United Nations World Food Programme Programme Policy Officer Job Vacancy

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.

We
are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job
Title:
Programme Policy Officer
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 achieving 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 Strategic 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 opportunities 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 strengthening 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 substantial component 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