Programme Policy Officer: Protection at the United Nations World Food Programme

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to end global hunger.  Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

WFP is seeking individuals with experience working in culturally sensitive, remote, and complex environments, to fill the position below at the P3 level, based in Maiduguri, Nigeria:

Job Title: Programme Policy Officer: Protection

Ref.: 16-0022420
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Level: P3

Job Summary

• Strengthening social protection and safety-net mechanisms is a key priority for WFP in East and Central Africa. Several governments within the RBN region are seeking to establish and scale up their own social safety-net mechanisms to help address long standing, chronic vulnerability and prevent and mitigate the impact of shocks.
• WFP recognises that a more strategic engagement in Social Protection is critical to effectively contribute to the 2030 agenda and achieve SDG2, and a Safety Nets and Social Protection unit was recently established in HQ to guide and position WFP corporately.
• In the RBN region, WFP also recognizes the need to collaborate more strategically with humanitarian and development partners in order to better support governments establish and strengthen their own social protection systems. RBN also recognises the opportunity to better capture regional practices, to contribute to and leverage global organizational knowledge, and to more effectively support country offices.

Job Descriptions
Under the general supervision and guidance of the Deputy Country Director or the designate the Programme Policy Officer: Protection, P3 will be responsible for the following key duties:

• Contribute to formulation of WFP-wide programme policies in line with both organisational strategy and the practical realities of operating in the field; or translate programme policy into Regional/Country level practices. Developing programme guidance and implementation modalities and operations, to ensure a clear and strong connection between Headquarters and field operations.
• Provide advice and support to Country Offices on moderately complex issues to clarify ambiguities and ensure that policy and programme operations are consistent with WFP policies, Executive Board decisions, and other relevant guidance.
• Provide technical advice or mobilise technical expertise on programme and policy issues including assessment and analysis, the choice of objectives, activities, transfer modalities and appropriate food products, the deployment and testing of innovative approaches and the development of strategies to support government efforts to reduce hunger and malnutrition.
• Assist counterparts in governments and other partners in identifying where food assistance can be usefully employed and provide support and technical expertise for the planning, formulation and implementation of moderately complex food assistance programmes to strengthen government and community ownership and effectiveness of food security and nutrition programmes at national and sub-national levels.
• Establish and maintain operational partnerships to identify opportunities for collaborative approaches and initiatives that improve assistance packages and support advocacy work.
• Enhance WFP’s leadership status in forums relating to area of specialism, for example food security, nutrition, livelihoods, resilience or engagement in humanitarian, transition and development contexts through direct participation, briefings, information products and other materials.
• Manage operational research and evidence building on issues relevant to food assistance.
• Manage the preparation and dissemination of timely analytical and critical reports, publications, and a variety of information products or proposals for internal or external use.
• Contribute to resource mobilisation efforts for WFP projects, including clearly articulating the need for food assistance and related programme opportunities, and follow up on the resource situation of projects including commodity and cash availability, seeking advice from senior colleagues where necessary.
• Advise and support the development of functional training in areas of expertise to enhance the capacity of WFP staff and partner to design and deliver effective food assistance programmes.
• Lead, motivate and develop a team of staff to enable high performance.
• Ensure the best use of assigned financial resources for achievement of set objectives within a moderate budget.
• Contribute to Country Office Emergency Preparedness i.e. early warning, risk analysis, and contingency planning in order to respond to humanitarian crises and needs.
• Develop and maintain key partnerships with local and national government counterparts, cooperating partners, and technical agencies for delivery of the
• livelihoods/resilience activities;
• Other as required.

Qualifications & Experience Required
Education:

• Advanced University degree in International Affairs, Economics, Nutrition/Health, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Social Sciences or other field relevant to international development assistance, or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience:

• At least five (5) years or more (of which one is international) of postgraduate
• progressively responsible professional experience;
• Engaging local and national governments or other partners on operational and strategic issues;
• Formulation and management of programme strategies in humanitarian, transition, and development contexts, drawing upon the full range of food assistance tools, and translating them into implementation modalities and operations;
• Understanding of or experience in working in operational programs in an isolated, insecure, and politically sensitive hardship location;
• Working in multicultural teams, providing guidance and support to junior team
• members.
• Experience with Food For Asset (FFA) programming and school feeding programmes is considered an asset;
• Experience in preparing donor proposals and writing reports is an advantage.

Technical Skills & Knowledge

• Broad knowledge of diverse humanitarian assistance and development practices;
• Good understanding of project lifecycle and humanitarian principles and tools;
• Familiarity with planning and implementing humanitarian assistance, development
• and capacity building programmes at local/project level;
• Ability to explain strategies and projects to field counterparts and communicate
• with local governments and partners clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing;
• Ability to provide sound technical advice, or mobilise technical expertise, on a broad range of programmatic areas;
• Knowledge of current approaches to livelihoods activities in a post-conflict, transition, or development context.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English
• Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages)

Terms and Conditions

• Selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year and eligible for the Rest and Recuperation (R&R) scheme.
• He/she will be required to travel abroad sometime to remote and difficult locations.
• WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan, and medical insurance. For more details please visit: icsc.un.org

Application Closing Date
30th September, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Application Procedures

• Candidate should click on the link above
• Step 1: Register and create your online CV.
• Step 2: Click on “Description” to read the position requirements and “Apply” to submit your application.

Note

• You must complete Step 1 and 2 in order for your application to be considered for this vacancy.
• Qualified African national and female applicants are especially encouraged to apply.