Programme Policy Officer at World Food Programme (WFP)

Requisition: # 62061
Location: Abuja

Context
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 holds a prominent place among national prioririties of Nigeria and the Government views food security as a critical national objective, generating employment opportunities, particularly for the youth; promoting education through linkage to safety nets and home-grown school feeding programmes; and supporting women’s empowerement.

In the recently adopted Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020), the Government recognizes that Nigeria fares poorly, at the global level, on major socio-economic indicators for health, education, nutrition and jobs. Therefore, improving access to quality health services and promoting social protection investments are also ranked high on the Government’s national agenda and are linked  to achieving Zero Hunger.

WFP is developing its Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2018 - 2022 to support the government in achieveing Zero Hunger

Job Purpose
Under the general supervision and guidance of the Head of Programme, the Programme Policy Officer will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Country Startegic Plan, and will be responsible for the following key duties:

• Develop operational partnerships and maintain established strategic partnerships to identify opportunities for collaborative approaches and advocacy  initiatives that support the implementation of the CSP;
• Translate the CSP activities into country-level practices and implementation modalities and operations, to ensure a clear and strong programme delivery;
• Ensure that policy and programme operations are consistent with the CSP, WFP policies, Executive Board decisions, and other relevant guidance;
• Provide technical advice or mobilise technical expertise, in line with the CSP requirements, on a wide range of 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;
• Support senior stakeholders in government and other partners in identifying where capacity strengthening opportunties can be usefully employed and provide support and technical expertise for the planning, formulation and implementation of capacity strengthening programmes to strengthen government and community ownership and the effectiveness of food security and nutrition programmes at Federal and State levels;
• Enhance WFP’s leadership status in different forums on subjects related to food security, nutrition, livelihoods, resilience, engagement in humanitarian, transition and development contexts, capacity strengthing and other related issues through direct participation in briefings, and the development of information products and other materials;
• Manage or oversee operational research and evidence building on issues relevant to the CSP;
• Manage or oversee preparation and dissemination of timely analytical and critical reports, publications, and a variety of information products or proposals for internal or external use;
• 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 under the CSP;
• Lead, motivate and develop a substantive team to enable high performance;
• Ensure the best use of assigned financial resources for achievement of set objectives within a significant budget;
• Other as required.

Requirements
Education:

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

Experience:

• At least eight (8) years or more (of which three are international) of progressively responsible postgraduate professional experience; Engaging local and national governments or other partners on operational and strategic issues;
• Formulation, management and leading 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;
• Experience in leading a multicultural team or a substancial compoment of a complex programme;
• Proven ability to engage with government agencies and other relevant stakeholders on policy issues related to food assistance.

Technical Skills & Knowledge:

• Broad and outstanding knowledge of diverse humanitarian assistance, recovery and development practices;
• Excellent understanding of project life cycle and humanitarian principles and tools;
• Familiarity with planning, implementing and leading humanitarian assistance, recovery, development and capacity building programmes at global as well as local/project level;
• Ability to explain strategies and projects to field counterparts and communicate with local governments and other 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;
• Ability to identify food security challenges at the national or subnational level and to design and implement context-specific programmes that integrate complex analysis and the full range of food assistance tools.
• Ability to engage key stakeholders in policy dialogue to strengthen national government food and nutrition security strategies and programmes.

Language:

• Fluency in spoken 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.
• He/she will be required to travel to the field 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