Consultant Country Engagement Manager for East and Southern Africa
Consultant Country Engagement Manager for East and Southern Africa
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Job Description
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
14 May 202523:59GMT02:00 South Africa Standard Time (Johannesburg)WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race colour national origin ethnic or social background genetic information gender gender identity and/or expression sexual orientation religion or belief HIV status or disability.
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WFP offers a highly inclusive diverse and multicultural working environment.
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A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country regional and global offices around the world and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).
Title: Country Engagement Manager for East and Southern Africa
Org. Unit: African Risk Capacity (ARC)
Duty Station: Johannesburg
Contract type: Regular Consultant
Duration: 11 months
Reporting to: Head of Government Services for East and Southern Africa
Background
African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a Specialised Agency of the African Union (AU). The ARC Agency leads the ARC Group a development finance institution that provides financial tools and infrastructure to help countries manage natural disaster risks and adapt to climate change. It counts 35 AU countries as members and is supervised by a ministerial level Governing Board elected by its Conference of the Parties. Operating under the privileges and immunities of the AU the ARC Agency through its Secretariat provides Member States with capacity building services for early warning contingency planning and risk finance. The ARC design and establishment phase was managed by World Food Programme (WFP) under a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union and WFP continues to provide administrative services support to ARC Agency through an Administrative Service Agreement.
In 2014 ARC launched its initial risk insurance product for Member States through its financial affiliate the ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd) ARC Ltd is a specialist hybrid mutual insurance company and Africas first ever disaster insurance pool aggregating risk by issuing insurance policies to participating governments and transferring it to international markets. ARC Ltd uses the Groups satellite weather surveillance software Africa RiskView to determine the risk to be transferred to ARC by estimating the impact of drought on vulnerable populations and the response costs required to mitigate the risk before a season begins. Members of the ARC risk pool receive a payout when the rainfall deviation is sufficiently severe such that the estimated response costs as determined by the software and the risk transfer parameters selected by each country cross a predefined threshold. A similar process will be followed for ARCs new products that are currently under development.
Responsibilities
Reporting to the Head of Government Services for East and Southern Africa the consultant will be responsible for establishing managing and promoting the ARC incountry capacity building programme in selected countries within the East and Southern African region. The Consultant will take the primarily responsibility in helping countries understand ARCs disaster risk management approach and the subsequent risk transfer instruments offered to countries and support governments in integrating ARC and general risk management principles in the country. The consultant will support the organization in the following key areas;
Political/Organizational Duties:
Under the supervision and direction of the ARC Head of Government Services for East and Southern Africa;
negotiate and finalize Memoranda of Understanding between ARC and Member State governments for new potential drought flood or tropical cyclone insurance coverage in the ARC risk pools;
Setting up country programmes and assisting the Programme Supervisor in Member States in selecting an ARC Government Coordinator and assembling the ARC incountry technical working group;
Act as ARCs liaison with the governments and advise ARC senior management of relevant political developments;
Support senior management visits to the country including preparation of briefing documents and working with ARC administrative staff to facilitate travel accommodation transport and appropriate protocol and security as necessary.
Liaise with the UN or AU agencies and institutions NGOs donor partners and lead institutions in early warning climate change and disaster risk management incountry and assist in the development of joint workprogrammes and partnerships;
Represent ARC at regional level whenever necessary
Programmatic Duties:
Under the supervision and direction of the ARC Head of Government Services for East and Southern Africa;
Lead the development of relevant Country Strategy Papers for countries within his/her portfolio aim to take a strategic view across programme components and make linkages between them and the broader risk management and food security context in which ARC is operating;
Lead the implementation of the ARC incountry capacity building programme ensuring all milestones and deliverables with respect to risk pool participation requirements for countries are achieved by the ARC Secretariat.
Guide and manage the ARC Government Coordinator and his/her implementation of the workstreams of the ARC Capacity Building Programme for existing client countries and new client countries which include: 1) Africa RiskView customization 2) ARC operations planning and 3) risk transfer building consensus within government and among local partners on all aspects of the projects scope;
Develop manage and report on the incountry working group workplans and programme budget;
Manage knowledge and information exchange and the delivery of ARC services to the ARC countries for which he/she is responsible;
Specifically for Africa RiskView software customization be familiar with the underlying methodology and how to navigate the software and assist the ARC Technical Team in refinement of the model by soliciting and synthesizing/consolidating incountry working group feedback working with national technical experts and securing improved data as required;
In the area of Contingency Planning assist the Head of Contingency Planning in researching and selecting contextually appropriate response mechanisms and ensuring linkages with the broader food security and weather risk management policies and frameworks within the countries;
In the area of Risk Transfer understand the countrys options for risk transfer
visvis their needs budget and risk appetite as well as the legal processes they will need to complete in order to participate in the risk pool. Additionally ensuring inclusion of the premiums in the national budget and assisting the government in mobilizing resources to pay the premium.
Detect organize and deliver the relevant expert support from the Secretariat to the country as needed to complete the Capacity Building Programme within the aggressive and tight deadlines always ensuring that the country retains ownership.
Work closely with ARC Ltd on the contract finalization and premium payment process.
Lead external relations and political advocacy for the countries under his/her portfolio
Support the advocacy and the political ownership component of the capacity building programme for the region ensuring that there is adequate buyin for countries to join the pool.
Support and guide ARC current and prospective countries in accessing premium financing from relevant financial partners.
Interface with partner agencies governments NGOs donor partners and lead institutions in climate change and disaster risk management at the country and regional level and guide the Policy and Technical services unit in fostering partnerships with relevant institutions
Regularly document the country programme major decisions taken pertaining to the countrys participation track logframe indicators and assist the M&E officer in analysis and reporting;
Organize and conduct ARC trainings and workshops for incountry stakeholders including government and their partners and regional body representatives;
Travel frequently to countries under management
Perform other related duties as requested by the senior ARC staff.
Project Management Duties:
Act as Project Support providing advice and guidance on project management tools as well as administrative and risk management services for the success of various projects withing the ESA Region ;
Support the Head of Government Services for East and Southern Africa in managing the projects activities and budget (SDC OCHA BADEA etc.) monitoring progresses and expenditures in line with the approved workplans and budgets ;
Support implementation of project activities for SDC OCHA BADEA etc. across different units and with relevant stakeholders helping with implementation of country specific activities to ensure alignment with ARC strategic goals and countries priorities;
In liaison with ARC M&E Technical Support Division (TSD) Gender Contingency Planning (CP) and other relevant units ensure that lessons learned and recommendations from project activities are used to adjust existing projects and design new activities as part of the best practices and scale up approach in other countries;
Support the production of accurate and timely status update reporting /annual reporting for (SDC BADEA and OCHA) throughout the project life cycle as agreed upon with the relevant donors and partners;
Track and document project information synthetizing/consolidating and organizing data to share with internal project stakeholders including the project Manager and other project team members;
Organize attend and participate in stakeholder meetings and workshops preparing necessary talking point and presentation materials;
Document and follow up on important actions and decisions from project meetings and workshops; and
Track progress of the project activities through ARC dashboard and MS Planner
Qualifications Education:
A Masters degree or university degree and equivalent work experience in one or more of the following disciplines: social sciences finance business administration international relations international development development economics or another relevant field.
Experience:
Minimum of six years of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in public sector management development project management emergency assistance finance or another relevant field.
Experience in dealing with African governments especially governments in the East and Southern Africa Region will be an added advantage.
Language:
Fluency in English is required. Knowledge (intermediate/level B) of another AU official language French Arabic or Portuguese is desirable.
Desirable Skills & Knowledge:
Strong interpersonal negotiation and diplomatic skills with the ability to establish effective working relations with people at all levels and of different national and cultural background.
Strong analytical skills in order to identify systemic issues both programmatic and operational and develop viable solutions.
Ability to work in a fastpaced teamcentered environment.
Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective partnerships
Ability to be resourceful and effectively navigate new environments.
Ability to complete tasks on time and uphold ARC standards for high quality output without constant supervision.
Ability to prioritize multiple tasks under tight deadlines in a timely manner in a dynamic environment
Knowledge of risk transfer including (parametric) insurance disaster risk management climate change and climaterelated development programmes in Africa.
Knowledge and experience of food security planning and emergency response in Africa (especially for drought and other natural hazards) including beneficiary impact political economy and the management and operational frameworks for major national and regional responses.
Demonstrated ability to take a strategic view across a large complex programme.
Strong computer skills including excellent skills in MS Office based word processing presentation spreadsheet database and other standard software packages and systems.
General knowledge of or experience working with African Union NEPAD Regional Economic Communities Regional Technical Institutions.
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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate complete and includes your employment records academic qualifications language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
Once your profile is completed please apply and submit your application.
Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
Additional documents such as passport recommendation letters academic certificates etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
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Only shortlisted candidates will be notified
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs job requirements merit and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse all forms of discrimination any kind of harassment sexual harassment and abuse of authority. Therefore all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) FAO Finance Committee WFP External Auditor WFP Audit Committee Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
Required Experience:
Manager
Employment Type
Full-Time
