Overview
Provide overall coordination of WFP Zambia's El Niño preparedness and response, ensuring analysis, programme decisions, operational planning, and implementation are coherent and actionable.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the development and maintenance of the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and integrated response plan and calendar.
- Oversee the Emergency Task Force.
- Support management decision-making.
- Ensure WFP's response continuously adapts to evolving evidence, Government and UN Country Team priorities, operational realities and available resources.
- Coordinate the Country Office's overall El Niño preparedness and response architecture.
- Advise the Country Office Management Team (CMT) on emerging strategic and operational issues, risks, priorities, decision points and required management action.
- Maintain a whole-of-operation view, ensuring alignment across programme, supply chain, resources, partnerships and implementation.
- Develop and maintain an integrated emergency calendar and critical-path tracker.
- Chair and coordinate the Country Office Emergency El Niño Task Force.
- Work closely with the Research Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) unit and relevant technical teams to ensure the response is informed by the best available evidence.
- Coordinate with the SO1 Manager and relevant programme leads to ensure preparedness and response interventions are coherent, sequenced and operationally ready.
- Provide strong coordination between programme requirements and Supply Chain/logistics planning.
- Support the CD in high-level engagement with Government, donors, UN agencies and other partners.
- Work closely with Finance, Budget & Programming, Partnerships, Programme and Supply Chain to maintain an integrated view of needs, available resources, funding gaps, pipeline implications and operational readiness.
- Coordinate with Partnerships, Communications and Reporting (PCR) and relevant technical teams to establish an effective information and knowledge-management system for the response.
- Regularly review progress against the CONOPS, milestones, targets and operational plans.
- Deliver and maintain an approved and regularly updated El Niño CONOPS/integrated response plan.
- Deliver and maintain a master preparedness and response calendar, critical-path tracker and milestone dashboard.
- Deliver and maintain a functioning and effectively managed Emergency/El Niño Task Force.
- Deliver regular management decision briefs.
- Deliver an integrated operational readiness and response tracker.
- Deliver coordinated inputs to donor briefings, resource mobilization materials, situation reports and corporate/regional reporting.
- Deliver periodic scenario and response reviews.
- Deliver a final after-action/lessons-learned and transition report.
Required Experience
A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in humanitarian and emergency operations, including significant experience in large-scale or complex emergency responses. Extensive experience coordinating large-scale humanitarian/emergency operations, preferably within WFP, the UN or a comparable international humanitarian organization. Demonstrated experience developing and operationalizing CONOPS, emergency response plans, contingency plans and/or emergency operational frameworks. Strong experience bridging programme and supply chain/logistics, with demonstrated understanding of food-assistance operations, commodity planning, procurement/sourcing, warehousing, transport, distribution and last-mile delivery. Demonstrated experience coordinating cross-functional emergency teams and driving delivery across programme, assessment, supply chain, finance, partnerships, field operations and other functions. Strong experience using food security and operational analysis to inform programme decisions, including targeting, transfer modalities, transfer values, geographic prioritization and response scale. Demonstrated senior-level engagement with Government, donors, UN agencies, NGOs and inter-agency coordination mechanisms. Experience managing or coordinating emergency task forces, operational cells or similar emergency-management structures. Experience in drought and/or climate-related emergencies in Africa, preferably Southern Africa, would be highly desirable. Previous WFP emergency experience would be a strong advantage.
Qualifications
Advanced university degree in International Affairs, Development Studies, Humanitarian Affairs, Economics, Food Security, Logistics/Supply Chain Management, Disaster Risk Management or another relevant field; or a first university degree with substantial additional relevant professional experience.
