Job Description

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Project Officer – Anticipatory Action (Guriel & Mataban)

Position Title

Project Officer – Anticipatory Action (AA), WAHAFA 2.0 Build Project

Project

WAHAFA Build Project

Implementing Partner

WARDI Relief and Development Initiatives

Duty Stations

Guriel (Galguduud region) and Mataban (Hiiraan region), central Somalia, with regular travel between the two field sites and periodic travel to Mogadishu

Reporting To

WARDI Program Director, in close technical coordination with the Caritas Germany Programme Manager

Closing date

7th October,2026

1. Background

WARDI Relief and Development Initiatives (WARDI), in partnership with Caritas Germany, is planning to implement the WAHAFA Build Project, a nine-month initiative to develop a locally owned, forecast-based drought Anticipatory Action Protocol (AAP) for communities in Guriel and Mataban. The project is funded through the WAHAFA (Weather and Hazard Anticipatory Fund for Action) mechanism and aims to strengthen anticipatory action coordination, develop and technically validate a drought trigger mechanism, co-design pre-agreed anticipatory actions with communities, test the AAP through a simulation exercise, and embed participatory monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) throughout the process.

The project is organised around five outputs: (1) coordination, institutional ownership and governance arrangements for drought Anticipatory Action; (2) a drought risk analysis and forecast-based trigger mechanism, developed and technically validated; (3) an inclusive, community-based AAP with pre-agreed actions, targeting and accountability arrangements; (4) an operationally tested AAP with WARDI prepared to maintain and implement the mechanism; and (5) a participatory MEAL, accountability and learning system.

WARDI is seeking a Project Officer to lead day-to-day implementation of these activities in Guriel and Mataban, working under the supervision of the WARDI Programme Director and in close technical coordination with Caritas Germany.

2. Overall Purpose of the Position

The Project Officer will lead field-level implementation of the WAHAFA Build Project across Guriel and Mataban, ensuring the timely, quality delivery of project activities, coordination with communities and local authorities, and close collaboration with technical actors supporting risk analysis, trigger development and AAP design.

3. Key Duties and Responsibilities

3.1 Coordination, Governance and Institutional Ownership

•     Support mapping of Anticipatory Action actors, initiatives, coordination structures and existing drought trigger approaches relevant to Guriel, Mataban and the wider Galguduud/Hiiraan context.

•     Support agreement of project governance arrangements, technical roles and decision-making responsibilities among WARDI, Caritas Germany, district authorities and technical actors.

•     Coordinate and maintain working relationships with SoDMA, Galmudug and relevant district authorities, FSNAU/SWALIM, ICPAC and other technical and humanitarian stakeholders throughout the Build process.

•     Contribute to strengthening WARDI's institutional and technical ownership of Anticipatory Action, including participation in joint technical work, coaching and documentation of procedures.

3.2 Risk Analysis and Trigger Development

•     Support the participatory historical drought risk, vulnerability and impact analysis for Guriel, Mataban and comparable central Somali livelihood areas, including community consultations and data compilation.

•     Liaise with technical partners to map and assess available forecasting, monitoring and early-warning services relevant to the two field sites.

•     Support technical consultants and WARDI's AA team in the development, hindcasting and validation of the drought trigger framework, and in setting up operational trigger-monitoring and community-verification processes.

3.3 Community-Based AAP Development

•     Lead and/or directly support inclusive community consultations in Guriel and Mataban, ensuring the meaningful participation of women, persons with disabilities, displaced people, marginalised groups and mobile pastoralists.

•     Facilitate or co-facilitate co-design and prioritisation sessions for feasible anticipatory actions linked to trigger stages and available lead time.

•     Support development of transparent household pre-registration, targeting, data-protection and community accountability procedures, including field-testing of tools with communities.

3.4 AAP Testing and Operational Readiness

•     Support consolidation of the localised draft AAP for both field sites and preparation of the operational readiness package (SOPs, monitoring sheets, decision logs, communication templates, contact lists).

•     Coordinate logistics and community/authority participation for the end-to-end AAP simulation exercise, and support documentation of simulation observations and results.

•     Support the after-action review process and follow up on revisions to critical procedures, tools and decision-making steps identified through the simulation.

•     Support finalisation of the AAP and the handover of the operational readiness package within WARDI, including documentation of post-Build monitoring and review responsibilities.

3.5 MEAL, Accountability and Learning

•     Support implementation of the participatory MEAL plan for the Build process, including progress monitoring, participatory review sessions and tracking of inclusion and participation.

•     Maintain and promote the project's community feedback and complaints mechanism in Guriel and Mataban, ensuring timely referral, response and safeguarding of sensitive complaints.

•     Contribute to documentation and dissemination of Build-phase learning with WARDI, Caritas Germany, communities and relevant Anticipatory Action coordination structures.

3.6 Team Supervision, Field Coordination and Reporting

•     Directly supervise and support the day-to-day work of the Community Mobilizers.

•     Plan and coordinate field movements between Guriel, Mataban and Mogadishu, in line with the project vehicle and travel budget, and in compliance with WARDI's safety and security protocols.

•     Prepare timely activity, progress and financial-tracking inputs for internal WARDI reporting and for reports to Caritas Germany, and support project visibility requirements.

•     Represent WARDI at relevant field-level coordination meetings and technical working groups as delegated by the Programme/Project Manager.

Experiences and Qualifications

Skills Required

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