Consultant, Risk and Vulnerability Analyst
WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles
Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance
Job Title: Risk and Vulnerability Analyst Consultant
Type of Contract: Regular Consultant
Division: ARC African Risk Capacity
Duty Station (City, Country): Johannesburg (with a possibility to relocate to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire within the contract period)
Duration: 11 months with the possibility of extension
Reporting to: Head of Technical Support Division (TSD), ARC
In 2012, the African Risk Capacity (ARC) was established by treaty as a Specialised Agency of the African Union (AU) to help Member States improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters, therefore protecting the food security of their vulnerable populations. By linking early warning systems with contingency planning and supported by modern financial mechanisms, ARC enables governments to provide targeted responses to disasters in a more timely, cost-effective, objective and transparent manner, thereby reducing response costs and loss of livelihoods.
To date, the ARC Establishment Agreement has been signed by 35 countries across the continent, and is an indication of the comprehensive endorsement of the work being undertaken by ARC as part of Africa’s new climate and disaster management infrastructure. In 2014, the member governments established ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd), the Agency’s financial affiliate, which is licensed as a mutual insurer, to manage the risk taken on through underwriting a pool of weather and other disaster risks. Together ARC Agency, an international organisation, and ARC Ltd, the dedicated sovereign risk insurance facility, comprise the ARC Group.
Since its creation in 2012 the ARC Agency has been working towards establishing and mainstreaming its operational procedures and in-country work programme with ARC Member States. At the country-level the ARC Secretariat of the ARC Agency supports ARC in-country technical working groups on several technical and political work-streams as they progress towards making an informed decision on participating in the ARC Ltd insurance pool. The ARC Secretariat Technical Support Division supports the technical aspects of this interaction, including working with countries to customise and validate Africa RiskView (ARV) and select risk transfer parameters for their insurance products.
Africa RiskView, ARC’s proprietary weather modelling software is the technical engine behind the ARC insurance mechanism and the tool provided to ARC Member States to help them manage their weather risk and identify the appropriate amount of risk to transfer to the ARC risk pool. Africa RiskView serves four purposes: a) as an underwriting tool for transactions with ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd); b) assist decision makers in making critically aware, informed decisions about not only insurance, but also about their general investments in risk management, c) as an early warning tool for African governments; and d) to create a single, transparent System of Record for African drought, flood and cyclone risks (hazard, vulnerability and exposure information).
Responsibilities
The Risk and Vulnerability Analyst will be a member of the ARC Secretariat Technical Support Division supporting all aspects of the ARC Technical Support Division’s work, with a particular focus on the in-country interactions with ARC Member States. Reporting to the Technical Division Manager, the Risk Analyst’s responsibilities will include the following:
1. Work closely with the Technical Support Division Manager and provide expert technical advice and guidance on specific matters relating to the coordination of in-country customisation, in-season monitoring and validation work in the West Africa region.
2. Lead the customisation of ARC’s Drought Model and other peril models and the preparation for participation in the insurance pool for a limited portfolio of countries, and support other TSD staff in the same, including:
- Conduct background research to understand the risk factors and risk profiles of ARC Member States;
- Gather and prepare historical data on droughts and other natural disasters in ARC Member States;
- Leading the data analysis and customisation work for assigned ARC Member States;
- Support the drafting and review of customisation reports;
- Monitor Africa RiskView’s estimates to contribute to monthly bulletins and other ad hoc analyses and publications;
- Document ARC TSD in-country activities and ensure that final work is properly documented and stored on the institutional cloud or shared drive.
3. Support the Technical Support Division in designing and conducting Africa RiskView country and regional trainings, preparing training materials and support documentation, particularly, support the
preparation of materials for ARC’s E-Learning platform.
4. Monitor and verify Africa RiskView’s estimates against information from the ground, produce and disseminate end-of-season reports for all assigned countries, contribute to production of special reports, ARV-related pages on the ARC website and other knowledge products.
5. Support the development, upgrade and update of the Africa RiskView software and its related manuals, Standard Operating Procedures, other documentation and country briefs.
6. Work collaboratively with other departments of ARC in developing country strategies, risk profiles and provide input into the development of other strategic documents when required.
7. Contribute to the design and development of new methodologies for the expansion of Africa RiskView to new risks including flood and cyclone and support the in-country work required to ground-truth and calibrate new models.
8. Be the focal point of the Technical Support Division in assigned Member States and represent the Technical Support Division in all technical engagements with partner organizations, including Replica Partners, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), relevant United Nations agencies and other in-country technical organizations to leverage and build synergies that can enhance ARC’s effectiveness and improve the efficiency of seasonal monitoring.
9. Under the guidance of the Technical Support Division Manager and in collaboration with the Research and Quality Assurance Division, engage in research initiatives to introduce and test new datasets, improve the performance of ARC’s risk models and provide lessons learnt from in- country work to the relevant research teams.
10. Liaise and support ARC Ltd to undertake risk transfer discussions and support the in-country Technical Working Groups to contextualise the changes in country risk profiles.
11. Liaise and support the Contingency Planning team to undertake the design of Operations Plans and Final Implementation Plans (FIP) and support the in-country Technical Working Groups to understand the impact of changes to response costs to the country risk profiles.
12. Support the Technical Support Division Manager, the Director of Research and Development, the Chief Operating Officer and the Group Director General in undertaking other tasks, including reporting to donors and collaborations with ARC partners, as necessary.
13. Represent the ARC Agency at conferences and meetings, as required.
Qualifications and experience required
Education:
Advanced university degree in Natural resources and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Economics/Economics, Agricultural Engineering, Statistics, Geography other related discipline.
Experience:
• At least 6 years of progressively responsible professional experience in food security analysis, climate-related agricultural risk management or early warning systems development and implementation;
• Experience in impact modelling of natural hazards such as drought, cyclones and floods would be a strong asset;
• Experience in undertaking capacity building initiatives and developing training materials is desired;
• Experience in Africa, working with national, regional or continental institutions, is a required.
Knowledge & Skills:
• Expert user of Microsoft Excel. Good knowledge of statistical packages, SPSS, Stata or R for quantitative data analysis;
• Experience in collecting geospatial and socioeconomic food security data, conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses, and reporting findings to a wide audience;
• Strong knowledge of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing and experience in use of remotely sensed products;
• Strong analytical and statistical skills to manage and analyse data and model results as required;
• Demonstrated ability to write clear technical reports for a diverse range of audience;
• Strong analytical and data interpretation skills;
• Reliability, attention to detail and problem -solving skills;
• Ability to work both collaboratively and under minimum supervision, and under tight deadlines;
• Ability to adapt to new tasks and to align smoothly with the organisation strategic objectives;
• Availability to undertake frequent travel.
Languages:
Fluency in oral and written English or French (Extensive Level C) and intermediate knowledge of the other (Intermediate Level B); knowledge of Portuguese is an asset.
Deadline for applications: 10 August 2023
Ref.: VA No. 828661
Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply
WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status
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.
