Early Warning Specialist

Job Summary:

This National Project Personnel position is SB4.

Reporting Lines

The Early Warning Specialist will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative, under the technical supervision of the Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer and direct supervision of Head of Risk Analysis, Agriculture and Food Security.

Technical Focus

The Early Warning Specialist will be part of the Risk Analysis, Agriculture and Food Security Unit. This engagement aims to support the mainstreaming and implementation of early warning and anticipatory action at the country level. FAO’s EWEA (Early Warning Early Action) programme is part of a growing number of anticipatory approaches to crises being implemented by organisations worldwide.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Develop guidelines and tools for anticipatory action systems

• Develop guidelines and tools on the selection of agrometeorological indicators and thresholds for triggering anticipatory action ahead of potential hazard impacts, e.g. from drought, severe winter seasons and floods, on agriculture and food security;
• Identify and design the requirements for an effective and optimized monitoring system for hydro-meteorological hazard risk management;
• Provide technical advice on communication of weather and climate information.

Climate Services and Early Warning

• Conduct research and develop tools for climate change risk and vulnerability assessment in agriculture, forestland other land use and water resources sectors;
• Support capacity building for the production, dissemination and use of weather forecasts, climate/agro-meteorological advisories, early warnings, and climate change;
• Support enhanced use of weather and climate data, weather forecasts, and climate predictions for early warning services, trigger mechanisms, and anticipatory action protocols;
• Support preparation of climate evidence base (climate rationale) for designing and implementing climate change projects;
• Build partnerships and contribute to the development of climate information platforms in support of planning and designing climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and programmes and projects;
• Support the preparation and roll out of agriculture climate services in Afghanistan.

Job Requirement:

Minimum Requirements   

• Advanced (Masters) degree or University (Bachelor) degree in Agriculture, Early Warning and Risk analysis, Climatology, Disaster Risk Management, Agriculture Economics, Social/Political Science, Food security analysis, International Relations, Development Studies or a closely related field;

• For advanced degree at least five (5) years of relevant work experience in humanitarian and agricultural/rural development sectors including work experience with national and international NGO’s, UN agencies and governments;
• For university degree at least seven (7) years of relevant work experience in humanitarian and agricultural/rural development sectors including work experience with national and international NGO’s, UN agencies and governments;
• Working knowledge (level C) of English and local languages (Pashto and Dari);
• National of Afghanistan.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience or familiarity with food security and livelihoods, including surveillance or monitoring systems, post-disaster needs recovery, risk and hazards profiling.
• Strong analytical skills, results interpretation, and communication for wide ranges of data and information users.
• Knowledge of agriculture, food security, livelihoods, food systems and value chains in the context of Afghanistan.
• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to an evolving and complex humanitarian context and within multidisciplinary and different cultural background teams.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Coordination skills with strong individual planning capacity.
• Knowledge of humanitarian principles.
• Working knowledge of geospatial analysis software (ARCGIS, QGIS etc).
• Strong professional command of Microsoft Office.
• Knowledge of Adobe package.
• Previous work experience with the UN is an advantage.

Job Location:

Afghanistan, Kabul

Submission Guideline:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing).
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
• Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/

HOW TO APPLY

• Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile.
• We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.
• If you need help, or have queries, please contact: [email protected]

Female applicants are highly encouraged to apply.

FAO IS A NON-SMOKING ENVIRONMENT