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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE POSITION:

Background

WFP is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation (MCF) for a five-year 130 million USD programme, titled ‘Strengthening food systems to promote increased value chain employment opportunities for youth’. This programme, which aims to strengthen local food systems and making them more efficient, sustainable and inclusive for youth, in particular young women, will be implemented in eight Country Offices, in three different regions: East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda); Southern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique) and West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal). In each of these countries, the programme will adopt an integrated value chain approach to implement context-specific interventions aimed at reaching the following outcomes:

Young people, especially women, have improved employment opportunities along the value chain
Smallholder farmers, especially youth and women, increase the value of their sales, resulting in improved income
Smallholder farmers, especially youth and women, reduce post-harvest losses and improve the quality for targeted crops
Improved inclusiveness of marginalized groups in agricultural value chains
Improved value chain efficiency for young people, in particular women

The programme will focus on reducing post-harvest losses and increasing the access of small-holder farmers to reliable and remunerative market opportunities for a range of different crops. In complement to those core intervention areas, the partnership will introduce innovative access to finance solutions to the benefit of key value chain actors, as well as a range of other innovative digital solutions to strengthen the performance of those actors and improve the overall efficiency of the targeted value chains.

In addition, whenever possible the initiative will explore and advance digital solutions to attract young people to the sector and increase value chain efficiencies.

In order to fully leverage this opportunity and fill critical outstanding knowledge gaps around the different thematic areas of the partnership, MCF is aiming to complement the implementation with an ambitious and rigorous research agenda. This research agenda will be led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), that will be contracted directly by MCF.

Purpose of the position:

The MCF-WFP Partnership has an internal three-tier coordination and technical support structure: i) a Programme Steering Committee (PSC); ii) a Programme Coordination Team (CT), comprising both in WFP Headquarters and the three Regional Bureaux in which the partnership is implemented; iii) the Programme working group at country level (COWG).

The Regional Bureau is planning to hire a National Programme Policy Officer to act as focal point of the MCF-WFP partnership and member of the Programme CT at the Regional Bureau level. Given the nature of the partnership and the MCF’s focus and work on youth employment and women empowerment, it is advisable that the National Programme Policy Officer has technical expertise in at least two or more of the areas covered by the programme pillars/outcomes, mentioned below:

Young people, especially women, have improved employment opportunities along the value chain
Smallholder farmers, especially youth and women, increase the value of their sales, resulting in improved income
Smallholder farmers, especially youth and women, reduce post-harvest losses and improve the quality for targeted crops
Improved inclusiveness of marginalized groups in agricultural value chains
Improved value chain efficiency for young people, in particular women

MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive):

Main duties:

The National Programme Policy Officer will be under the technical supervision of the head of SAMS unit and general supervision of head of PSU.

The National Programme Policy Officer will be the primary interface of the Programme CT with the Country Offices implementing the MCF programme in the region. S/he will take a leadership role in overseeing the project, organizing regular meetings for the countries involved with regional colleagues including the monthly meetings of the Programme working group at country level (COWG). The National Programme Policy Officer will also provide additional support to Country Offices in the areas of his/her technical expertise, and coordinate the technical support that can be provided to the country offices by the Regional Bureau’s concerned units (e.g. SAMS, food systems, gender, supply chain, etc.).

The National Programme Policy Officer will represent the RB within the Programme CT. In this respect the National Programme Policy Officer will attend meetings of the CT, provide regular updates and report any issues of concern and progress to the Deputy Global Coordinator.

Specific Terms of Reference:

coordinate the implementation of MCF initiatives at regional level, and ensure alignment of the programme activities to the existing relevant regional programmatic initiatives;
serve as technical professional in advising the programme countries in the region on areas to strengthen and improve;
support Country Offices on Country Strategic Planning Budget Revisions when needed;
when required, provide technical support also to other programme countries in the region, based on his/her specific technical expertise, preferably in the areas of youth employment and women empowerement (e.g provide advice on outreach strategies to marginalised groups; on identifying the main gender barriers /constraints to women participation and engagement in the agriculture sector and WFP operations, and in designing appropriate gender strategies, components, and indicators to respond to gender issues);
when possible, and according to his/her qualifications, support the Country Offices with data analysis, communication and advocacy, and develop an advocacy strategy to make strategic shift at policy level through this project;
support Country Offices in the process of timely monitoring the impact of the MCF programme in the Common Areas of Success identified with MCF, in the collection and reporting on data driven evidence, and liaise with the RB and CT M&E function to ensure quality of the above;
review the biannual and annual narrative reports prepared by the COs, share the RBx-reviewed reports with HQ, collate HQ comments and share back with COs;
compile technical feedback from countries into relevant products as per donor requests/requirements, in coordination with the CT’s Knowledge Management function ;
support the generation of think pieces from project implementation to contribute to the body of knowledge on youth employment and women's economic empowerment, in coordination with CT’s Knowledge Management function;
contribute to the design of, and participate in, country and regional level learning events, including conferences, workshops on thematic areas and on the IFPRI and other institutions research projects;
join the monthly meetings of the COWG (cfr COWG specifc ToRs) and follow up with Country Offices on the action points agreed in the meeting;
join the monthly meetings of the CT (cfr CT specific ToRs) and provide updates on progress and cosntraints;
ensure that the COWG fosters collaboration and cooperation with key stakeholders, including governments, RB regional bodies, private sectors, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society, research and academic institutions and donors’ institutions to contribute to effective project implementation;
liaise with the other Regional Bureaux National Programme Policy Officers on a regular basis, with regards to knowledge sharing, challenges and risks, communications, etc.

SPECIFIC QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Advanced university degree in one of the following disciplines: agricultural economy, development economics, agricultural and rural development, M&E, development studies, gender studies or other related fields.

Experience****: Minimum 6 years of post-graduate, progressively responsible professional experience in coordination and project management. Previous experience in managing projects on youth employment and women empowerment and sound understanding of programming on women's economic empowerment is highly recommended. The ability to coordinate multi-stakeholders is an asset.

Knowledge & Skills:

Proven abilities to coordinate agriculture-related projects
In-depth knowledge of gender issues/inequality in development settings, and linkages with agriculture development and sound understanding of programming on women's economic empowerment
Solid analytical skills, including gender analysis, or labour market/ skills forecast
Solid oral and written communication skills, including the ability to effectively communicate through multiple mediums (e.g., policy, advocacy messaging, reporting, training)
Team spirit and excellent interpersonal relations
Knowledge of the UN system, including gender-related mandates is an asset

Language****:

Excellent command of English (level C) and ability to present information clearly and concisely in French (level B).

Only Senegalese nationals are eligible to apply

Before you apply...

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, physical or mental disability.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.

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Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: wfp.org