Career Opportunities: Programme Policy Officer

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

POSTING DATES

Date of Issue: 17th May 2023                                                            Closing Date: 31st May 2023

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.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Food insecurity across Somalia has persisted due to recurrent shocks experienced by the country adversely impacting vulnerable population of internally displaced persons, rural populations and urban poor. The challenges of rebuilding infrastructure, providing basic services, promoting social cohesion, creating jobs, and progressing towards gender equality whilst maintaining security have impeded the country’s efforts to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 2: Zero Hunger.

Climate change will affect the production and suitability of major crops in Somalia. Extreme weather conditions such as floods, droughts, increasing temperatures, and irregular seasonal patterns are already leading to livelihood losses and resource scarcity. This, in addition to violence caused by political instability and armed conflicts, form the prominent pathways leading to migration. As a result, Somali towns and cities are receiving large waves of displaced people and rural-urban migrants, leading to increased competition for resources and high levels of urban poverty.

WFP Somalia’s four-year Country Strategic Plan 2022-2025 focuses on a strategic shift towards strengthening resilience of communities and building human capital; recognizing the interconnected nature of nutrition, safety nets, food systems, capacity strengthening and partnerships, and developing these within the context of chronic drought, climate change and frequent climate and conflict-related shocks.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Programme Policy Officer will work as part of the climate smart food systems team within the Somalia Country Office (CO) Programme unit. The incumbent will be responsible for managing the growing climate risk management portfolio and cross-cutting integration of transformative partnerships. Positioning the CO in the climate space (including environment, energy and water, and initiatives such as early warning systems and anticipatory action) with the government, donors, civil society organizations and other actors, conceptualizing and designing integrated packages of activities and establishing and nurturing partnerships will be primary responsibilities, along with helping raise and secure multi-year funding. Additional responsibilities will be to design and manage programmes of moderate size or complexity that effectively meet food assistance needs, contribute to policy formulation and/or provide technical advice or oversight on programme strategy and implementation.

The PPO, Integrated Climate Risk will report to the Smart Climate Food Systems Lead with technical support and engagement with the WFP Somalia head of programme.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

• Define the WFP value proposition in terms of climate risk management around the food security-water-energy-climate nexus.
• Support improved programmatic integration, synergies and cross-linkages for WFP resilience programming, including disaster risk reduction (DRR), emergency preparedness and response (EPR) including early warning early/anticipatory action, shock responsive social protection, school feeding, institutional capacity strengthening and vulnerability assessment and mapping (VAM).
• Establish and nurture partnerships with relevant institutional & international stakeholders, ministries, stakeholders, UN agencies, civil society organizations and local private sector.
• Conceptualize and design integrated packages of activities and joint programmes that include climate risk management.
• Lead the development of project concept notes and funding proposals for climate interventions to secure multi-year funding.
• Actively work on integrating youth, gender and social inclusion strategies.
• Actively contribute to national inter-agency processes and working groups related to climate, environment, energy and water.
• Prepare evidence-based and story-telling communication materials, conduct briefings on initiatives and projects, and organize after-action reviews, document lessons learnt and best practices.
• Travel regularly to the field to meet with the teams responsible for programme implementation and monitoring and provide advice, guidance and recommendations for improvement

DO YOU MEET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS?

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 training/courses.

Experience:

• A minimum of eight (8) years postgraduate experience in programming roles with progressive responsibility in relief, recovery or development contexts.
• Successful experience in fundraising for climate, water and resilience.
• Experience in building partnerships at the institutional level (Government and bilateral or international development agencies and research institutes) in relation to climate, water and resilience.
• Experience in managing climate projects at scale.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Ability to plan and organize work in a responsible manner.
• Solid writing skills
• Ability to conceptualize issues and analyze data.
• Good interpersonal and communications skills.

Language:

International Professional: Fluency (level C) in the English language

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Deadline: 31st May 2023

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract Duration: 11 months (Initial)

This position is open to international candidates only. Qualified female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

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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.