Head of Department, Food Security and Livelihood at Action Against Hunger | ACF-International

Action Against Hunger | ACF-International works to save lives by combating hunger and diseases that threaten the lives of vulnerable communities, through nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, health and advocacy.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Food Security and Livelihood Head of Department

Location: Abuja

Description

• We are looking for a highly skilled, creative FSL HOD, responsible for ensuring smooth implementation of FSL programmes through support to the FSL teams and ensuring adherence to our policy, procedure and donor guidelines and standards.

About the Program

• Action Against Hunger has been operational in Nigeria since 2010 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sector strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience.
• The main objectives of the country program are 1/ to continue building on Action Against Hunger’s reputation for nutritional expertise to deliver integrated nutrition, WASH and FSL assistance in the high caseload Northern Nigeria States and build evidence from out pilot projects to influence policy makers to find long lasting solution to under nutrition and hunger and 2/ responding to the dire humanitarian situation created by the devastating conflict on-going in the North East while applying, where possible, attempts to find durable solutions in line with the New ways of Working and Humanitarian Development Nexus.
• With a central office in Abuja and 3 main field office across the North, Action Against Hunger runs intervention in 3 States of Northern Nigeria including two States affected by the on-going conflict. We have a country team of around 550 staff (45 international) and a budget for 2018 projected at 50 M US$. Our main donors and partners in Nigeria include USAID/OFDA&FFP, DFID, ECHO, EU EDF, AFD, UNICEF, SIDA, SDC and GAC.

You'll contribute to ending world hunger by:

• Guaranteeing quality, relevance and scaling up of FSL strategy and interventions of the mission, in conformity with Action Against Hunger and international standards and national policies.

Key Activities
Ensure ongoing analysis of the overall humanitarian, recovery and development context and define Action Against Hunger technical positioning:

• Ensure the regular analysis and reporting of recovery and development needs, malnutrition causal factors and linkages at country level through regular high quality field assessments, participation in coordination forums, regular consultation with stakeholders and collection of secondary data.
• Contribute to integrated surveillance activities as applicable through input on development of tools, analysis and interpretation, etc.
• Develop strategic positioning for the department as part of the Action Against Hunger annual country strategy process and as needed, in close consultation with field teams and other technical departments.
• Identify new geographical areas of interest and or confirm existing areas according to humanitarian, recovery and development needs and the Action Against Hunger strategic plan.
• Identify, propose and develop new program orientations, strategies and activities.
• Serve as lead on new recovery and development proposal development.
• Collaborate with other technical coordinators to develop an integrated technical strategy; and support integrated program definition and implementation.

Coordinate FSL program implementation according to Action Against Hunger strategy and technical protocols and effectively manage teams:

• Ensure a close and regular coordination with other technical departments (nutrition, WASH) in overall program coherence specifically recovery and development projects; and support departments (logistics, administration and human resources) in procurement planning and follow-up, and budget follow-ups, human resources planning and overall staff management.
• Provide continuous technical and organizational support and capacity building to PMs and their technical teams regarding recovery and development activities.
• Ensure harmonization and coherence of recovery and development FSL approaches and activities across all program bases with the development of project implementation plans and regular follow-up.
• Ensure the development and implementation of proper systems to reduce the risk of corruption and conflict of interest by program staff and local authorities; and increase accountability and transparency of operations.
• Identify training needs and work with HR department to develop and implement relevant training plans.
• Ensure compliance of FSL program standards to achieve grant/funding objectives
• Work in close relation with FSL technical counterpart in HQ and Regional FSL Coordinator for the NE response.
• Promote an integrated approach among the WASH, Nutrition and FSL sectors wherever feasible and justified.
• Facilitate mainstreaming of DRM, gender and protection aspects in recovery and development projects.

Ensure overall FSL program quality and accountability:

• Ensure the appropriate development and implementation of high quality technical monitoring systems, indicators and supporting tools to monitor the impact and outcome of recovery and development FSL programs; ensure their harmonization across bases and build capacity of field teams on their implementation and regular timely use
• Provide direct support to recovery and development program managers on program planning and monitoring (procurement planning, budget design, forecast and follow-up, monthly reports, technical reports, etc.)
• Ensure the development and implementation of systems to reduce the risk of corruption and conflict of interest by recovery and development program staff and local authorities; and increase accountability and transparency of operations.
• Ensure internal and external evaluation of current, recovery, and development previous programs in the operational area in a manner that facilitates organizational learning.
• Ensure high quality technical and donor reporting across all recovery and development program activities to Action Against Hunger and donor standards
• Support learning and application of innovative approaches in recovery and development projects at field level in collaboration with other Action Against Hunger technical departments and external partners
• Ensure documentation and capitalization of lessons learnt and good practices; and contribute to the preparation of publications, where applicable
• Ensure accountability standards are mainstreamed across programs and build capacity among field staff where needed

Represent Action Against Hunger externally in the Nigeria humanitarian community:

• Represent Action Against Hunger externally and coordinate with government authorities, NGOs, UN agencies and donor representatives as necessary
• Engage in outreach and advocacy with policymakers and practitioners at State and Federal government levels.
• Represent Action Against Hunger Nigeria in key national or regional meetings and forums. Ensure active presence and participation in national FSL coordination meetings, cluster and technical working groups
• Develop a strong state and county level relationship with local authorities and institutions related to Food Security and livelihood
• Create links with various FSL actors working in the same operational areas and develop partnerships where relevant and appropriate
• Ensure that relevant stakeholders have a clear understanding of Action Against Hunger charter, background, program objectives and activities in the field.

Requirements
About you:

• Advanced University degree (Master's) preferably in Economics, International Development Studies, Social Sciences (Sociology) , Agricultural Economics, Agriculture and Development
• Minimum Three years’ experience in food security and livelihoods.
• Experience in Food security and Livelihood assessments including cash and market assessments in both development and emergency contexts.
• Clear understanding of child and gender protection issues in the field.
• Proven management and coordination skills (HR, projects, and stress management).
• Proven ability to translate analysis and evaluation into operational planning and strategy.
• Experience with evaluations and monitoring as well as Program Cycle Management.
• You have a good understanding of Social Behavior Change and nutrition sensitive programming.
• Experience with research and partnership developments with universities.
• Experience with donor communications.
• Demonstrated previous experience in and strong proposal writing and donor reporting skills.
• Demonstrated experience in financial management and preparation of budgets for programming.
• Good diplomatic and negotiation skills.
• Disciplined and able to work and arrive at decisions autonomously and with minimal guidance.
• Interest and/or experience in Cash transfer programs, Agriculture and livestock programming in Humanitarian setting and community led methodologies.
• You are fluent in written & spoken English.
• You have the ability to explain complex concepts in straight-forward language.
• You are committed to gender equity and equality.
• You have a genuine interest in & commitment to the principles of Action Against Hunger.
• Your work style builds confidence with others, and you believe that every problem has a solution. It is the way we approach the problem that makes the difference.
• You are able to remain calm under pressure and can easily adapt to changing circumstances
• You are ready and willing to integrate into hard working and fun team that believes in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Our Core values
In this position, you are expected to demonstrate Action Against Hunger-USA-USA’s five core competencies:

• Respect- we work with compassion and dedication, treating everyone the same way we expect them to treat us.
• Integrity-: we believe that being honest and fair is integral to every aspect of our work; conducting our work with a spirit of sincerity, truthfulness and transparency is imperative.
• Creativity-we encourage new ideas, embrace innovative solutions, and create opportunities for meaningful and exciting ways to do our jobs and provide solutions to address the needs of the populations we serve.
• Excellence- we strive to provide services that meet, and even exceed, the expectations of our stakeholders (populations in need, staff, communities and donors).
• Empowerment- we are committed to fostering an environment in which our staff, partners and communities where we work have the space to grow, develop and feel confident about participating.

Benefits
Action Against Hunger-USA values its employees and offers a comprehensive remuneration and benefits package. These include but are not limited to:

• Health Insurance
• R&R Breaks
• Paid annual leave (vacation)
• Training opportunities.

Application Closing Date
26th June, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online