Procurement Associate, G6 at World Food Programme (WFP)

Ref: 52063

Organizational Context

• These jobs are found in Headquarters (HQ), Regional Bureaux (RBs) and Country Offices (COs), and report to a Head of Unit, Chief, or Procurement Officer.
• Job holders at this level demonstrate responsibility and initiative to respond independently to queries and problems with only general guidance.
• There is a requirement to use judgment in dealing with unforeseen problems on a daily basis. Job holders have a level of expertise and knowledge to adapt and contribute to the development of systems and processes in order to continually improve the level of support provided. Job holders supervise, provide technical advice, coach and coordinate a team of support staff.

Job Purpose

• To provide coordination, administrative services and research to support the efficient and effective procurement services.

Key Accountabilities (not all-inclusive)

• Provide operational coordination and administrative services, to support procurement projects and activities, following standard processes and contributing to the effective procurement of goods and services.
• Identify and recommend potential suppliers, and compile data/documents to support the selection of suppliers, ensuring standard processes are followed.
• Review, record and prioritise purchasing requests, and provide support to requisitioners, in order to support the procurement of appropriate goods and services, at lowest cost to WFP.
• Contribute to negotiations with new suppliers on terms and conditions of orders, alongside a senior officer, in order to obtain the best terms and lowest costs for WFP.
• Prepare Purchase Orders, contracts and any supporting documentation for approval by the appropriate stakeholder, and approve purchases within delegated authority, to enable the swift purchase of goods and services.
• Resolve issues related to delivered goods, using initiative, liaising with all parties and following standard processes, to ensure timely and accurate resolution of problems.
• Research, collect and analyse data in order to produce reports to enable informed decision-making by Procurement Officers, and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.
• Manage updates and further develop databases and records, to ensure information is accurate, organised, and available for others to access, and supports reporting requirements.
• Maintain relationships with internal counterparts, to support the alignment of procurement activities with wider programmes and ensure a coherent approach to meeting food assistance needs.
• Supervise the work of support staff, providing practical advice and guidance, to ensure individual and team objectives are delivered to agreed standards and deadlines.
• Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to support WFP to quickly respond and deploy food and needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.

Other Specific Job Requirements

• This section is optional to describe additional responsibilities & knowledge required for the specific job.

4Ps Core Organazational Capabilities:
Purpose:

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Coaches team in the most effective ways to communicate WFP’s Strategic Objectives to WFP team and partners in the field.
• Be a force for positive change: Implements new methods or tools to improve team’s work processes and productivity.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Maps team’s activities and tasks to specific successes in beneficiary communities to showcase positive impact.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Explains to teammates how each unit contributes to the overall WFP mission.

People:

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Identifies skill development opportunities such as training modules or on-the-job experiences for self, colleagues and direct reports.
• Create an inclusive culture: Facilitates team building activities to build rapport in own unit.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Facilitates the pairing of junior colleagues with coaches within own team.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Proactively anticipates potential challenges and develops mitigation plans to ensure that team meets goals and targets.

Performance:

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Identifies opportunities to be creative in own work and to help team be more innovative and accurate in their respective tasks and areas of work.
• Focus on getting results: Monitors team’s deliverables and provides feedback to ensure outcomes are delivered consistently and accurately.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Provides accurate guidance to team on expected responsibilities and tasks, whilst also upholding own commitment to the team.
• Be Decisive: Sets an example and provides guidance to junior team members on when to escalate issues when faced with challenging issues in the workplace or in the field.

Partnership:

• Connect and share across WFP units: Facilitates partnerships with other WFP units to accomplish missions in the field.
• Build strong external partnerships: Sets an example and provides guidance to team on how to build relationships with external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Articulates to colleagues or direct reports the value of contributing to other WFP teams and agency partnerships in fulfilling WFP’s goals and objectives.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Organizes, monitors, and prioritizes own and team’s efforts to ensure that they will fulfill the needs of internal and external partners.

Functional Capabilities
Tendering and Contracting:

• Displays basic understanding of processes to support the contracting/tendering implementation at WFP by collecting necessary information.

Vendor Management:

• Leverages basic understanding of business needs to define vendor requirements and selection criteria.

Commodity and Product/Service Intelligence:

• Appropriately handles products/services based on an understanding of sources, technologies, properties, and public procurement principles/practices.

Systems & Reporting:

• Demonstrates strong understanding of procurement systems, Corporate operating System and tools to conduct range of analyses and generate reports to drive decision making.

Ethics and Compliance:

• Maintains accurate records of activities in line with compliance standards to increase ease of response to basic audit queries.

Standard Minimum Qualifications
Education:

• Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area.

Language:

• General Service (Headquarters): Fluency (level C) in English language. Fluency (level C) or intermediate knowledge (level B) of another official language may be required depending on the location of the post or area of responsibility.
• General Service (Field): Fluency in both oral and written communication in the UN language in use at the duty station and in the duty station’s language, if different.

Desired Experiences for Entry into the Role:

• Demonstrated familiarity with locally purchased commodities/goods/services (e.g., cash based, in-kind donations).
• Experience conducting supplier research and coordinating with retailers, wholesalers and traders.
• Demonstrated knowledge of procurement processes and linkages with other operations (e.g., logistics).

Terms and Conditions

• Selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year. WFP offers an attractive compensation package.