan International’s food security, livelihoods and nutrition programmes in both chronic & acute food insecurity contexts.
• In collaboration with relevant technical sectors (child protection, education, Cash and Voucher Assistance, and Resilience) develop programme guidance and tools for Plan International Country Offices on integrated program approaches, with a particular emphasis on resilience, CP, GBV and school drop-out risk mitigation approaches.
• Support Country, Regional and National Offices to include and implement FSL & N within their respective strategies wher
• e relevant and to assess how food security can be used as a mechanism to promote and achieve child protection and education outcomes.
• Ensure all FSL& N interventions (including school meals programmes) within Plan International are contributing to gender transformative programming.
• Provide technical support in the development of stand-alone and cross-cutting FSL interventions to country offices through close coordination with regional heads of Humanitarian.
• Lead and support in developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation tools for measuring food and economic security outcomes, ensuring alignment with other thematic areas.
• Support Plan International Country Offices and Regional Offices in assessing FSL needs and their implications on child protection and education vulnerabilities.
• Coordinate and work with Plan International food and livelihoods specialists at National Office, Country Office and Regional Office levels, and with relevant technical staff at all levels, to support integrated programming.
• Build and maintain a close working relationship and coordination with other relevant departments, especially the Gender Transformative Policy and Practice Department.

Learning, Capacity Building & Information Management (20%)

• Identify and disseminate lessons learned from Plan International’s work on food security and livelihoods and integrated approaches.
• Map capacity building needs and conduct mentoring, training (with others) to Plan International staff.
• Identify and develop training manuals, guidance documents, and toolkits, as required, including integrated capacity building products.
• Engage with relevant technical working groups within Plan International, particularly on resilience, youth economic empowerment, Cash and Voucher Assistance, child protection and education. ..
• Develop lead and manage a network of food security, nutrition and livelihoods within Plan International.
• Ensure that Plan International’s FSL & N internal, external website pages, library and Workplace pages are kept up to date.
• Establish a system within the FSL & N network to ensure that good practices, evidence and learning are documented, particularly integrated approaches and gender transformative outcomes.

External Representation (10%)

• Represent Plan International at relevant and strategic global food security and livelihood Networks and events as well as emerging global resilience, protection and education and food security task teams.
• Network with relevant academics, UN agencies, multi-laterals, peer organisations to develop strategic partnerships and raising Plan International’s profile in girls’ rights.
• Develop technical articles for external release and profiling of Plan International’s experiences and good practices, with a focus on food insecurity & girls.

Fundraising (5%)

• Support national offices as well as country and regional offices to generate funding opportunities to increase the portfolio of FSL & N with an emphasis on integrated approaches across technical sectors.

Policy and Advocacy (5%)

• Work with the Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Unit to ensure that programme evidence on linkages between food security, resilience, protection and education good practice are shared in relevant external influencing forums.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential

• Experience of working in an international NGO, UN, multi-lateral agency or the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
• In-depth experience in a variety of humanitarian response contexts (protracted, complex, conflict & rapid onset)
• Expertise and substantial direct experience supporting humanitarian response with a focus on food security, livelihoods or nutrition.
• Up-to-date knowledge of food security and livelihoods programming approaches, and their integration with other sectors
• Proven experience of working in food security and livelihoods programming, especially from a girls’ rights perspective in a variety of contexts including acute & chronic food insecurity crises
• Highly competent with computer-based communications and information management technology
• Consistent decision making and sound judgement.
• Ability to work on a number or projects simultaneously and to manage competing demands and deadlines.
• Ability to network effectively and build good working relationships with colleagues across the organisation.
• Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken English.
• Knowledge and commitment to international humanitarian principles, codes, guidelines and cluster system.
• Ability to work independently, as a team member, and in culturally diverse settings
• Ability to effectively manage and prioritise a diverse workload.
• Child rights-based programming principles and approaches
• Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity to gender and diversity.
• An understanding of and commitment to Plan International’s mission and values

Desirable

• Training and facilitation skills
• Additional languages (Arabic, French or Spanish)