Oxfam Zimbabwe

Deadline: 19 August 2021

Reports to the SAF Humanitarian and Protection Lead / Zimbabwe Country Representative

The Oxfam, Zimbabwe Country Programme is looking for a dynamic individual to fill the post of a Food Security and Livelihoods Manager. Oxfam is a global movement of people who won’t live with the injustice of poverty. Together, we save and rebuild lives in disasters. We help people build better lives for themselves. We speak out on the big issues that keep people poor, like inequality, discrimination against women and climate change. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can live without poverty. In Zimbabwe, Oxfam work spans across women’s rights, sustainable food systems, policy & advocacy work as well as responding to humanitarian crisis as part of the Southern African region family. This work is made possible by committed people working in the various functions that make up the country program.

About the position

Oxfam has recently gone through a change process with the aim to strengthen the local humanitarian leadership agenda. The Food Security and Livelihoods Manager will work with the rest of the Zimbabwe team to build the capacity of local partners to meaningfully participate in the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) process, improve partner capacity to respond to emergencies and ensure that there are clear strategic and practical links to longer term initiatives in Oxfam’s area of operation. The Food Security Manager will support the SAF Humanitarian Lead to influence the humanitarian sector in Zimbabwe and provide technical support to the Government of Zimbabwe and to other humanitarian stakeholders, using organisational global experience and expertise. The Food Security and Livelihoods Manager will also engage strategically with coordination structures, donors and other decision-making bodies, using evidence based research to influence them for action nationally and regionally, and to ensure that the good practices in Zimbabwe are shared globally to strengthen the Food Security and livelihoods Sector. With support from the SAF Humanitarian Lead, the Food security Manager will be responsible for ensuring that Oxfam maintains excellent Food security and livelihoods technical expertise. The Manager will be expected to spend at least 80% of their time on direct support to local partners and Oxfam field teams.

This implies in particular the production of analytical data and the provision of evidence, through our multisectoral evaluations; the production and promotion of food security analysis , participation in IPC exercises (severe acute food insecurity) for the classification of sub-prefectures of Zimbabwe in the food insecure phase, etc.

Main responsibilities / tasks

Strategic management of the IPC project

Consult and coordinate with IPC stakeholders before identifying training needs. Once there is understanding and agreement on how to proceed, knowledge gaps for each target audience will be identified and training programs will be developed and delivered; Identify and contract national trainers as needed; Organize other relevant ad hoc trainings and coordinated collaborative activities that support informal activities as part of strengthening IPC community of practice; Collaborate in the establishment of advocacy and funding strategies to support the sustainability of this IPC community of practice, and promote a cadre of national experts to support IPC analyses, quality real-time evaluations (linked with function 4 of the IPC relating to Quality Assurance) and the launch of early warnings, in collaboration with the Food Security Cluster; Contribute to the development process of the FSL Oxfam sector strategy in Zimbabwe; Contribute to the development of project proposals in connection with (national and community) surveillance mechanisms, such as sentinel sites, SCAP-RU, HEA; Sensitize NGOs through the FSL Cluster or other niches to be identified, demonstrating the comparative advantage of migrating at equal cost to more flexible types of evaluations, which contribute both to their programmatic needs and for data collection; Maintaining Systems and Integrating Learning for System Compliance, Accountability and Quality

Project management and fundraising

Managing legacy food security projects; Support with fundraising efforts for the humanitarian team for food security and livelihoods projects; Manage food security project teams, donor reporting, partner managements and donor compliance; Budget tracking and budget monitoring

Development and management of the IPC project in Zimbabwe

Lead the planning and implementation of IPC project activities; Convene ad hoc meetings to review information from NGOs and other agencies and advocate for data collection through the Food Security cluster or other agency, and depending on the results of the data collected, to advocate again with the IPC TWG, for an update of the evidence; Map and identify data gaps, early warning system triggers and alerts, and standards for action to decide when deterioration should result in data collection; Work closely with FSL Officers, and MEAL to monitor the IPC project indicators and their verification, and ensure that the indicators are adequate, measured and used correctly; Ensure a better understanding and use of IPC results at several levels in the country, including within OXFAM and its partners, and contribute to advocacy to trigger rapid and effective reactions in the event of a deterioration of the situation; Evaluate and monitor the evolution of the humanitarian context at the country level; Contribute to the design of integrated responses, by providing the most relevant data in relation to the elements of the context and the food and nutritional situation; Co-develop and co-lead with the Zimbabwe IPC TWG ad hoc trainings or events on various potential topics, such as gender sensitive IPC analyses, famine classification, use of qualitative data in IPC analyses, price projections and climate events, etc; Conduct and document formal and informal lessons learned to encourage the adoption of a learning culture and the integration of best practices; Coordinate the sharing and learning exercises carried out within the IPC community of practice in Zimbabwe.

Quality of the IPC Project

Supervise the quality of materials and equipment acquired for the implementation of the IPC project; Develop new tools adapted to the implementation context and ensure the application of existing tools; Initiate and consult the actors involved in IPC analyses on the development of new technical guidelines on gender sensitive IPC analyses; In collaboration with the MEAL department, ensure the capitalization of achievements (drawing inspiration from the local information management system developed by OXFAM), carry out thematic studies as needed, strengthen the MEAL team in monitoring FSL indicators and write analysis documents; Ensure the budgetary monitoring of the project for which he is in charge and identify any incident or risk of incident in the execution of this budget in accordance with Oxfam's procedures in Zimbabwe and the requirements of donors; Facilitate and support the realization of the follow-up (monitoring) and evaluations of the activities related to this project.

What We Are Looking For

Applications are invited from individuals who possess:

3 years of professional experience in food security, livelihood or rural development project management with OXFAM or other international NGOs; University education: Master in Agronomy, Veterinary, Economics, rural development, or equivalent; Ability to analyse and identify triggers of food insecurity; Experience working with the project cycle; Complementary training in humanitarian action, rural development, Food Security; Experience and skills in planning, development, management and monitoring of development programs / projects (including design, capacity building, partnership management, fundraising, report writing, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, advocacy, inter-agency network and coordination, etc.); Ability to influence state services, actors and members of the Food Security Cluster; Excellent interpersonal communication skills, written and verbal with English desirable, with persuasive influences and skills; Ability to use different approaches to monitor the program; Excellent social and intercultural skills; Ability to represent the organization to external bodies and institutions

Technical skills

Ability to take initiatives, demonstrate availability, learning capacity, Ability to work in a team; Leadership skills, Coordination capacity, Organizational and planning skills, Ability to manage a multidisciplinary team

Desirable

Knowledge of Oxfam; Knowledge of the livelihood framework and the Resilient Development framework