Regional Pastoral Expert Job at Oxford Policy Management (OPM), Ethiopia

1.       Background on Tasking Order #19: Technical Assistance Support to Improve the Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance in Drought Affected Areas of Ethiopia 

The Building Resilience in Ethiopia – Technical Assistance (BRE-TA) programme is part of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO – previously DFID) bilateral humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia. The BRE Technical Assistance (BRE-TA) component is co-financed with the United States’ Agency for International Development (USAID).^[1] The overall goal of BRE-TA support is to support the Government of Ethiopia to ‘Establish a fully functional DRM system and develop associated capacity to manage humanitarian and climate shocks.’

To achieve this overall goal the DRM workstream is organized around three building blocks: DRM Coordination and Leadership, DRM Mainstreaming, and DRM Information and Knowledge. This ToR speaks to building block 1 and 3 and complements on-going longer-term capacity building support BRE-TA is providing to the EDRMC for DRM policy reform and Early Warning for Early Action.

The request for TA support was made in January 2022 by the Ethiopia Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC) to help enhance the humanitarian drought e, given current capacity gaps.

2.       Technical Assistance Request for Regional Pastoral Experts

To facilitate and support the implementation of the drought response, the Regional Pastoral Expert(RPE) will be deployed in Afar DRM bureau and support the regional pastoral bureau for the region.

§  Description of Assignment

a.       General Objective: Deployed RPEs will provide emergency drought management and recovery response to regional livestock bureaus and authorized accountable drought response coordination body, with a primary focus on livestock assessments, response planning and coordination.

b.      Directorate of Assignment: The RPEs will be assigned to the regional Bureau of DRM.

c.       Specific Objectives: The RPEs will provide the following support:

§  Support for the collection, collation and analysis of all livestock-related information including impacts of the drought and drought response and produce high-quality monthly analysis that will be shared with regional Government-led humanitarian platforms to support enhanced decision-making,

§  Support for the organization of monthly livestock coordination meetings for stakeholders involved in livestock drought response to share their operational experience, avoid duplication, and fill gaps,

§  Contribute to the development and up-dating of regional livestock sector drought response plans,

§  Capacity building and skills training and development as appropriate and required.

d.      Required outputs / deliverables:

e.      Accountability measures: Performance reviews, based on the above deliverables, will be conducted on a quarterly basis by representatives of the Bureau of Agriculture and DRM workstream Lead/ Coordinator.

3.       Expert’s Profile

a.       Full time: Maximum 260 paid days per year as fixed term RPE in Afar region.

b.      Minimum number of years relevant or equivalent experience required: At least eight (8) years’ work experience at technical or advisory role on a similar project.

c.       Required level of education: A Master’s degree in veterinary science, livestock husbandry, agriculture, disaster risk science or another suitable subject.

d.      Specific skills required: Excellent analytical and report writing skills are required; statistical skills are an advantage.

e.      Language skills and proficiency: Fluency in spoken and written English and Amharic.

4.       Location and Duration

a.       Start date and expected duration of assignment: The RPE assignment is a full-time position beginning approximately1^stJanuary 2023.The initial assignment will be for 5 months, renewable for one more year upon satisfactory performance and ongoing need.

b.       Location of assignment: The RPE will be based in the regional Bureaus of Agriculture that oversee pastoral issues.

c.      The job may require frequent travel in the region. The RPE will make travel plans monthly and get approval of the same from the regional DRM Bureaus and DRM workstream lead. Approved travel costs will be reimbursed by BRE-TA.

5.       Reporting Responsibilities

a.    Type(s) of reports required: To support the Region of assignment produce quality livestock sector drought impact and drought management response reports as outlined in 2d above. In addition, the RPEs will produce short internal reports that will be shared with the DRM workstream Lead/Coordinator.

b.    To whom are reports submitted: All technical reports will be submitted to the D/Commissioners office and copied to the DRM workstream Lead/Coordinator. All internal progress reports will be submitted to the DRM workstream Lead/Coordinator.

6.       Management Oversight

a.       Working with counterparts: The RPE will act as a counterpart to Bureau Experts and will report directly to the office of the D/Commissioner and DRR directorate and the DRM advisor in EDRMC.

b.      Joint management oversight: Will be provided by GoE and BRE-TA. The RPE’s performance will be evaluated quarterly basis, at which time performance against the RPE’s work plan and deliverables will be assessed.

c.       Payroll services and administrative over sight  provided by BRE-TA.