The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) is looking for an individual consultant to support the harmonisation and integration of IGAD’s food security, resilience and early warning information systems into a single regional architecture. It suits a senior information-systems or data specialist who knows food security analysis and early warning in the Horn and East of Africa.
At a glance
- Duty station: ICPAC office, Nairobi, Kenya
- Reports to: IFRAH Coordinator and the designated ICPAC project manager
- Type: Individual consultancy, full time, six months (planned 25 November 2026 to 25 May 2027); paid against deliverables
- Reference: KE-ICPAC-009-CS-INDV
- Deadline: Friday 6 November 2026, 11:59 PM (EAT)
About the role
Under a Letter of Agreement with FAO, ICPAC is strengthening the data systems that IGAD member states use to monitor climate, food security and resilience. Several regional platforms, databases and information products have grown up side by side. The consultant will take stock of them, find the overlaps and gaps, agree common processes and indicators with their users, and turn this into requirements and a phased roadmap for one interoperable system. ICPAC’s own technical specialists keep responsibility for the system design itself; this role does the assessment, coordination and requirements work, plus analysis of market, livelihood and conflict data.
Key responsibilities
- Build an inventory of IGAD’s food security, resilience and early warning systems and assess where they overlap, leave gaps or fail to connect
- Map how information moves between regional and national systems, from data sources to the decisions it informs
- Run consultations with ICPAC teams, IGAD units, member states and FAO to validate findings and agree priorities
- Harmonise business processes, priority indicators and definitions, and write user requirements, functional specifications and acceptance criteria
- Propose common data standards, metadata specifications and data-sharing arrangements, and keep a register of interoperability issues
- Contribute to a phased integration roadmap and implementation plan, with user guidance and operating procedures
- Analyse how markets, livelihoods, climate and conflict relate to food security outcomes, and recommend indicators to bring into regional systems
- Deliver an inception report, an assessment report, a requirements package, a roadmap, an analysis report and a final handover report
Qualifications and experience
- Master’s degree in natural resources management, climate change, sustainable development, agriculture, economics, development studies, data science or a related field
- At least seven years in information systems, data management, food security, resilience analysis or early warning
- A record of assessing information systems, mapping data flows, documenting user needs and producing integration roadmaps and functional specifications
- Practical experience of data interoperability, metadata standards, indicator harmonisation or information-system governance
- Knowledge of food security, market, livelihood, climate and conflict data; experience with IGAD member states or regional bodies is desirable
- Excellent written and spoken English; French, GIS, Earth observation or digital early warning platforms are an advantage
How to apply
Send an expression of interest by email to Procurement@icpac.net, with a detailed CV and copies of your academic and professional certificates. Put the assignment title and the reference KE-ICPAC-009-CS-INDV in the subject line; ICPAC accepts no other way of applying. The deadline is Friday 6 November 2026, 11:59 PM (EAT) (the notice says “end of day”). The consultant is chosen by IGAD’s individual consultant selection method, and shortlisted candidates may be interviewed.
Source: IGAD consultancy notice and its terms of reference. ICPAC is the climate centre of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, serving its member states in eastern Africa.