SHORT TERM EXPERT TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
1. BACKGROUND
Across Africa, seasonal climate outlooks play a fundamental role in protecting livelihoods, strengthening food security, and guiding public and private sector planning. For small-scale producers, who form the backbone of Africa’s food systems, timely and trusted climate information can determine whether crops germinate, whether livestock survive dry spells, and whether families retain stable income and nutrition through the year. Governments and frontline institutions similarly rely on these forecasts to anticipate droughts and floods, mobilize health responses, and manage risk across critical sectors.
Yet despite their importance, Africa’s current seasonal forecasting system is not consistently delivering actionable, localized, or timely information to the people who need it most. Across much of the continent, seasonal forecasts remain late, generic, and insufficiently tailored to the reality, limiting their value for agricultural productivity, food security, and climate resilience.
At the same time African climate institutions, in charge of producing the climate information, are also operating within a rapidly changing environment. Demand for actionable climate information is rising, while technological advances, such as AI-enabled forecasting and improved Earth observation, are creating opportunities for more precise and localized products. A coordinated action is needed to take advantage of the emerging technologies and reverting the risk of widening regional inequalities and reinforcing fragmented, inconsistent forecasting practices.
Ideally, the forecasts and related information products developed by these Regional Climate Centers and their respective COFs should then flow through national systems to be downscaled, contextualized, and communicated to sectoral users. National Climate Outlook Forums (NCOFs), convened by NMHSs, are tasked with this translation step. They must tailor regional inputs into guidance that aligns with local geographies, crop calendars, and sectoral priorities. However, this handoff, from regional outlooks to usable local products, remains a persistent bottleneck. The persistent gaps in data, tools, and weak coordination (with RCCs and sector-specific institutions) prevent most National Meteorological and Hydrological
Services (NMHSs) from translating regional forecasts into trusted, locally relevant guidance for farmers and frontline planners.
These bottlenecks disproportionately affect small-scale farmers, women, and vulnerable communities who most depend on localized, reliable climate guidance to manage risk and make seasonal production decisions.
To address these systemic challenges, the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) and partners are implementing the Smart Downscaling of Seasonal Climate Outlooks project.
This 12-month (Jan to Dec 2026) initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to advancing the African continental capacity to generate high quality, timely, repeatable and coordinated seasonal forecasts and outlooks that are tailored to regional and national needs. With a focused assessment effort across Kenya (East Africa) and Nigeria (West Africa) and their respective regional climate Centers (ICPAC and AGRHYMET) and NMHS (KMD and NiMET), the project will diagnose why existing seasonal forecasts fail to deliver operational value, and identify where scalable, investable improvements can be made.
To implement this initiative, ACMAD is recruiting short term expert to be positioned at the institution and work with partners and colleagues in the provision of services across the continent according to its mandate.
2. Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the ACMAD’s Director General (Senior Advisor), the Technical Coordinator will be responsible for timely achievement of project purpose and objectives, project execution, planning, directing, supervision, oversight of staff recruitment, guidance, staff performance enhancement. The technical Coordinator will be the main liaison with partners and the Gates Foundation Program Officer(s).The Technical Coordinator is expected to perform the following duties:
• Support the Senior Adviser in overall project planning, execution, and monitoring;
• Lead day-to-day management of the project, ensuring activities are delivered on time, within scope, and within budget;
• Convene and facilitate technical meetings, workshops, consultations, and working groups at
national, regional, and continental levels;
• Develop and implement detailed work plans, timelines, and coordination structures across all work packages and partners;
• Provide operational supervision to the project staff, ensuring their work aligns with project
objectives and timelines;
• Oversee the coordinate with the Regional Climate Centers (ICPAC, AGRHYMET) and NMHSs
(KMD, NiMet) to ensure strong collaboration;
• Manage relationships with CGIAR and Jataware, ensuring technical inputs are well integrated;
• Collaborate with the Gender Expert Consultant to Ensure gender-responsive and inclusive
participation across all activities;
• Lead the develop and maintenance project MEAL tools and frameworks, tracking progress against indicators, milestones and deliverables across all the work packages;
• Prepare high-quality progress reports, financial updates, donor reports, and communication
materials;
• Ensure adherence to Gates Foundation project management and reporting standards;
• Work closely with the Admin & Finance Officer on budgeting, procurement, contracting, and
financial monitoring and ensure with the alignment with ACMAD and Gates Foundation policies;
• Facilitate inclusive engagement with national and regional stakeholders, including sectoral users;
• Review technical outputs, ensuring accuracy, quality, and user relevance;
• Support development of minimum viable product (MVP) concepts, system-level recommendations, and other technical deliverables;
• Ensure alignment of project outcomes with RCOFs and ACCOF improvements and continental coordination mechanisms;
• Identify risks and propose mitigation strategies;
• Capture lessons learned and support learning exchanges across partners;
• Carry out other relevant duties as required
3. Qualifications and Experience
• Required:
o Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Meteorology, Climate/Environmental Science, or related fields.
o Minimum 5–7 years of professional experience managing or coordinating multi-stakeholder or multi-country projects in climate services, meteorology, agriculture, or development.
o Experience supervising teams and coordinating technical and administrative staff.
o Experience working with African RCCs, NMHSs, or climate information systems is an asset.
o Experience with BMGF or other major donor–funded projects is highly desirable.
o Demonstrated experience integrating gender and social inclusion is an advantage
o Excellent stakeholder engagement and partnership coordination abilities.
o Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
o Excellent communication and report writing skills.
o Ability to work under tight timelines and manage multiple moving components.
o High level of professionalism, initiative, and cultural sensitivity.
• Preferred:
o Familiarity with seasonal forecasting, early warning systems, or climate data workflows is an added asset.
o Excellent command of English (written and spoken).
o Working knowledge of French is a strong asset.
4. Contractual Arrangements
❑ Nature of the appointment: The technical coordinator will be contracted for Full Time during 3 months, with the possibility of extension based on performance and project funding and needs.
❑ Salary: Salaries and benefits will be commensurate with experience and qualifications of the candidate. Per diems will be allocated for international travel.
❑ Duty Station: The position is based at ACMAD, Niamey, Niger, with possible field missions within
Africa and overseas.
❑ Date of duty: As soon as possible after notification
5. Application Process
Interested candidates who meet the above criteria should submit:
- A detailed updated CV
- An application letter outlining relevant experiences and motivation
- Certified true copies of Degrees and Certificates
- Contacts of three referees from previous positions or projects
- A brief methodology of one or two pages which describes how the applicant intends to address the assignment.
Women are explicitly encouraged to apply. ACMAD is an equal opportunity institution and encourages
applications from diverse backgrounds.
Review of applications will start immediately after. Vacancy can be extended until a suitable candidate is found.
Applications can be addressed to:
ACMAD, 55 Avenue des Ministères, PL 6, BP 13184, Niamey-Plateau, Niger
Email: contact@acmad.org; grh@acmad.org