Decision Support Team Afghanistan Country Technical Manager

**Introduction**

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is an integrated set of activities funded by the United States Government (USG) and is intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food insecurity early warning information and analysis. Created in 1985 in response to famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET provides global coverage of acute food insecurity. FEWS NET’s work is implemented across several mechanisms by a team of partners that includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the University of California-Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center (UCSB-CHC), University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences, American Institutes for Research (AIR), and Chemonics International (Chemonics). Chemonics implements FEWS NET’s Decision Support Team (DST), which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support the United States Government’s (USG) policy and programmatic decisions.

The DST operates through a Washington-based technical office, regional FEWS NET offices, and national staff presence in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe.

FEWS NET’s objective is to produce timely, evidence-based decision support to enable the efficient allocation of humanitarian assistance on the basis of need.

Based on an in-depth understanding of local livelihoods, FEWS NET monitors information and data on factors that affect food security, such as conflict, weather and agroclimatology, crops, pasture, markets and trade, and nutrition. The FEWS NET DST produces regular reports, including Food Security Outlooks and Outlook Updates, emergency alerts, market and price updates, and targeted analyses. FEWS NET makes reports available at www.fews.net and distributes them globally to governments, relief agencies, and other organizations engaged in humanitarian response and development programs.

The eighth phase of FEWS NET began in 2024. The work of the FEWS NET DST relies on close collaboration with international, regional, and national partners on food security-related data and information gathering and analysis. Major activities include joint monitoring and assessments, data sharing and exchanges, collaborative analysis and reporting, and support of local and regional food security networks.

**Position Description**

The FEWS NET DST maintains virtual and physical field offices in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Five regional offices coordinate and oversee the technical and administrative management of over 40 country offices. Each country office falls into one of three tiers, depending on the complexity of the context and operating environment, with Tier 1 countries requiring a larger staffing footprint, and Tier 3 countries requiring a smaller staffing footprint. There are four main technical positions at the country level: Country Technical Lead (CTL); Country Technical Manager (CTM); and Country Technical Senior Specialist for Food Security; and Country Technical Specialist for Conflict (CTSS-C).

The CTL serves as the technical analysis leader within the country across all three tiers. Tier 1 and 2 countries have a CTL, CTM, and may have one or more CTSS. The CTM, under the CTL’s direction and guidance, is responsible for the following activities, in collaboration with other technical staff in the country:

- Efficient, focused acute food insecurity monitoring, data collection, assessment, and early warning analysis
- Effective communication of early warning analysis to the USG, partners and decision-makers through high-quality reports and participation in briefings and formal and informal meetings
- Close collaboration with key partners, such as host government ministries, UN agencies, and international and local NGOs, among others
- Project administration and management at the national level, as delegated by the CTL
- Regular participation in IPC/CH analyses
- Regular collection of data and field information, as required, and upload to the FEWS NET Data Warehouse (FDW)
- Coordination and effective collaboration with other FEWS NET mechanisms

**Responsibilities:**

The main responsibilities of the Afghanistan CTM include, but are not limited to:

- At the direction of the CTL, fulfilment of designated monthly reporting requirements, including providing critical inputs to and/or writing portions, or all of, the Food Security Outlooks (FSOs), FSO Updates, Price Watch, and key messages; contributing to Food Assistance Outlook Brief reports; and providing briefings to the USG and other partners.
- Under the guidance of the CTL, the CTM will ensure the integrated food security analyses (FSOs, FSOUs