Consultant, Planning Coordinator, Food Security & Resilience Consultancy

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies (NSs). The overall aim of IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by NSs with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.”  IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.

IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas.  IFRC also has country cluster delegations and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.

Africa faces a severe food insecurity crisis, with over 800 million people experiencing hunger and 115 million needing immediate aid. The IFRC and National Societies have mobilized to address this crisis through the Hunger Crisis Regional Emergency Appeal launched in October 2022, aiming to assist 7.7 million people in 15 African countries with a funding request of 215 million CHF. Mauritania has been included as one of the priority countries. Chad, while not part of the Hunger Crisis Regional Appeal, is on the IFRC ‘watch list’.

Two Food Security and Resilience Planning Coordinator Consultants will be responsible for developing comprehensive country plans for Mauritania and Chad respectively. Their primary objective will be to transform national society country plans and emergency country plans of action into multi-year sustainable Food Security and Resilience Country Plans aligned with regional initiatives and national society strategies. To achieve this, each Planning Coordinator will collaborate with partners within their respective countries.

Each Planning Coordinator should be a national of the country they are assigned to (Mauritania and Chad). They should have an in-depth knowledge of the regional context, expertise in food security and resilience programming, strong project proposal writing skills and familiarity with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Specific tasks

• Develop Food Security and Resilience Country Plans based on national society country plans, existing Country Plans of Actions for Mauritania and Chad.
• Assess and review ToRs for Call for Proposals and propose a preliminary outline of proposal content for consideration.
• Research funding opportunities for delegations and the Regional Office.

Deliverables

• Two completed Food Security and Resilience Country Plans for Mauritania and Chad.

Duration

The consultancy will last from November 2023 to December 2023 (2 months), with 22 working days per month and 100% in country.

Reporting lines

• The consultant wills report directly to the Regional Operations Manager for the Hunger Crisis. The Zero Hunger Programme Coordinator will serve as the overall technical supervisor for the consultant, working closely with Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) colleagues in the region to ensure alignment with regional initiatives and country-level plans
• The consultants will also report directly to their respective cluster offices (Dakar and Bangui) for technical outputs as well as for travel and safety/security.
• The consultants will also report directly to the PMER Regional Head and respective PMER Cluster Office colleagues for alignment with IFRC planning tools and guidance.
• The consultant may have contacts with relevant technical departments in Geneva and the Regional Office for operational purposes, in consultation and agreement with line management.

Security

• IFRC Africa Regional Office Safety and Security Department will manage all technical security-related matters.
• All IFRC staff and consultants must complete the IFRC Stay Safe e-learning courses.
• The consultant will receive a security briefing upon arrival and should carry photo identification.

Duty of Care

• Travel approval process: The Regional Operations Manager for the Hunger Crisis and respective Operations Manager for the cluster office must be informed of all travel requests.

Budget

• All costs related to consultancy are to be covered by IFRC.

Additional considerations

• The consultant must complete various online courses on the IFRC e-learning platform before deployment.
• All consultants must be familiar with and comply with the “Code of Conduct for Staff and Consultants working in an operation managed or coordinated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Mission/Consultancy Health Vaccines

• The consultant should undergo a medical checkup and have the minimum required vaccinations completed before deployment.
• For more information, visit SoS International (internationalsos.com- username 22AMMS000091).

Other information

• All consultants should obtain the most up-to-date information about the disaster from sources such as ReliefWeb.com, WHO, and other sources.
• All consultants should wear signage provided by their National Society or Federation office.

Debriefing/End of consultancy

• A briefing and debriefing by the consultant will be conducted in each country for the national society and movement partners upon arrival and departure.
• Consultancy debrief: The consultant will complete a debrief, including a Handover Document and feedback from the Regional Operations Manager.
• Consultancy report: The consultant will provide an end-of-consultancy report with outputs reported to the Regional Operations Manager of the Hunger Crisis.

University degree or equivalent experience in Food Security and Livelihoods

• Food security and Livelihoods background and/or working experience
• Previous professional experience with IFRC is highly desired
• Demonstrated understanding of donors and success in proposal submissions

• Exceptional writing and editing skills with a proven track record of successful proposals and multi-year strategies/plans
• Fluency in both French and English

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability.

Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust.