Food Security Jobs: Careers with FAO, WFP and International NGOs

Food Security Jobs: Careers with FAO, WFP and International NGOs

Food security — ensuring that all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food — is one of the defining challenges of our time and one of the most active hiring areas in international development. With climate shocks, conflict, and economic fragility pushing hundreds of millions into hunger, demand for food security professionals has accelerated sharply in recent years.

The Food Security Landscape

The international food security community spans humanitarian response, long-term agricultural development, policy work, and market systems development. Key actors include:

UN Agencies

• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization): the lead UN agency on food security, agriculture, fisheries, and forestry. FAO employs agronomists, food security analysts, policy advisors, and technical specialists across its Rome headquarters and 130+ country offices.
• WFP (World Food Programme): the world's largest humanitarian organisation. Primarily delivers food assistance in emergencies but also runs school feeding, climate-risk insurance, and market-based programmes.
• IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development): finances agricultural development projects in rural areas; based in Rome.

International NGOs

• Action Against Hunger (ACF / AAH)
• CARE International
• Mercy Corps
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• Oxfam
• Welthungerhilfe (WHH)

Research and Policy

• International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
• CGIAR centres: CIMMYT (maize and wheat), IRRI (rice), CIP (potato), Bioversity International
• Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)

Core Food Security Roles

Programme and technical

• Food security analyst: monitors food and nutrition security indicators, conducts assessments (IPC, SMART surveys), produces situation analyses
• Livelihoods officer/specialist: designs and implements livelihoods recovery and market-based programmes
• Agricultural specialist: provides technical guidance on crop production, irrigation, inputs, and smallholder farmer support
• Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) specialist: increasingly central as humanitarian response shifts from in-kind to market-based assistance
• Supply chain and logistics: especially with WFP, which runs the world's largest humanitarian logistics operation

Research and policy

• Food systems economist: analyses market systems, value chains, price dynamics, and food system sustainability
• Food security data analyst: works with FEWS NET, IPC, or FAO's GIEWS; requires strong quantitative and GIS skills
• Policy officer: engages with governments on agricultural policy, trade, and food systems governance

Skills in High Demand

• IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification): the global standard for measuring food insecurity; knowing how to conduct IPC analyses is a strong differentiator
• SMART nutrition surveys: for acute malnutrition assessment
• Kobo / ODK: mobile data collection for assessments
• Agricultural value chain analysis
• Remote sensing and GIS: for crop monitoring and food security early warning
• Agronomy or agricultural economics: for technical roles with FAO and IFAD

Entry Points

• WFP internships and FAO associate professional officers (APO): strong entry routes
• NGO field roles: livelihoods assistant, food security officer, distribution officer — often nationally recruited but accessible to international candidates in major operations
• CGIAR centre internships and junior researcher positions
• FEWS NET: accepts graduates with strong quantitative and economics backgrounds for analyst roles

Find Food Security Roles on DevProcure

DevProcure aggregates food security job postings from FAO, WFP, IFAD, IFPRI, ACF, CARE, Mercy Corps, and 200+ other sources daily. Filter by sector to find food security opportunities alongside procurement tenders for agricultural inputs, goods, and services.