JOB TITLE: Fellow

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Fellowship

UNIT/DIVISION: PRGF- Nairobi outposted

DUTY STATION (City, Country/Homebased):

DURATION: 12 months

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP’s values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESARO) covers a diverse set of countries facing complex humanitarian and development challenges, including food insecurity, climate shocks, and displacement. WFP works across the region to provide life-saving assistance, build resilience, and strengthen national capacities to achieve Zero Hunger. The Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESARO) in Nairobi provides strategic guidance, oversight, and support to Country Offices to ensure effective program delivery and operational excellence.

The Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service is a technical information and decision support service aimed at supporting operations within WFP and with government and partners. The unit aims to provide high quality, timely and effective information to support and inform organizational positioning, operational decision-making, and well designed and better-targeted programmes.

This assignment will support the regional team for Eastern and Southern Africa in strengthening the quality and efficiency of household food security assessments across country offices. The role will focus on improving survey design, reducing costs without compromising precision, and ensuring the validity and reliability of food security indicators. The consultant will lead regional data quality initiatives, support the development of new indicators, and help country teams implement practical improvements in their data workflows. In-person missions to country offices may be undertaken to provide tailored technical support. The role will also contribute to the production of clear, visually compelling reports that communicate key findings to

decision-makers and partners.

ACCOUNTABILITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Advising country offices across the region on data quality standards and best practices for household food security surveys, ensuring that survey designs are both methodologically sound and operationally feasible.

• Providing technical guidance on optimizing survey costs, determining minimum sample sizes, and balancing statistical precision with resource constraints.

• Leading regional data quality initiatives, including the documentation and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices from country-level experiences.

• Supporting country offices in reviewing and strengthening their data quality assurance protocols, including the implementation of new quality control measures.

• Advising on the development and testing of new food security indicators, and reviewing the validity and reliability of existing measures as implemented across different country contexts.

• Assisting country offices in producing concise, visually engaging reports on household assessments and broader food security updates, tailored for both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Participating in in-person technical support missions to country offices, as needed, to provide hands-on assistance and capacity strengthening.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT

• A comprehensive data quality review covering household survey practices across country offices in the region.

• A detailed action plan outlining prioritized steps for improving data quality at both regional and country levels.

• A series of webinars (number to be confirmed) focused on key data quality topics, tailored to the needs of country teams.

• A technical review of existing data cleaning and analysis scripts used in household assessments, with recommendations for improvements.

• An in-depth analytical report on the performance and comparability of food security indicators using household data from the region.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education

Master’s and PhD students or graduates, researchers or professors (Please specify here the preferred fields of study) Master’s degree in social sciences, economics, statistics, public health, or a related field with a strong focus on data collection and analysis. Other relevant academic backgrounds will be considered based on demonstrated expertise.

Experience

Advanced academic knowledge or technical experience in (Please specify here the preferred fields of experience)

• Proven experience in food security analysis, particularly in humanitarian or development contexts.

• Strong background in statistical analysis and the management of large, complex household datasets.

• Demonstrated experience working with complex survey designs, including sampling, weighting, and variance estimation.

• Experience conducting econometric analysis to assess indicator performance, drivers of food insecurity, or program impact.

• Prior work in international or multicultural settings is highly desirable.

Knowledge & Skills

– Proficiency in advanced statistical methods, including regression modeling, reliability testing, and bias diagnostics.

– Strong knowledge of food security indicators and frameworks (e.g., FCS, rCSI, HDDS, HHS); participation in IPC analyses or IPC certification is an asset.

– Expertise in data visualization and dashboard development using tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or open-source alternatives.

– Experience designing and delivering trainings or capacity-building sessions, both in-person and remotely.

– Familiarity with data quality assessment frameworks and tools used in large-scale surveys.

Languages

Fluency in English (Level C). Intermediate knowledge of any other official UN language (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Portuguese) is an asset. (Please specify here additional requirements at the duty station) Knowledge of French and / or Portuguese an advantage