Emergency Preparedness and Response Consultant

Job Description

Emergency Preparedness and Response Consultant | World Food Programme

The Tone:
This is a contract role at the World Food Programme, located in Caracas, Venezuela. WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and building pathways to peace through food assistance. This role is crucial for strengthening WFP Venezuela’s capacity to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to humanitarian emergencies, ensuring vulnerable populations receive timely and effective support. The consultant will provide technical leadership and coordination to enhance institutional readiness and advance strategic disaster risk management.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Contract
• Location: In-person – Caracas, Venezuela
• Team: Reports to the Head of Programme, coordinates with the EPR team in Caracas and field offices.
• Mission: This person ensures WFP Venezuela maintains a high level of preparedness and operational readiness for humanitarian emergencies while advancing strategic initiatives in disaster risk management and emergency response.
• Tech Stack:

What You’ll Actually Do
• Emergency Response Leadership: Lead and support WFP’s emergency preparedness and response activities, including earthquake response and the design of early recovery interventions.
• Preparedness Planning: Support preparedness, contingency planning, and operational readiness for potential El Niño impacts in 2027, including scenario development and response planning.
• Readiness Frameworks: Develop, update, and maintain CONOPS, contingency plans, preparedness tools, and emergency response frameworks to strengthen institutional readiness.
• Technical Guidance: Provide technical guidance and support to the EPR team and WFP Field Offices in the planning, implementation, and reporting of emergency preparedness and response activities.
• Partnership and Coordination: Strengthen disaster risk management systems and preparedness capacities through collaboration with government counterparts, UN agencies, humanitarian clusters, NGOs, and other strategic partners.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in international affairs, economics, agriculture, business administration, social sciences, development studies, humanitarian action, disaster risk management, or public policy relevant to international humanitarian assistance. A first university degree with additional years of relevant experience may be considered.
• Experience: At least five years of progressively responsible postgraduate professional experience relevant to emergency preparedness, humanitarian response, programme management, food security, or coordination. This includes demonstrated experience supporting emergency preparedness and response operations, preferably in sudden-onset disasters such as earthquakes, and working effectively with government counterparts, UN agencies, NGOs, donors, and community-based actors in complex operational environments.
• Skills: Fluency in both Spanish and English (oral and written); strong information management, analytical writing, and presentation skills, including the ability to produce concise briefs and operational updates; ability to coordinate across multiple functions and partners, manage competing priorities, and support timely management decisions; capacity to work independently, take initiative, and maintain constructive relationships under pressure.
• Bonus: Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, or Venezuela; strong understanding of food security, emergency food assistance, shock-responsive social protection, and early recovery approaches; knowledge of the UN system, humanitarian coordination architecture, and government-led emergency response systems; good understanding of protection, gender, disability inclusion, and accountability to affected populations in emergency response planning.