VAM Market Analyst Consultant At World Food Programme

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

All applications should be received no later than 14 Septemeber 2021

CONTRACT TYPE AND DURATION

Eligibility: Non-Syrian nationals

Type of Contract: International Consultant (CST Level 2)

Contract Duration: 11 months

Duty Station: Damascus, Syria

Number of employees required: 1

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetime. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need. In 2020, WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to fight hunger globally, including its work during the coronavirus pandemic.

In Syria, WFP provides food assistance to more than 4.6 million people each month. This includes families who require emergency assistance when affected by conflict and displacement and also those who need help to improve their nutrition and food security. WFP supports children across Syria with healthy meals and snacks at school, mothers with nutritious diets, and families and communities with sustainable livelihood projects.

BACKGROUND & PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT

The prolonged conflict in Syria, now well into its 10th year, continues to take a heavy toll on the Syrian population. Despite relative stability, 6.1 million people continue to be internally displaced (IDP), while 5.6 million people have sought refuge outside Syria. The 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) indicates that 14.2 million people need humanitarian assistance. Of these, an estimated 12.4 million are food insecure, almost 60 percent of the population. The Syrian economy is closely linked to that of Lebanon and ripple effects of the Lebanese financial crisis are being felt on Syria’s markets with key food items increasing by over 300 percent over the last two years.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization supporting around 100 million people across nearly 90 countries. WFP is a key actor in Syria supporting around 6 million people annually with food assistance, 4.5 million through general food assistance on a monthly basis. WFP depends heavily on assessments and food security analysis to assess the evolving context and needs in the country and to guide its interventions to target the most vulnerable and food insecure.

In 2021, Syria CO envisages expanding its market analysis capacity ensuring food prices and market assessments are conducted regularly and that findings are reliable and accurate. The worsening economic situation in Syria is heavily impacting food security in the country. Such a volatile context requires extensive economic and poverty analysis to fully assess the implications of the burden of price inflation on households’ food security and general wellbeing as well as identify possible ways to strengthen household livelihood resilience.

VAM Unit, WFP’s food security assessment and analysis unit, is requiring one staff to work as soon as possible to support the Unit and WFP with food price monitoring, conducting market assessments, economic and poverty analysis, and in writing food price reports.The conflict in Syria has entered its tenth year, taking a devastating toll on the lives of the Syrian people. Soaring food and fuel prices, stagnant salaries, loss of livelihoods, depletion of livelihood assets, and reduced food production have led to widespread food insecurity across the country. According to the latest Humanitarian Needs Overview there are 12.4 million people unable to meet their food needs and a further 1.8 million people at risk of food insecurity.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/ RESPONSIBILITIES

Within delegated authority and under the direct supervision of the Head of VAM Syria, the incumbent will be responsible for the following duties:

Price Data:

1. Coordinate regular collection of reliable and accurate market prices according to specifications provided by the Country Office and ensure the price data is regularly uploaded to the central WFP price database;
2. Analyse food and non-food items (NFIs) price data and write monthly reports on the trends;
3. Manage and customise where needed a tablet based food price monitoring tool;
   Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), transfer values and poverty analysis
4. In collaboration with the Food Security Sector and the inter-agency cash working group, carry out analysis to determine the MEB for Syria and ensure regular monitoring of the MEB, linking it to the price data collection
5. Carry out household gap analysis based on the MEB to inform transfer values for various types of programmes e.g. Livelihoods and PLWs and collaborate with other WFP Units (CBT, Livelihoods, etc.) on regular transfer value updates;
6. Collaborate with Syria’s Central Bureau of Statistics on how the MEB can be used to inform regular inflation monitoring (linking the MEB and a consumer price index)
7. Explore the use of the MEB in household vulnerability assessments to understand household economic capacity;
8. Carry out poverty analysis exploring the use of different types of poverty measures and using econometric analysis or modelling techniques where possible;

Market assessments

1. Conduct market assessments (using the Market Functionality Index) across Syria to assess the feasibility of CBT intervention scale-up in the country;

Other tasks

1. Conduct food security related thematic studies;
2. Perform other duties as required by the supervisor.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Masters’ Degree or higher in Economics, Development Economics, Statistics, Finance, Public Policy/Development or a related field.

Experience:

Minimum of 5 years of post-graduate experience in food security, poverty, vulnerability and market analysis in humanitarian and/or development settings. Experience working with household data. Previous work with national social protection systems is an asset.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Proficient in Microsoft’s Operating System: Word, Excel and Power Point.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills.
• Experience with food security, vulnerability and/or poverty related assessment methodologies and tools.
• Hands-on experience analysing household data a must; experience with price and/or other market data an asset
• Experience in survey design (including questionnaire design and sampling) and field data collection.
• Advanced skills in statistical analysis using statistical software and data visualization packages (experienced user of SPSS, STATA or R; preferably experience with Tableau or similar software).
• Demonstrated excellent writing skills and the ability to write analytical reports and present findings

Languages: Fluent in English. Arabic a plus

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Please upload your professional CV in English in PDF format making sure to include the following in terms of “Experience”:

• Company/Organization name and scope of work of the organization
• Exact Position Title
• Contract type: part-time, full-time, volunteer, consultant, or freelancer
• Start and End date of Employment for each position: From (dd/mm/yyyy) to (dd/mm/yyyy)
• Responsibilities: To mention the main responsibilities that highlight your gained skills and experience
• A proof of your experience will be required in the final stage of recruitment.

Only shortlisted candidates will be invited to the next stage of the selection process.
Candidates must get an auto confirmation email once application is submitted.