Emergency Response Coordinator, CSTI

The Emergency Response Coordinator will provide overall coordination and strategic-operational oversight of WFP Zambia's El Niño preparedness and response. The role ensures coherence across programme, supply chain, resources, partnerships, and implementation to deliver an effective humanitarian response to food security risks associated with the 2026/27 El Niño event.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the Country Office's overall El Niño preparedness and response architecture, ensuring coherence across preparedness, anticipatory action, disaster risk financing, emergency response, social protection, early recovery and relevant resilience interventions.
• Advise the Country Office Management Team on emerging strategic and operational issues, risks, priorities, decision points and required management action.
• Maintain a whole-of-operation view, ensuring alignment across programme, supply chain, resources, partnerships and implementation and early identification of critical gaps and bottlenecks.
• Lead the development, updating and operationalization of the El Niño Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and integrated response plan.
• Develop and maintain an integrated emergency calendar and critical-path tracker covering key milestones.
• Translate CONOPS into clear actions, owners, timelines and decision points and follow up implementation.
• Chair and coordinate the Emergency El Niño Task Force with regular decision-oriented meetings.
• Bring together programme teams, RAM, Supply Chain, CBT, Finance, Partnerships, Communications, Security, TEC, Field Offices and other functions around a common operational picture and agreed priorities.
• Identify cross-functional dependencies and bottlenecks and drive their resolution, escalating as needed.
• Synthesize information from different functions into clear operational implications and actionable recommendations.
• Work closely with RAM and technical teams to ensure response is informed by best available evidence including forecasts, market monitoring, IPC/VAC analysis, vulnerability assessments and crop assessments.
• Translate analytical products into practical recommendations for targeting, intervention design, modality selection, transfer values, timing and scale of assistance.
• Coordinate regular scenario reviews and update programme and operational assumptions.
• Coordinate with programme leads to ensure preparedness and response interventions are coherent, sequenced and operationally ready.
• Facilitate timely cross-functional decisions on targeting, transfer modalities, transfer values, beneficiary management, cooperating partner arrangements and delivery mechanisms.
• Ensure interventions are layered and sequenced from preparedness through early recovery.
• Coordinate between programme requirements and Supply Chain/logistics planning.
• Work with Supply Chain to translate response plans into commodity planning, transport, storage, pre-positioning, distribution capacity and last-mile delivery requirements.
• Reconcile programme caseloads, rations, timelines and geographic priorities with supply chain capacity and resources, flagging pipeline and delivery risks.
• Support high-level engagement with Government, donors, UN agencies and partners and represent WFP in coordination forums as delegated.
• Maintain operational coordination with Government institutions and align WFP plans with Government-led assessments and coordination mechanisms.
• Engage with cooperating partners and inter-agency mechanisms to promote complementary coverage and minimize duplication.
• Support donor briefings and resource mobilization by articulating strategy, evidence base, operational requirements, funding gaps and results.
• Maintain integrated view of needs, resources, funding gaps, pipeline implications and operational readiness with Finance, Budget & Programming, Partnerships, Programme and Supply Chain.
• Ensure programme ambitions and timelines are reconciled with resources and flag critical constraints early.
• Support scenario-based costing, resource prioritization and management decisions.
• Coordinate with Partnerships, Communications and Reporting to establish effective information and knowledge-management systems.
• Ensure senior management receives concise, timely and decision-oriented information through dashboards, briefs and updates.
• Oversee consolidation of inputs into a coherent operational narrative and common figures for management, Government, UN, donors, Regional Bureau and Headquarters.
• Translate complex analytical and operational information into clear, simple and actionable messages for different audiences.
• Regularly review progress against CONOPS, milestones, targets and operational plans and identify where implementation needs adjustment.
• Facilitate operational reviews and after-action/lessons-learned exercises and ensure recommendations are implemented.
• Promote an adaptive management culture using evidence and operational experience to refine the response.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in International Affairs, Development Studies, Humanitarian Affairs, Economics, Food Security, Logistics/Supply Chain Management, Disaster Risk Management or another relevant field; or a first university degree with substantial additional relevant professional experience.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in humanitarian and emergency operations, including significant experience in large-scale or complex emergency responses.
• Extensive experience coordinating large-scale humanitarian/emergency operations, preferably within WFP, the UN or a comparable international humanitarian organization.
• Demonstrated experience developing and operationalizing CONOPS, emergency response plans, contingency plans and/or emergency operational frameworks.
• Strong experience bridging programme and supply chain/logistics, with demonstrated understanding of food-assistance operations, commodity planning, procurement/sourcing, warehousing, transport, distribution and last-mile delivery.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating cross-functional emergency teams and driving delivery across programme, assessment, supply chain, finance, partnerships, field operations and other functions.
• Strong experience using food security and operational analysis to inform programme decisions, including targeting, transfer modalities, transfer values, geographic prioritization and response scale.
• Demonstrated senior-level engagement with Government, donors, UN agencies, NGOs and inter-agency coordination mechanisms.
• Experience managing or coordinating emergency task forces, operational cells or similar emergency-management structures.
• Experience in drought and/or climate-related emergencies in Africa, preferably Southern Africa, would be highly desirable.
• Previous WFP emergency experience would be a strong advantage.
• Strong oral and written communications skills.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to use evidence to inform programme design and decision-making.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines and simultaneously manage multiple tasks in an autonomous manner.
• Maturity, initiative, courtesy, tact, and ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Good computer knowledge and skills.
• Fluency (level C) in English language.

Skills

• Humanitarian Emergency Operations
• Emergency Response Coordination
• CONOPS Development
• Emergency Response
• Contingency Planning
• Operational Frameworks
• Supply Chain Management
• Food-Assistance Operations
• Commodity Planning
• Sourcing and Purchasing
• Warehouse Management
• Transport and Distribution
• Last Mile Distribution
• Cross-Functional Coordination
• Food Security Analysis
• Operational Analysis
• Programme Targeting
• Transfer Modalities
• Geographic Prioritization
• Emergency Task Force Management
• Inter-agency Coordination
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Donor Relations
• Emergency Management Structures
• Drought and Climate Emergency Response
• WFP Emergency Experience
• Written Communication
• Oral Communication
• Analytical Skills
• Computer Literacy

Languages

English