International Consultant - Head of Livelihoods & Resilience - Beirut, Lebanon

The Vacancy Announcement will close on 05 June 2022 at 11:59 PM, Rome Time. No application will be considered after the deadline.

- Female candidates are encouraged to apply. - Potential candidates with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply. - Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Organizational background

Assisting more than 90 million people in 83 countries each year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

As the international community has committed to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition by 2030, one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.

In Lebanon, WFP works to support approximately 1,200,000 refugees through e-cards; 350,000 Lebanese through NPTP; 75,000 Syrian and Lebanese children through School Meals; and 400,000 Lebanese with in-kind assistance through the economic crisis response.

To know more about WFP’s mission, please check the below video: https://www.facebook.com/WorldFoodProgramme/videos/10154930622760178/

Background of the Assignment: WFP Lebanon has embraced resilience and livelihoods as an overarching theme in an attempt to identify programmes and approaches that help mitigate the impact of shocks and stressors including the economic, financial and banking crises, environmental degradation challenges, water scarcity, price shocks that impede households in accessing sufficient, nutritious diets, and appropriate livelihoods and learning opportunities. Operationalizing resilience is not straightforward in Lebanon, especially given how the current challenging context is highly volatile, economically unstable, and unpredictable. The livelihoods portfolio strives to design humanitarian operations that contribute to mid-term development objectives; position WFP as an enabler and provide support to systems for strengthened local ownership; and focuses on the most vulnerable and food insecure. Through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) and the WFP Country Strategic Plan, WFP is using emergency preparedness and humanitarian response to save lives, protect livelihoods and support recovery; 2. Investing in social protection systems, safety nets and resilience building to address chronic food insecurity and malnutrition; and 3. Leveraging capacity building, technical support, tools and systems to create the needed enabling environment.

Job Purpose: To design and manage programmes (resilience, livelihoods [food for assets and food for training], climate and disaster risk, food systems) that effectively meet WFP’s common approach, priorities and expectations for food assistance needs, or contribute to policy formulation and/or provide technical advice or oversight on programme strategy and implementation.

Key Responsibilities (not all-inclusive, nor exhaustive): Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme, the Programme Policy Officer (Head of Livelihoods) will be responsible for the following duties: 1. Lead, motivate and develop a team of staff to enable high performance. • Ensure all team members are trained and implementing on enhanced programme designs so all livelihood activities become conflict-, nutrition-, environmental -, and gender-sensitive. • Coach and mentor staff to integrate the strategic, operational and technical standards found in resilience building block integration material, the 2021 Theory of Change and Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2025, as well as the WFP programme guidance manual, CSP and programme support tools for livelihoods and the RBC resilience framework. • Participate in and role model effective cooperation and technical contribution in the technical review committee for the Field Level Agreement (FLA) management process and NGO partnership collaboration. 2. Prepare for the implementation of the 2023-2025 CSP for the livelihoods, resilience and food systems sections. • Engaging in Livelihood Programme staffing review, including alignment exercise and review of Terms of Reference (TOR) of livelihood Country Officer (CO) and Field Office (FO) staff to align to new operational requirements in the new CSP • Adjusting Livelihood Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) framework to reflect new indicators from the resilience building blocks, conflict sensitivity, and other new corporate guidance 3. Coordinate formulation, monitoring and implementation of WFP Lebanon’s livelihoods portfolio of work, including Food for Assets (FFA) and Food for Training (FFT), with alignment to social protection, protection, gender analysis and mainstreaming, and WFP corporate results framework, resilience policies, and various LCRP, inter-agency and national development priorities or frameworks, with increased effort towards decentralizing project management to the field. • Revision of Livelihood Associate and field monitor assistant TORs to strengthen decentralization of project management and implementation • Review of tools, including but not limited to, financial review of CPs invoicing, to support improved CP management at field-level. 4. Strengthen community participatory engagement for design, improved for local ownership and leadership, aims for sustainability, mainstreams risk, gender, nutrition, and protection and PSEA and focuses on the most vulnerable. • Ensure implementation of community participatory training, advance the activities of targeted region specific CBPP process. • Hire and train development community UN Volunteers at CO and FO to ensure improved community engagement, particularly in conflict sensitivity, gender and inclusion. • Update the application of the CLEAR Study in Q4 2022 with most recent food security and nutrition indicators. The CLEAR to be used as both a WFP instrument to guide area-based target, but also to support other organizations working in the climate change space with the CLEAR approach analysis and fundings. 5. Identify and explore opportunities for engaging in strategic, resource, material, operational partnerships with stakeholders, mapping current investments and contributions by government, donors, IFI and private sectors, to highlight innovation ideas for value chains, small holder agricultural market support, asset creation, individual, community or institutional capacity strengthening, nutrition, gender, homegrown school feeding, resilience, climate and disaster risk reduction or conflict-sensitivity. • Steward the implementation of self-reliance approach project and other key projects that have strategic resource mobilization value, in addition to its inherent value of support humanitarian to development programming • Engage with UN Agencies to develop area-based joint projects, as donor funded multi-year projects have longer TDD than the current livelihood funding stream. 6. Enhance WFP’s leadership status in forums relating to area of specialty, by participating in the inter-agency coordination fori/working groups, task forces for Livelihoods, cash for work, agricultural policy, and resilience building. • Ensure WFP drives key discussion and shares timely, relevant information in the LCRP Livelihood Sector Core Group, and, as a result, the wider livelihood sector on key food security and nutrition issues • Ensure WFP strongly advocates for and, as as result maintains, its membership in the LCRP Livelihood Sector Core Group 7. Manage the finances and budget of Livelihoods project activities; be responsible for funds consumption in a timely manner for all projects, and complete all monthly, quarterly, annual reporting and funds reviews, collaborating with the Finance and Budget and Programme units. • Operate lean budget approach to ensure consumption within TDD • Regular briefings to Head of Programme and senior management, and budgeting & programming regarding the use of flexible funding and ensure no funding pipeline breaks 8. Be responsible for successful, consistent, reliable, efficient and effective performance for preparation, review, financial tracking and invoice vetting, and NGO performance evaluation and FLA management. Fulfill all duties assigned as an “Activity manager” in the NGO Partnerships and FLA management standard operating procedures and mentor unit’ to perform their contributions. 9. Actively contribute and prepare documentation to facilitate longer-term, multi-year fund resource mobilization efforts with the external partnership’s unit, including being responsible for the livelihoods stakeholder mapping exercises, identifying external opportunities and internal strengths so entry points with donors can be developed into financial contributions. Be responsible for coordination inputs for regular publicity, social media, donor briefs and visibility with the Public Information and communications teams. 10. Collaborate with Regional Bureau and WFP Headquarters on policy, lessons learned, evaluation, and risk managment. 11. Perform other related duties, as required.

Minimum Qualifications:

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 trainings/courses.

Experience: • At least five (5) years of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in Livelihoods activities. • Has worked in a Country Office or equivalent level position within technical area. • Has led a country / area office programme team or a substantial component of a complex programme. • Has gained direct experience of different programme approaches. • Has worked with government agencies and gained policy experience. • Has led team in operational as well as strategic discussions.

Language: Fluency in English language. Intermediate knowledge of a second official UN. Arabic or French is a plus.

Knowledge and Skills: Good analytical skills; resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgement, tact, negotiating skills; ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing; ability to work in a team and establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds. Ability to cope with situations, which may threaten health or safety; flexibility in accepting work assignments outside normal desk description. Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with counterparts and staff within the office, host population, donors, NGOs and other UN agencies; ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under his/her supervision. Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. Good understanding of the international humanitarian response and development assistance architecture, including coordination mechanisms, and funding mechanisms. Facilitation and communication: experience of high-level coordination and chairing of meetings; ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders and develop consensus and joint working with team members.

Qualified female applicants are especially encouraged to apply

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.