Ananias NIELO
Food Security Specialist
Maputo
Summary
Food Security Analyst with extensive experience supporting WFP Mozambique in food security and nutrition assessments, vulnerability analysis, targeting, emergency response, and multisectoral coordination. Demonstrated ability to lead and manage large-scale data collection exercises, including training enumerators, supervising field teams, ensuring data quality, and providing technical support to government and humanitarian partners. Strong technical expertise in CARI, IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis, SMART surveys, resilience and livelihood assessments, remote monitoring (mVAM), and Essential Needs Analysis (ENA). Committed to producing high-quality analytical outputs to inform evidence-based decision-making for humanitarian and development interventions.
Overview
7
7
years of professional experience
Work History
Programme Associate (Food Security Analyst & Targ)
World Food Programme, United Nations
04.2026 - Current
- Support design, planning and implementation of Food Security and Vulnerability Assessments.
- Design questionnaire for various types of surveys and assessments using WFP corporate tools (Mobile Operational Data Acquisition - MODA, Open Data Kit - ODK)
- Provide trainings on how to conduct data collection on various topics (Food Security, Impact Assessments etc.) and coordinate enumerators for high quality data collection during Food Security and Nutrition survey.
- Liaise with WFP HQ, with Regional Bureau for Eastern Africa (ESARO), with other units at the WFP Country Office and with technical providers for data collection using remote technology (phone calls and web surveys).
- Clean and analyze data collected through face to face and remote assessments.
Produce reports to share with colleagues in the organization and partners results of food security and nutrition assessments. - Participate in IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) Analysis.
- Ensure that questionnaires, data, scripts and reports related to Food Security & Nutrition and managed by the team are stored in the RAM Teams folder and in the WFP Data Lib.
- Support internal procurement and admin processes related to the activities above.
Support the development and refinement of vulnerability and prioritization criteria (e.g. demographic, socioeconomic, shock exposure). - Participate in field missions to test or validate targeting approaches, including community-based targeting, geographic prioritization, and data-driven models.
- Liaise with Field Offices, partners, and government counterparts to ensure consistency in targeting approaches across locations.
- Support emergency preparedness and response through rapid assessments and preliminary targeting setups;
- Provide technical support and training to WFP staff, cooperating partners, and government institutions related to targeting methodologies, and information management.
- Support Targeting Working Group (TWG) knowledge-sharing and document dissemination.
- Perform other related duties as required.
Programme Assistant (Food Security Assessments)
World Food Programme, United Nations
Maputo
10.2022 - 04.2026
- Coordinate urban vulnerability preparedness assessments.
- Train government teams on community-based targeting after natural disasters, strengthening transparent and community-driven beneficiary identification in emergency response operations.
- Provide technical assistance to SETSAN on food security assessments, including tool preparation, analysis, and reporting.
- Coordinate liaison and training activities between WFP Mozambique, WFP HQ, GeoPoll, and SETSAN, including end-of-project lessons-learned workshops at provincial and national levels.
- Provide technical assistance for SMART assessments conducted by SETSAN, WFP, and UNICEF to measure malnutrition levels.
- Train Government and Food Security Cluster (FSC) staff on Emergency Food Security Assessments.
- Train members of the Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC), provincial and district level, on food security and vulnerability assessments.
- Support multisector humanitarian response teams during emergencies (cyclones, drought and displacements duo on going conflict in North).
- Train the National Vulnerability Assessment Committee (NVAC) on Sexual Abuse Exploitation within the SADC RVAA framework.
- Facilitate IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) Acute Food Insecurity analysis sessions.
- Coordinate BMZ assessments to support resilience-building and reduce vulnerability among IDPs and host communities in northern Mozambique.
- Secured government adoption of stratified food security analysis (IDPs, hosts, residents, returnees) during Lean Season Assessments, strengthening crisis-response evidence in North of Mozambique.
- Provide technical support and guidance including on ODK to government staff, enumerators, and partner organizations.
- Communicate with enumerators, partners, and counterparts on fieldwork and data collection issues.
- Assist in managing field data collection exercises, including designing field plans, defining timelines, training enumerators, and handling related administrative processes.
Business Support Assistant (Data Analyst)
World Food Programme, United Nations
Maputo
09.2020 - 08.2022
- Lead quality control of remotely collected food security and nutrition data across all provinces.
- Support training of Maputo-based call center operators on survey questionnaires.
- Ensure quality assurance of remote data collection on cloud-based platforms through regular checks on data completeness and accuracy.
- Train the CS-Research survey team to collect post-shock food security data via mobile, in coordination with GeoPoll and WFP HQ.
- Review samples of live-recorded calls to verify adherence to survey scripts, correctness of translations, and clarity of questions.
- Support preparation and dissemination of the national monthly food security and nutrition bulletin.
- Collaborate with GeoPoll and HQ mVAM teams on the analysis of monthly food security and nutrition data.
- Draft narrative sections to complement quantitative findings with local context and interpretation.
- Coordinate liaison and training activities between WFP Mozambique, WFP HQ, GeoPoll, and SETSAN at national level.
- Prepare and support end-of-project lessons-learned workshops for provincial and central stakeholders.
- Contribute to the development of long-term mVAM funding proposals in coordination with the Head of VAM.
Intern (VAM)
World Food Programme, United Nations
Maputo
03.2020 - 08.2020
- Assist the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) Unit with monitoring and analysis activities.
- Ensure correct setup of questionnaires on the Ona platform and conduct full testing on ODK Collect.
- Process and analyze weekly and monthly market and price data from SIMA and INFOCOM, producing the monthly Market and Price Bulletin.
- Conduct data analysis and prepare working documents to support timely, accurate VAM reports.
- Contribute to data collection and provide inputs that strengthen evidence-based decision-making within WFP VAM activities.
Supervisor
Management Information Systems (MIS)
Zambezia
02.2019 - 08.2019
- Support MMEMS in evaluations and assessments, ensuring strong field-level data quality.
- Provide technical oversight for data collection across multiple surveys and tools.
- Assist in training and refresher sessions for survey enumerators.
- Supervise enumerators to ensure timely, accurate, and efficient fieldwork.
- Resolve fieldwork challenges promptly to maintain data integrity and timelines.
- Maintain high professional and ethical standards while fostering strong teamwork.
- In the implementation of Mozambique Monitoring, Evaluation and Mechanism Services "MMEMS-USAID"
Education
Master's degree - Population and Development
Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM)
05.2026
Honours Degree - Agro-Economics and Agricultural Extension
Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM)
01.2019
Skills
- Food Security & Nutrition Analysis
- CARI
- ENA
- IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis
- Vulnerability and Targeting
- Emergency Response & Multisectoral Coordination
- Enumerator Training & Field Coordination
- Remote & Field Data Collection
- ODK
- Ona
- GeoPoll
- MVAM
- Data Quality Control & Assurance
- Monitoring & Reporting
- Statistical Tools
- Excel
- SPSS
- STATA
- Survey & Questionnaire Design
- SMART Surveys
Languages
Portuguese
English
Spanish
References
- Mahathir SARKER, WFP (Regional Targeting Officer), Bangkok, Thailand, +66811301944, mahathir.sarker@wfp.org
- Jose Vilanculo, SETSAN-Head of Department, Maputo, Maputo, Mozambique, +258 824857030 / 848063950, vilanculo4@gmail.com
- Joel Alferes, MSI-Former Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Quelimane, Zambezia, Mozambique, +258 845791352 / 876579130, joel_alferes@yahoo.com
Timeline
Programme Associate (Food Security Analyst & Targ)
World Food Programme, United Nations
04.2026 - Current
Programme Assistant (Food Security Assessments)
World Food Programme, United Nations
10.2022 - 04.2026
Business Support Assistant (Data Analyst)
World Food Programme, United Nations
09.2020 - 08.2022
Intern (VAM)
World Food Programme, United Nations
03.2020 - 08.2020
Supervisor
Management Information Systems (MIS)
02.2019 - 08.2019
Master's degree - Population and Development
Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM)
Honours Degree - Agro-Economics and Agricultural Extension
Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM)