Head of Food Security Reserve at Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head of Food Security Reserve

Job Code: 20000674
Location: Lome, Togo
Grade: P5 
Agency: Regional Agency For Agriculture And Food
Status: Permanent
Department: Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources
Division: Food Security Reserve
Line Manager: ARAA Executive Director
Persons Supervised: Stock Management /  Market Analyst and Data Management

Role Overview

• Under the guidance and the supervision of the Executive Director, the Head of the Regional Food Security Reserve Division (RRSA) coordinates the activities of the division and oversees the processes of food stock acquisition, storage, and management in member states.
• He oversees the production of information and data on food and nutritional security for decision-making purposes.

Role and Responsibilities

• Ensures that in-country and regional interventions/initiatives are consistent with the objectives defined in the Reserve’s mission and guiding principles.
• Ensures the technical and administrative follow-up of the Reserve’s activities.
• Plans and schedules activities.
• Oversees the work of the team and relations with all stakeholders involved in the management and financing of the Community Reserve.
• Prepares annual work plans and budgets (PTBA).
• Prepares activity reports.
• Facilitates the application of guidelines defined by stakeholders in the implementation of the Reserve.
• Prepares the organization of regional consultation meetings and those of the management committee.
• Supervises storage and destocking operations in identified basins.
• Monitors the food situation in target areas (production, shortages, prices, etc.) via the Cellule Info-stocks.
• Organizes periodic monitoring and auditing of stocks stored in identified basins.
• Coordinates activities to support the implementation of the security stockpiling policy, by strengthening local and national security stocks.
• Leads the Reserve Management Committee.
• Prepares memoranda and memoranda of understanding for the implementation of the Reserve with countries and partners, in liaison with the Commission’s legal department, and monitors their execution.

Academic Requirements And Experience

• Holds at least a Master's Degree (or equivalent) in Administration, Finance, Agriculture, Agroeconomics, Socioeconomics, or other related disciplines from a recognized university.
• At least 10 years’ professional experience and a good track record in food security or food reserve management at regional or national level.
• In-depth knowledge of concepts, principles, techniques, and practices in the field of agriculture, food and nutrition security, stock management and poverty reduction.
• Mastery of ECOWAS regional agricultural policy, food and nutrition security policies and strategies, and regional or national reserves, preferably acquired in the Sahel and West Africa region.
• Excellent ability to analyse information on all resilience-related issues.
• Knowledge of food crisis prevention and management systems, early warning systems and data collection and analysis systems used by national and international statistical services.
• Mastery of cross-sectoral approaches to the resilience of vulnerable populations.
• Proven ability to mobilize funds and network with donors, government representatives and the private sector in the field of food security.

Age Limit:

• Be below 50 years old. This provision does not apply to internal candidates.

Ecowas Key Competencies:

• Ability to lead in assigned programs and projects by providing the necessary managerial and operational expertise required for the fulfilment of the organization’s mandate.
• Ability to lead by example and organize teamwork to encourage cooperation to achieve targeted results, champion and build momentum for change and to bring about employee engagement; develops and implements internal controls for pilot program to manage potential barriers to implementation.
• Ability to respect chain of command in an appropriate manner.
• Excellent self-management skills, demonstrating ethics and integrity, confidentiality and displaying due regards for internal controls of rules, delegations and transparency.
• Ability to bring together complementary skills/expertise, assess individual contributions and recognize/address accomplishments and shortcomings in a manner that brings continued success to the organization.
• Knowledge of program management at the level usually acquired from a certification in program management.
• Ability to research benchmarks and trends to bring about the best recommendations for the development and improvement of programs/projects that will best serve the community/organization.
• Well-developed networking and interpersonal skills to seek feedback, information and data from a network of professionals from multiple countries/sectors/organizations and to identify and prioritize the most critical community requirements.
• Ability to manage and co-ordinate client management initiatives and make recommendations.
• Ability to develop and implement best practices in client services.
• Ability to develop and implement stakeholder management plans, programs and initiatives to obtain buy-in on new initiatives, to better understand dissenting views, to obtain resources and to increase perceptions of success.
• Ability to be diplomatic, tactful and respect of other people from varied backgrounds, understanding diverse cultural views especially within West Africa with the ability to convert diversity into opportunities to improve program/operational outcomes.
• Ability to create a diverse and inclusive interactive environment that benefits from diverse strengths bringing together innovative practices.
• Ability to remain objective in managing conflict regardless of cultural differences /positions, gender differences, and encourage other staff to overcome cultural and gender bias and differences.
• Ability and responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• Ability to serve the interest of culturally diverse multinational teams/organizations/communities and persons with disability without prejudice and bias.
• Understanding of the ECOWAS organizational structure, associated dynamics and expectations as required to collaborate, participate, contribute, and lead effectively.
• Knowledge of the ECOWAS mandate, strategic plan/priorities as well as the economic, political and social situation and trends in member states, as pertains to own scope of work.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS best practices, program management approaches and research techniques to lead and/or contribute to the development or assessment of programs, projects or initiatives.
• Knowledge of the ECOWAS rules and procedures in order to appropriately interpret and apply directive text, provide technical advice, coach others and assess performance.
• Ability to analyse a situation by using indicators to assess the costs, benefits, risks, and chances for success, in making decisions.
• Ability to pull together information from different sources to identify the cause of problems, consequences of alternative causes of action, potential obstacles, and ways to avoid the problem in the future.
• Ability to break down very complex situations/information into simple terms to explain recommendations and conclusions aimed at solving problems or improving operations/programs/projects.
• Ability to develop new insights into situations, apply innovative solutions to problems and to design new methods of addressing issues or disconnects where established methods and procedures are inapplicable or no longer effective.
• Ability to communicate with impact, clearly and concisely in a succinct and organized manner conveying credibility & confidence when making presentations, setting expectations, and explaining complex issues.
• Ability to listen intently and correctly interpret messages from others and respond appropriately.
• Accomplished technical writing and editing skills.
• Exhibit active listening skills to encourage stronger communication amongst team members, to show care and make them feel valued and to drive employee engagement in all institutions and agencies.
• Ability to give constructive feedback, provide recognition, address shortcomings, and motivate direct reports to work at peak performance.
• Proficiency in information communication technologies (ICT).
• Fluency in oral and written expressions in one of the ECOWAS official languages of the Community (English, French & Portuguese). Knowledge of an additional one will be an added advantage.
• Superior organizational and project/program management skills with significant experience identifying timelines, targets, costs and resources necessary to deliver on operational/program/project outputs.
• ability to set effective goals and targets for self, others, and the work unit and adjusting work or project priorities in response to changing circumstances.
• Ability to identify gaps affecting the achievement of program/project expectations and to design and implement intervention plans required to build the desired capacity (e.g. training, structural realignment, partnerships, reallocation of resources.
• Ability to implement rigorous monitoring, and evaluation practices and to set in place regular reporting schedules relevant to key outputs (e.g. management indicators, project milestones, program results, processing targets).
• Ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals.

Salary
UA 56,196.00 / USD 88,666.05 Annually.

Application Closing Date
6th March, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their correctly filled Application Form, Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a Motivation letter to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.

Click here to download the application form (Docx.)

Note

• Female applications are encouraged.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Applications initially submitted with only the CV remain acceptable.
• ECOWAS does not charge a fee for recruitment and will not request for your account details.