Consultancy

Conflict-Induced Food Insecurity: Implications and Strategies to Achieve Protection Outcomes

Consultant: Coordinator

(Food Insecurity and Protection)

About InterAction:

InterAction is the largest U.S. based coalition of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with nearly 190 members working around the world in low- and middle-income countries, fragile and post-conflict states, and emerging/growth economies. Member organizations are large and small, secular and faith-based, with a focus on people living in the world’s most poor and vulnerable places. The U.S. public, foundations, and governments support the work of our member NGOs that collectively invest and manage more than $15.4 billion a year. InterAction revenues come from dues, government grants, private foundation and corporate grants, and a growing fee-for-service program portfolio. Using its collective voice and convening power, InterAction seeks to shape important policy decisions and actions across a wide range of issues – including foreign assistance, humanitarian relief, development, economic equity, food security, and climate change – that advance human dignity, human potential, and self-determination.

Background: When famine or acute hunger occurs today, it is usually the result of armed conflict. According to the UN World Food Program, almost 60% of the 690 million people facing acute hunger around the world live in areas affected by armed violence. Armed conflict is the single biggest challenge to achieving zero hunger. The lack of respect for civilian life and property by parties to the conflict—their failure to respect international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law—disrupts food systems and food markets, destroys livelihoods and employment, and threatens development gains. Conflict-induced hunger increases protection risks and displaces people. Those who remain in their homes tend to fare worse than those who are displaced and suffer in silence beyond the reach of aid agencies. The impact of conflict on hunger is substantial, but also foreseeable and preventable.

State and non-state parties to a conflict continue to cause hunger and starvation through violence, coercion, and deliberate deprivation. Hunger follows the destruction of personal property and livestock, livelihoods, food production, markets, and critical infrastructure, including health care. Acts such as restricting people’s movements, failing to act when food is blocked, or selectively providing food aid to people under the control of one party to the conflict also contribute to hunger and starvation. Famine and food insecurity intensify protection risks, as women and children become more vulnerable to a wide range of threats. Food insecurity contributes to risks including family separation; gender-based violence, including sexual abuse and exploitation; and attacks as they search for food, water, and access to services.

About the Project:

Since 2012, InterAction has been at the forefront of results-based approaches to protection. Through its signature work on Results-Based Protection, InterAction has carried out numerous roundtables, interagency dialogues, field-level workshops, and trainings with NGOs around the world to identify and distill the key elements of results-based protection in order to achieve protection outcomes. Under its current work, InterAction is providing country-level support to NGOs in select countries as well as supporting the piloting of an evaluation framework for the prevention of gender-based violence.

To understand and demonstrate what efforts are needed to bring about protection outcomes, InterAction has prioritized the issue of conflict-induced food insecurity which has emerged as a key focus area and often prioritized within humanitarian strategies.

InterAction, along with its partners, have launched an initiative to support organizations in their uptake of the Centrality of Protection. By undertaking a multi-country initiative to support organizations in their efforts to analyze protection risks from the perspective of affected populations and develop context-specific theories of change, InterAction hopes to encourage the uptake of outcome-oriented ways of working to address protection issues manifesting due to conflict-induced food insecurity. Findings from this work aim to help humanitarians take immediate action at a country level, while the analysis of common trends across all countries included in the analysis will help to influence and shape US policy and global policy and practice.

Position Objective:

SIDA is supporting the initiative led by partners from InterAction, CARE, WFP, and NRC on the linkages between conflict-driven food insecurity and protection risks. The initiative is currently being carried out in Colombia, Niger, and Somalia. The methodology relies on community-led protection analysis to inform a multi-disciplinary theory of change where food security programs and other sectors and disciplines can contribute to prioritized protection outcomes, as defined by affected people themselves.

The use of results-based approaches to protection is at the heart of the initiative that aims to inform not only the analysis phase but the “action” component to support a multi-disciplinary response and achieve measurable protection outcomes.

Niger

Organizations working in Niger participated in the analysis phase (January 2023) and are currently developing context-specific theories of change based on the findings from the community analysis where prioritized protection risks were identified. While efforts were underway to develop context-specific theories of change, the Niger Coup that occurred in July 2023, sparked a need to return to communities to reassess the protection risks and community-informed solutions. Organizations are in the process of diving deeper in the proposed ToC and expect to return to communities in early January to not only validate their understanding of the analysis and ToC, but also take this opportunity to identify new priorities and changes that may have surfaced because of the Coup. After validation with communities, the initiative will move into multi-disciplinary strategies and action plans to support efforts to achieve protection outcomes.

InterAction is seeking a part-time consultant to support the next phase of the initiative. This work will entail engagement with the co-coordination team (CARE and the Protection Cluster Coordinator) in their

efforts to maintain momentum among the Country Group members and help to establish additional relationships as relevant and needed in the rollout of the action-planning phase. The position will support key activities in the next phase including the community validation process and the action-planning phase. This includes coordination, logistical, and administrative support.

Position Description:

Position Title: Consultant- Coordinator

Position Type:

Timeframe: Short-term consultant Immediately until March 31st (part-time)

Location: Niamey, Niger and home-based

Essential Functions and Deliverables:

This consultant/s will work with InterAction’s Senior Program Manager-Protection (virtually) and the co-coordination team in Niamey (CARE and Protection Cluster Coordinator) to support the activities of the Country Group to carry out the community validation process and action planning phase. The consultant will:

· Maintain the momentum of the Country Group members by undertaking regular communication and organizing regular meetings (in-person or virtually) to discuss progress, key activities, and challenges or concerns emerging from the initiative;

· Support the recruitment of new members to the Country Group where relevant; maintaining an up-to-date list of organizations who are members of the Country Group;

· Support the facilitation of meetings, including note taking, capturing action points, and follow-up to ensure actions are met in given timelines;

· Support the creation of stakeholder mapping for food insecurity and protection in each of the specific areas where ToC are being developed;

· Support and oversee the development of the validation plan with communities; coordinate the rollout of the validation process with Country Group members including compiling the notes/data generated from the validation activities;

· Work with InterAction, CARE, and the Protection Cluster Coordinator to analyze the validation data to inform follow-on workshops with the Country Group members to refine ToC and move into the action-planning phase;

· Alongside InterAction and the co-coordination team, support the design and set-up of the action-planning phase, including workshops that focus on multi-disciplinary strategies and organizational strategies that contribute to protection outcomes;

· Help to produce written strategies (from workshops) that can be shared with Country Group members and include specific action points that can be monitored, tracked, and follow-up to ensure implementation;

· Maintain a tracking system (in line with the Measurement Framework) to monitor the collective strategy of the Country Group to support protection outcomes;

· Maintain a tracking system (in line with the Measurement Framework) to monitor and support individual organizational actions to be taken that support the uptake of outcome-oriented methods that can contribute to protection outcomes.

Consolidated List of Deliverables & Key Activities

· Regular Country Group meeting minutes (bi-weekly or monthly)

· Stakeholder map, food insecurity

· Stakeholder map, protection

· Community Validation plan

· Compiled action plans per Country Group member and one collective action plan for the Country Group

· Tracking system

Qualifications:

InterAction is seeking a consultant with experience in high level coordination and project management, especially engaging with interagency fora/groups. Primary qualifications include:

· Proven experience coordinating interagency fora/groups;

· Highly skilled in project management, particularly managing projects with multiple stakeholders;

· Strong organizational and planning skills in humanitarian contexts;

· Familiarity with the subject matter and established relationships with key stakeholders within the food insecurity and protection communities;

· Experience working with groups to implement collective action plans;

· Experience using tracking mechanisms to monitor progress;

· Demonstrated knowledge and experience of humanitarian crises, including the humanitarian architecture and how it functions (i.e., clusters, humanitarian country teams (HCT)), roles of agencies, and other actors

Thematic/Technical Experience (highly desirable for at least one of the following)

· An understanding of conflict-induced hunger and how protection risks are manifested.

· An understanding of protection outcomes, risk reduction, and the key elements of results-based protection within humanitarian action.

· Experience in measurement and evaluation, especially the use of outcome-oriented methods to track and monitor progress

Interagency Experience

· Experience working within a team, engaging multiple organizations, and managing different perspectives, expectations, and contributions

· Able to work independently, taking initiative and managing activities and deadlines without significant guidance

· Excellent verbal and written communication with a wide range of stakeholders

· Ability to multi-task, prioritize, and mange time and competing demands effectively while working under pressure with tight deadlines

· Able to balance the need to work independently while collaborating closely with the InterAction team and other relevant actors

· Fluency in English and French required

Requirements:

There are no extraordinary physical requirements for the performance of the essential functions of this position. InterAction will make reasonable accommodation to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

None

Compensation:

TBD

Expected Start Date:

January 2024

Reports to:

Senior Program Manager-Protection

Travel:

Travel within Niger (outside of Niamey) may be required.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.

Applications are only being sought from individuals already residing in Niamey, Niger. InterAction is not seeking a consultant to go to Niger, nor will we compensate for normal living arrangements in Niamey.

To Apply: Please submit all of your materials in your application on ADP. All applications should include:

· Curriculum Vitae (CV)

· Cover letter that addresses qualifications relevant to this solicitation and includes the consultant/s daily and hourly rate.

· Demonstration of HEAT Certification

· A writing sample in English

· Two names of references

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, but applicants are encouraged to apply before January 5th. Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered for this position. Due to the volume of applications, only finalists will be notified; no phone calls please!