Food Security and Resilience Technical Advisor, USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) program

BACKGROUND

The USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) program is a five-year, flexible buy-in mechanism jointly managed by the USAID Africa Bureau, Middle East Bureau, and Africa Regional Missions. It was designed to mobilize enterprise-driven solutions that increase trade and investment in Africa, including North and Sub-Saharan Africa. It strengthens Africa’s markets by developing new trade and investment relationships, particularly between the United States and African continent. It also works to achieve development outcomes across all sectors.

In response to the impact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on food security in Africa, the ATI program is rapidly building private sector-led partnership and innovative trade and investment solutions to mitigate the impact on food systems and smallholder farmers. ATI received Ukraine Food Security Supplemental funding from USAID to focus on immediate and urgent activities that will have a lasting impact on food and nutrition security and strengthen resilience capacities.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Food Security and Resilience Technical Advisor will provide technical inputs to support the management of multiple food security and resilience partnerships across the continent to meet the objectives of the Ukraine Supplemental funding. The overall objective of the food security and resilience work under ATI is to increase the ability of the private sector to boost trade and investment in key agriculture and food value chains while building capacity and resilience among people and mitigating global macroeconomic shocks. This position requires someone to have a deep understanding of food security trends and the ability to track critical data sources related to food and nutrition security.

This role will work collaboratively and in conjunction with the food security and resilience team, as well as regional Activity Managers, technical advisors, and the broader ATI team to coordinate and deliver all ATI food security and resilience activities. Responsibilities include providing technical and management support to program activities, working with the technical and operational teams to identify and mobilize resources in support of implementation, and supporting USAID clients. The Food Security and Resilience Technical Advisor will also support generating scopes of work and supporting the design of procurements and grants programs. In addition, s/he will provide surge procurement and operational support to existing ATI staff, as needed, and play a role in developing knowledge products that support learning capture across the program.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversee and track food security and resilience activity implementation progress by partners, consultants, and subcontractors, to ensure our work adheres to the approved work plan and deliverable schedule, and troubleshoot deviations;
• Monitor food security issues in targeted regions and produce or oversee analysis on food security trends;
• Provide relationship management support for client and implementing partners, which may include serving as a representative for ATI in meetings with officials from USAID, other USG agencies and partners, governments, corporations, capital partners, and other key stakeholders across Africa;
• Participate in strategic and technical meetings in collaboration with USAID and other stakeholders as part of ATI’s co-creation process and to inform and develop relevant aspects of ATI’s foundational technical activities as they relate to food security and resilience;
• Support strategies to engage new and under-utilized partners, and ensure compliant activity implementation;
• Support Activity Managers and colleagues on all matters related to activities, including but not limited to contractual, operational, monitoring, evaluation, and learning, reporting, and communications;
• Provide a more in-depth role in food security and resilience programming and provide support beyond the initial design stages. This support could include working directly with partners or having a more robust role in the activity design, implementation, and monitoring;
• Contribute to the quarterly reporting and activity updates to ensure that the ATI team proactively updates USAID;
• Ensure assigned activities are managed in accordance with USAID regulations and DAI procurement policies; and
• Travel to regional offices (25%) as required.

REPORTING

The Food Security and Resilience Technical Advisor reports to the ATI Food Security and Resilience Team Lead.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree in a relevant subject area preferred
• Demonstrated technical expertise in agricultural development, food security, malnutrition, or resilience programming and processes, preferably through USAID-funded regional projects in Africa
• At least 10 years of demonstrated experience supporting, leading, designing, and/or supporting food and nutrition security programs that have contributed to significant results reducing food insecurity
• Minimum of 5 years of experience working to develop and maintain strategic partnerships with U.S. Government agencies, government donors, African government institutions, or other international and regional economic bodies in Africa
• Experience and knowledge of food security and resilience issues and how they link to U.S. Government priorities, with the ability to identify trends and strategically adapt activities to improve impact
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple geographies and a range of private sector and public sector partners
• Proven project management, client management, communications, writing, and interpersonal skills with excellent judgment, sound problem solving and decision-making skills
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, fluid team setting with multiple stakeholders
• Fluency in spoken and written English required, French language skills a plus