Honduras Country Technical Senior Specialist - Conflict FEWS NET 8

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is an integrated set of activities funded by the United States Government (USG) and is intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food insecurity early warning information and analysis. Created in 1985 in response to famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET provides global coverage of acute food insecurity. FEWS NET’s work is implemented across several mechanisms by a team of partners that includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the University of California-Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center (UCSB-CHC), University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences, American Institutes for Research (AIR), and Chemonics International (Chemonics). Chemonics implements FEWS NET’s Decision Support Team (DST), which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support the United States Government’s (USG) policy and programmatic decisions. The DST operates through a Washington-based technical office, regional FEWS NET offices, and national staff presence in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe.   

FEWS NET’s objective is to produce timely, evidence-based decision support to enable the efficient allocation of humanitarian assistance on the basis of need. The FEWS NET DST maintains virtual and physical field offices in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Five regional offices coordinate and oversee the technical and administrative management of over 40 country offices. Each country office falls into one of three tiers, depending on the complexity of the context and operating environment. Tier 1 countries require a larger staffing footprint, while Tier 3 countries require a smaller one. There are four main technical positions at the country level: Country Technical Lead (CTL); Country Technical Manager (CTM); Country Technical Senior Specialist for Food Security (CTSS-FS); and Country Technical Specialist for Conflict (CTSS-C).

The CTSS-C will be responsible for providing an assessment of conflict and violence dynamics in support of food security analysis. The CTSS-C, under the direction and guidance of the CTL and the Regional Technical Senior Specialist–Conflict (RTSS-C), who work in close alignment with the home office-based Security & Conflict Advisor, is responsible for supporting the following activities, in collaboration with other technical staff in the country: 

• Providing efficient monitoring, assessment, and early warning analysis as it pertains to conflict, food security, and conflicts’ impacts on food insecurity. This support may involve sub-national level analysis.
• Producing analyses on the relationship between conflict and food insecurity, with a focus on early warning
• Continually tracking potential conflict drivers, conflict triggers, and key actors and institutions.
• Effectively communicating conflict and food security early warning analysis to national and sub-national partners and decision-makers through high-quality reporting and participation in briefings and formal and informal meetings.
• Closely collaborating with key partners, such as host government ministries, UN agencies, and international and local NGOs, among others, nationally and sub-nationally
• Helping to build strategic partner networks nationally and sub-nationally, addressing identified gaps in effective conflict early warning systems
• Engaging in Integrated Phase Classification (IPC)/ Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analyses
• Regularly collecting and analyzing conflict and food security-related qualitative and quantitative information.
• Coordinating and effectively collaborating with other FEWS NET mechanisms