Disaster risk reduction specialist

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Organizational setting

The Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) is responsible for ensuring FAO’s efforts to support countries and partners in preparing for and effectively responding to food and agricultural threats and crises. It is responsible for coordinating the development and maintenance of corporate tools and standards to enable Decentralized Offices to assist member countries to prepare for, and respond to emergencies. OER ensures humanitarian policy coordination and knowledge, liaison with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee as well as with humanitarian resource partners, co-leadership with World Food Programme of the global Food Security Cluster, organizational preparedness, surge capacity and response to large-scale emergencies. OER supports food and nutrition security assessment and early warning activities related to emergency and humanitarian analysis and responses. OER plays a major role in the development and leadership of the Organization’s programme to increase the resilience of livelihoods to food and agriculture threats and crises.

Reporting lines

The Specialist reports to the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Team Leader of the Programme and Policy Team (PPT) or the appropriate line manager at the decentralized offices. 

Technical focus 

Specifically the Specialist will support FAO’s Headquarters, Regional Offices (ROs), Sub-regional Offices (SROs) and Resilience hubs, and Country Offices (COs) to mainstream DRR within and across the Organization and to provide DRR capacity development to member countries to strengthen the resilience of agricultural livelihoods and related food systems in the face of multiple threats and crises.      

Tasks and responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Team Leader at OER-PPT or responsible line managers at FAO decentralized offices, and in close collaboration with other officers and consultants from various technical departments and decentralized offices, the Consultant will:  

• Support the implementation of FAO’s DRR work on Damage and Loss in agriculture, in particular linking it to the UNDRR’s Sendai Framework Monitor (SMF) Indicator C2 “Direct agricultural loss attributed to disasters”, and support capacity development in countries to upgrade information management systems and data collection needed for the reporting against the indicator, especially focusing on support to apply SFM “optional modalities” inherent in indicator C2. This also includes support to stronger integration of extreme events impact monitoring and quantification within the context of the UNFCCC’s Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) on Loss and Damage implementation process;  
• Provide technical support and technical backstopping to countries on blending DRR and climate risk management (CRM) or in short disaster and climate risk management (DCRM) programming and delivery, and conduct country support missions; this will include to support formulation and  “implementation” of DCRM programme/project and/or project components, as well as designing and implementing operational processes at country level for the identification, validation and up-scaling of DRR/CRM good practices and technologies in agriculture, and for the promotion and implementation of community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) including in conflict and fragile contexts;  
•  Contribute in selected countries, to support the facilitation of agri-food sector-specific planning and programming processes for the development of sectoral DRR/M strategies/, DRR Plans of Action (PoA) and/or resilience strategies at national and subnational levels to assist countries in achieving the Sendai Framework for DRR (SFDRR)’s Target E: national and local DRR strategies and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target  13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural-hazard induced disasters this includes preparatory analyses of DRR/M policy and institutional set up / mapping and desk study on hazard exposure and vulnerability profiling of agriculture and food stakeholders at national and local level;  
• Contribute to the design of the FAO country programming strategy, including Country Programming Frameworks (CPF) by ensure that Disaster and Climate Risk Management is well integrated;  
• Contribute to the development DRR normative guidance and tools for building resilient agri-food systems to support the operationalization of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus;  
•  Support awareness raising and knowledge sharing on DRR, e.g. webinars, e-learning and annual flagship events; 
•  Contribute to support FAO’s resource mobilization for disaster and climate risk management including in food crisis countries;   
•  Comply with the FAO’s security, PSEA, anti-fraud and other corporate regulations;   
• Perform other duties as required.    

Candidates will be assessed against the following

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Agriculture, Natural Resources Management, Natural Science or related fields;  
•  At least 1 year (Category C), 5 years (Category B) or 12 years (Category A), (for PSA.SBS 15 years (Category A)) of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate risk management, natural resources management and community development; •    
• Working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of any other official language of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish, or Russian). For PSA, working knowledge (level C) of English. 

FAO core competencies

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

Technical/functional skills 

• Experience in developing countries, especially in countries that are vulnerable to disaster and climate change and/or other emergency risks is desirable;
• Extent of knowledge of humanitarian-development-peace nexus in particular on disaster risk reduction and climate risk management architecture, including agencies, NGOs, and other partners;   
• Demonstrated ability to analyse problems, make appropriate recommendations, effective decisions, including in emergency settings;
• Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset;  
• Depth of knowledge of agricultural threats and crises;
• Experience in drafting, developing and implementing DRR and climate risk management programmes and projects; 
• Experience in drafting programme related donor project proposals, budget formulation and in donor liaison on DRR and CRM is an asset;   
• Ability to operate effectively in a team, contributing positively to team operations and working relationships.    

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

Additional information

• FAO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)
• Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/ 
• For more information, visit the FAO employment website
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.

How to apply

• To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, and language skills • 
• Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile • Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application 
• Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications 
• Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Personal information provided on your application may be shared within FAO and with other companies acting on FAO’s behalf to provide employment support services such as pre-screening of applications, assessment tests, background checks and other related services. You will be asked to provide your consent before submitting your application. You may withdraw consent at any time, by withdrawing your application, in such case FAO will no longer be able to consider your application
• Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered 
• Your application will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile
• We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.

If you need help or have queries, please create a one-time registration with FAO’s client support team for further assistance: https://fao.service-now.com/csp