Programme Policy Officer

Programme Policy Officer

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity and disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. 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 has been present in Nepal since 1963 and provided assistance to the country in emergency response and protracted recovery interventions in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake and recurrent natural disasters (mainly floods and landslides). While the country has made considerable progress and remarkable achievements in socio-economic indicators, a significant gap remains in strengthening food security and nutrition given Nepal’s alarming levels of malnutrition, especially stunting, and wasting, achieving gender equality, and eliminating geographic and socio-economic disparities among the most marginalized groups and thereby leaving no one behind (LNOB).

JOB PURPOSE

The current WFP Country Strategic Plan (2019-2023) in Nepal aims to support the Government of Nepal achieve zero hunger through enhancing government capacity on social protection, emergency preparedness and response, improving nutrition and food security, supporting the national school meals programme, building resilient food systems, and ensuring policy coherence on food and nutrition security. Moreover, Strategic Outcome (SO) 2 of the forthcoming CSP (2024-2028), envisages that “School-age children and adolescents and nutritionally deprived groups in Nepal have improved education and nutrition outcomes and greater access to affordable, nutritious and safe diets, including through social protection programmes, by 2028”. Through this CSP outcome, WFP will strengthen the Government’s capacity to improve the nutrition and health of nutritionally deprived groups through a multi-sectoral approach that supports the continued devolution of social protection programmes. Nutrition sensitive social protection, including school-based health and nutrition programmes, and increased private sector capacity to supply fortified foods will contribute to improved access to education and affordable, nutritious and safe diets for school-age children, adolescents, children aged 6 to 23 months, and pregnant and breastfeeding women thereby contributing to SDGs 2 and 4. Moreover, WFP contributes to outcome 2 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Nepal (2023-2027): “Inclusive and transformative human development” through its nutrition and school feeding programmes and supporting the development and implementation of multisectoral policies and use of evidence for food and nutrition security” and broader social protection outcomes.

Social protection has become an increasingly important strategy for the government of Nepal to reduce extreme poverty, hunger and inequality. There are a number of social protection programmes implemented in the country including various non-contributory schemes for the most vulnerable categories of people. These schemes can deal with shocks caused by natural disasters and others to some extent; however, in order to mitigate the impact and build households’ resilience to shocks, there is a need to develop a social protection model to be shock responsive in terms of the speed, coverage and effectiveness. This Shock Responsive Social Protection (SRSP) can contribute to improving the agility of the social protection system to respond to sudden shocks by effectively targeting the most vulnerable segments of people in the country. Moreover, in line with WFP’s corporate strategy for support to social protection, the WFP Nepal CO is supporting the Government in scaling-up and enhancing the social protection as a key pathway to achieve zero hunger in the country.

To deliver the above, WFP Nepal is looking for a dynamic and seasoned social protection programme policy officer to plan the strategic design and coordinate the implementation of activities as manager of the Strategic Outcome 2 of the CSP and support the CO capacity in designing a SP strategy, operational framework and implementation plan to achieve the following objectives.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Position Title: Programme Policy Officer (Social Protection)
Contract Type: Consultancy Contract
Level: CST LII
Contract Duration: 11 months
Duty Station: Kathmandu, Nepal
Vacancy Number: 827835
Date of Publication: 18 June 2023
Deadline of Application: 2 July 2023

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)
Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme, the Strategic Outcome (SO)2 manager will carry out the following tasks:

1) Programme Management and Leadership:

•  Provide solid technical and managerial leadership on a broad range of strategically important and complex social protection policy and programmes under the WFP Nepal Country Strategic Plan (CSP) which involves the implementation of WFP’s support to the National School Meals Programme (NSMP), the Mult Sector Nutrition Programme (MSNP) and Cash Based Transfer (CBT) services through creating and strengthening linkages with the social protection framework and sectoral policies of the country.
• Provide capacity strengthening and strategic support to the school meals, nutrition and CBT teams both within the WFP Country Office and the Government staff at the different levels.
•  Provide technical assistance on the further integration into the government’s system and development of sustainability and hand-over strategy for both the nutrition and school feeding programmes based on thorough analysis and operational research.
• Lead and supervise a diverse set of senior national (and international) staff under the nutrition and school feeding sub-units, assess training needs and provide coaching to develop their skills and capacity, provide clear guidance and support in carrying out their duties.

2) Integration of nutrition across other programmes

•  Provide technical advice to other WFP programmes using the social protection and food systems framework and contributing to the design of food security and nutrition assessments, choice of objectives, transfer modalities and commodity choice in line with WFP standards and processes
• Participate actively in thematic working groups directly related to WFP’s nutrition operations and social protection / safety nets and coordinate actively with UNICEF, WHO, FAO, and other relevant nutrition stakeholders and donors to ensure alignment of WFP’s operations, and policy and programme support.
•  Collaborate with the Research, Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) unit for integration of relevant food security and nutrition information including an update of the Fill the Nutrient Gap / FNG and Cost of the Diet (CotD) analysis into periodic assessments, PDMs, process monitoring, etc and use the evidence for informing and engaging with stakeholders as they relate to the social protection discourse.

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3) Coordination, technical assistance and policy and strategy development:

• Act as the country office social protection focal point, ensuring a clear and strong connection between the country office’s programmes, regional bureau, and HQ initiatives. Translate corporate and regional policies and strategies pertinent to social protection into country-level practices.
• Represent WFP in various platforms such as the Social Protection Task team (SPTT), comprising of the major actors in social protection in Nepal and other technical working groups such as outcome working groups under the UNSDCF and provide thought leadership on WFP’s role in social protection. Contribute to Country Office Emergency Preparedness by systematically assessing whether and how national social protection can contribute to an emergency response.

4) Resource mobilization and management:

• Responsible for managing funds under the nutrition and school feeding programmes
• Contribute to fundraising and advocacy advising the Head of Programme and senior management on WFP’s value proposition in social protection; prepare scoping notes, maintain relationships with relevant donors and prepare communication and advocacy materials
• Based on thorough situation, stakeholder and policy analysis identify possible additional areas for WFP’s future strategic engagement in social protection in Nepal.

5) Perform other duties as assigned by the immediate supervisor.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, International Development, International Relations, Sociology, or other fields relevant to social protection, or, a First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and / or trainings / courses.

Language: Fluency in both spoken and written English; knowledge of Nepali would be an asset

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• At least 8 or more years of professional experience relevant to social protection, preferably contributing to food security and nutrition objectives:
• Has direct experience working across various programme types relevant to social protection (e.g. cash-transfer programmes, school feeding, nutrition, public works / food assistance for assets, insurance programmes) and a robust experience of working with government agencies and gained experience across the policy cycle and contributed to shaping country-level policies and strategies
• Has experience building new and strengthening existing strategic and operational partnerships with donors, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), private sector and other key actors.
• Has experience managing and designing complex operations
•  Has experience leading large multi-disciplinary teams
• Experience working in WFP HQ and Regional Bureau is an asset.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

Knowledge & Skills:

• Understanding of Agenda 2030 and respective SDG targets – particularly SDG1, SDG2 and SDG17 – and how the work of WFP can contribute to achieving them
• Understanding of WFP’s mandate, Country Strategic Planning process, intervention modalities, programme and project lifecycle tools, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Knowledge of current thinking and developments in the field of social protection and public policy
• Knowledge of current thinking and developments in country capacity strengthening and effective knowledge management and transfer models, concepts and principles
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with a variety of stakeholders, conveying an informed and professional demeanour toward internal and external partners and stakeholders
• Ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative information to understand current and future social protection needs and identify solutions.
• Learning agility, and appetite for exploring and experimenting new ideas and approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality written outputs and ability to present in English and the working language.
• Ability to work as part of a team, participating in open dialogues and valuing diverse opinions of others, regardless of gender, culture, background, experience, or country assignment.
• Moderate to proficient computer literacy

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK: COMMON STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR

Leads by example with Integrity
Drives results and Delivers on commitments
Fosters inclusive and collaborative teamwork.
Applies strategic thinking
Builds and maintains sustainable partnerships
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HOW TO APPLY

To be considered, interested candidates are invited to apply via (https://www.wfp.org/careers/job-openings). Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Request for Disability related Reasonable Accommodations:

It is important to WFP to create an accessible and inclusive workplace for everyone.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.  If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection and hiring process, please direct your request and inquiries to nepal.hr@wfp.org. A member of the HR team responsible for reasonable accommodation will contact you to confidentially discuss your needs.
This email is only to be used for any disability related accessibility requirements and not for sending the application itself. Due to the volume of applications, any applications or CVs sent through this email address will not be considered a formal application and will not receive a reply from WFP.

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.