Consultant: Famine Prevention

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**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 lifetimes. 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.

**STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS**:
**Education**:Ph.D. in agricultural or development economics, international relations, social science, political science or a related field; or a degree in these fields with additional years of demonstratable experience in programming for prevention and reduction of humanitarian needs.

**Experience**: More than 12 years of relevant experience in food security, food policy, conflict, resilience and vulnerability.

**ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT**:
Over the past years there have been important developments in our understanding of how political, economic and environmental conditions interact and affect societies and individuals facing food crisis and famine. The pathways to famine are not linear processes that can be solely attributed to any one or two factors. Rather, famine is the result of a system of processes that includes the interplay between key drivers and their reinforcing nature, on the one hand, and societies’ preparedness and response to their condition of food insecurity, on the other.

Humanitarian and development communities have over the past years developed a range of effective programmatic interventions to respond to and reduce needs in the face of shocks like conflict, climate shocks and economic recession. While this has had significant impact in mitigating the impacts of famine, less emphasis has been placed on prevention. Preventing famine requires interventions that address a complex range of structural and socio-economic factors that drive or compound the effects of shocks and result in famine, including social tensions, inequalities, regional and national political dynamics, alongside structural issues such as trade inequalities. Tackling these drivers requires multi-sectoral, whole-of-society actions, and improved programme design, alongside enhanced political will, advocacy, and mechanisms for strengthened accountability.

In recognition of this, there is a need to identify short-, medium
- and longer-term options and possible actions relevant to addressing the drivers of famine. Initially, the focus will be on Hunger hotspot countries.

**JOB PURPOSE**:
**KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)**:
The consultant is expected to be a globally respected academic figure with significant experience in articulating global/national policy inputs for famine prevention.

The consultant is also expected to interact with senior individuals in the UN system, and high-level stakeholders from government, civil society and academia.

The incumbent is expected to:

- Conduct in-depth independent analysis and coordinate advice amongst senior policy stakeholders and academics to articulate and prioritize key drivers of famine in specific Hunger Hotspot countries, and present findings to senior figures. Focus should be on understanding how the effects of political, economic and social factors transpire, interact, and reinforce each other with a view to defining solutions/actions.
- Put forward independent expert recommendations that can reduce vulnerability and support local systems and communities to effectively adapt or transform in the face of the complex factors driving famine.
- Provide substantive expert and independent input to Global Network partners by creating evidential links in specific Hunger Hotspot countries between drivers of famine and recommended interventions.

**KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS**:
**Knowledge & Skills**:

- Proven expertise in specific countries or regions that experience structural and recurring famine conditions.
- Extensive research background on issues related to famine and food security;
- Strong grasp of the recent literature and discourses on pathways to famine and prevention;
- Extensive experience shaping country-level strategies in contexts affected by food crises;
- Experience in leading international stakeholder consultations;
- Proven success in delivering effective policy strategies.

**Languages**:English (essential), French and/or Spanish (desirable)

**DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT**:
The expected outputs are short papers describing key drivers of famine and recommendations to inform actions, partnerships and other transformative change agendas to tackle these complex dimensions.

The process should be as follows:

- Conduct in-depth research on selected Hunger Hotspot countries.
- Develop short paper on the ‘key drivers of famine with related findings that provide independent expert recommendations on HDP solutions.
- Based on advice and evidence convene ‘solutions dialogues’ with the appropriate stakeholders,