DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The WISER ActionFirstTM in Africa initiative for Eastern and Southern Africa is a multi-country project supporting countries across EAC, IGAD, and SADC to strengthen action-based forecasting and people-centred early warning systems. ActionFirstTM in Africa is led by the Met Office in the UK, in collaboration with the RSMC's across Eastern and Southern Africa, along with the WMO Regional Office. The initiative combines national co-production, regional harmonisation, technical mentoring, and learning to ensure forecasts lead to timely and effective action. The WISER ActionFirstTM Initiative for Eastern and Southern Africa is a multi-country programme supporting countries across EAC, IGAD, and SADC to strengthen action-based, people-centred early warning systems. The initiative combines national co-production, regional harmonisation, technical mentoring, and learning to ensure that forecasts lead to timely and effective early action, in alignment with EW4All and global best practice.
The Technical Support officer - WISER ActionFirstTM project will provide day-to-day technical leadership and coordination across national, sub-regional, and regional levels. The role ensures that technical approaches are coherent, harmonised, and operationally actionable, and that co-produced forecasting outputs are effectively translated into impact-based and action-oriented warning services.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the overall supervision of the Project Officer and WMO Representative for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the scientific and technical guidance of the RSMCs (Pretoria, Nairobi) and the UK Met Office, the incumbent will perform the following duties:
- Provide technical leadership and coordination across national, sub-regional, and regional ActionFirstTM activities, ensuring alignment with the WISER Theory of Change, Logframe, EW4All pillars, and relevant WMO frameworks;
- Support the design, strengthening, and operationalisation of action-based and impact-based forecasting through co-production, including translation of outputs into actionable warning concepts, SOPs, and prototype products;
- Promote the integration of impact, exposure, and vulnerability information into forecasting and warning workflows in collaboration with NMHSs, DRM agencies, and humanitarian partners;
- Support regional harmonisation, capacity development, and technical mentoring through collaboration with RSMCs, RCCs, and regional partners, including delivery of trainings, technical clinics, and peer learning activities;
- Monitor technical progress, identify risks and implementation bottlenecks, and support quality assurance, adaptive management, and continuous technical improvement across the initiative.EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
- Integrated technical workplan and coordination framework aligned with the WISER ActionFirstTM Theory of Change, Logframe, and EW4All principles;
- Operational action-based and impact-based warning products, including SOPs, guidance notes, and prototype tools developed through co-production processes;
- Documented forecasting and warning workflows integrating impact, exposure, and vulnerability information;
- Regional technical harmonisation guidance and knowledge products supporting consistency across EAC, IGAD, and SADC regions;
- Technical inputs to monthly highlight reports, quarterly narrative reports, learning products, and the Project Completion Report (PCR), including risk monitoring and corrective action recommendations. | QUALIFICATIONS
| Education
A degree in meteorology, climatology, hydrology, or a closely related field.
| Experience
- Minimum seven (7) years of professional experience in forecasting, early warning systems, climate services, or related technical fields.
- Demonstrated experience in action-based forecasting, impact-based forecasting, or co-production processes at national or regional level.
- Experience working with NMHSs, DRM authorities, regional centres, and international partners in multi-country contexts
| Other requirements
- High sense of integrity, responsibility, and maturity of judgment; demonstrated ability to plan, organize and manage multiple workloads.
- Strong analytical, organizational and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to foster innovation, diversity and team spirit.
| Languages
Excellent knowledge of English (both oral and written). Knowledge of other official languages of the Organization would be an advantage.
(Note: The official languages of the Organization are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.) | |
