The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.

We won’t stop until we are all equal.

SUMMARY OF THE POSITION

Plan International strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We engage people and partners to:

• Empower children, young people and communities to make vital changes that tackle the root causes of discrimination against girls, exclusion and vulnerability.
• Drive change in practice and policy at local, national and global levels through our reach, experience and knowledge of the realities children face.
• Work with children and communities to prepare for and respond to crises and to overcome adversity.
• Support the safe and successful progression of children into adulthood

DIMENSIONS OF ROLE

The Food Security Officer reports to the FS&L Specialist with a dotted line to the PIIA Manager. H/She will be charged with the responsibility of supporting the HGSF/ SPADs Projects/programs implementation within the district. H/She will be responsible for the overall community mobilization and community engagement, timely planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring and review of project(s) related to Food Security and Livelihoods. The post holder will specifically provide technical support to the HGSF, SPADs, and Climate resilience projects for successful implementation according to approved donor and government agreements. H/She will support the Food Security and Livelihood Specialist and PIIA Manager in ensuring that human, material and financial resources of FS&L projects are well managed, including cash transfers to the smallholders supplying vegetables to schools in the ISFP and, where possible, cash grants to other projects’ participants.    

The Food and Security Officer will ensure the following:

• Extensive project/HGSF/ SPAD monitoring, both on-site and through close review of project activity reports, and follow-up to ensure high-quality project implementation.

• Collect food security data from across the district/region and provide food security analysis to Plan International Sierra Leone.  Make recommendations for addressing food security concerns and work with the School feeding Team to develop response initiatives.

• He/ she is charged with the responsibility to ensure that school gardens are fully functional in the selected schools
• In collaboration with the Admin/procurement team, MAFS and related schools identify, verify and select smallholders for the supply of vegetables (Leafy/tuber) to the schools for the school feeding and develop a database of the suppliers, in collaboration with the MERL Team
• He/she will ensure that the SPADs' livelihoods and other FS&L-related projects are fully monitored and managed.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

(Key Deliverables)

• Establish the HGSF program in the district to provide fresh food to schools that are locally sourced from local markets (FBOs)
• Identify women cooperatives, FBOs, etc, to produce gari/ sweet potatoes/ cassava, vegetables and other locally produced food items.
• Establish pilot school gardens in each district to provide fresh vegetables for consumption in schools and beyond, where possible.
• Work closely with procurement and operations to ensure locally produced quality food is procured and supplied to the program.
• Identify school feeding and HGSF capacity gaps in the operational areas, facilitate training sessions, and jointly deliver training with MAF.
• Coordinate and support local partners, FBOs, Agric Business Centres (ABC), NGOs and Government institutions to perform HGSF/SPAD-related activities in a timely and effective manner.
• Ensure timely payment or cash transfer to smallholder farmers/vegetable and other local food commodities’ suppliers following the delivery to schools for the school feeding programme.
• Support the warehouse team to ensure quality food commodities are received from suppliers/vendors/contractors for the supply of food commodities and are subsequently delivered to the schools in the proportionate good quality and safe for consumption.
• Conduct regular field visits to monitor the implementation of school feeding / HGSF / SPAD activities, analyse the situation and identify challenges and proactively respond on the spot and bring issues and recommendations to Plan, MAF and MBSSE
• Ensure community participation in all school feeding activities to assure local ownership
• Coach and support SMCs' head teachers and community members to ensure the cash transferred to HGSF is being utilised for the intended purposes as per the MoU and SOPs
• Prepare and compile monthly and quarterly reports
• Provide support to HGSF/ SPAD implementing partners to strengthen multi-sectoral and coordination at regional, district, chiefdom, community, and school levels
• Contributing to other food security information products required at the national level;

• Support the Food Security and Livelihoods Specialist, the Project Manager(s) and other project staff to implement the school feeding project in accordance with technical standards to ensure quality.
• Perform any other duties from time to time as assigned by the supervisor.

General Accountability

Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures

Location:            Moyamba and Port Loko

Type of Role:      Food Security & Livelihoods Officer

Reports to:         Food Security & Livelihoods Specialist

Grade:                 Level 12

Closing Date:     10th December 2025

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.