Programme Assistant SC5 (School Feeding and Nutrition)

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WFP encourages female candidates and people with disabilities to apply.

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity and disability.

Job related key information

Job Title: Programme Assistant (School Feeding and Nutrition) Grade: SC5 Type of contract: Service Contract Duration: 12 months Duty Station: Dushanbe Vacancy Number: 168893 Date of Publication: 06 July 2022 Deadline of Application: 21 July 2022

Terms and conditions

WFP offers a competitive benefits package including salary, pension, leave, plus a medical insurance

BACKGROUND

The World Food Programme (WFP) is currently operating under a Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2019-2024, the duration for which will be shortened to end in 2022 whereby a new CSP 2023 – 2026 will commence in tandem with the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) covering the same period. By means of the CSP, WFP is undertaking a strategic shift from direct implementation to enabling and strengthening capacities of national and sub-national institutions to deliver on their food security and nutrition priorities. WFP activities support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The geographic scope of WFP Tajikistan operations encompasses the entirety of the country. In addition to the country office in Dushanbe, WFP has field offices located in Bokhtar, Gharm, Khorog, and Khujand to oversee operations in those specific regions. Under the objective of human development, WFP supports both school feeding and nutrition activities.

The School Feeding Programme (SFP) has been implemented by WFP Tajikistan since 1999, covering 52 districts and reaching over 450,000 beneficiaries, targeting primary school students at approximately 2,000 schools, accounting for about half of the schools across the country. The SFP is implemented under two main areas: provision of hot meals to schoolchildren and capacity development and augmentation (CD&A) to support nationalization of the programme.

Under the CD&A, WFP provides technical capacity development and augmentation to central and subnational mechanisms with the overall school feeding mechanism in a range of activities that build upon innovative approaches to enhancing food security and nutrition. At the central level, WFP seeks realize the Strategy for Sustainable Development of School Meals in the Republic of Tajikistan for 2017-2027 and prepare for the transition of it school feeding programme to government ownership. Sub-nationally, schools are being empowered to seek resources that support provision of diversified daily nutritious meals to schoolchildren. WFP therefore directly assists schools in creating greenhouses and fruit orchards, yields from which could directly support the meals or provide income to purchase other foods and supplies. In addition, as part of the long-term process to nationalize school feeding and secure sustainable access to locally produced healthy foods, WFP seeks to increase local agricultural production, especially for women’s groups, and strengthen food systems and value chains by linking smallholder farmers to schools.

WFP’s nutrition interventions include activities for the treatment and prevention of moderate acute malnutrition. WFP provides direct food support to treat malnutrition and, as preventative measures, implements social behaviour change communication (SBCC) to improve upon the nutritional habits and behaviour of the population. The malnutrition prevention interventions are implemented in primary healthcare centres and schools. In addition, WFP is a strong advocate for national fortification of wheat flour and is currently supporting the realization of the 2019 Law on Food Fortification under the overall nutrition portfolio.

JOB PURPOSE

The above described initiatives would require enhanced capacity at the country office level and strong coordination with internal and external stakeholders. The Programme Assistant, SC5, will support the school feeding and nutrition teams with all first-level data management and administrative aspects of the portfolio.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Working to support the human development outcome of the CSP 2023-2026 and reporting directly to the head of programme, the incumbent is expected to perform the following duties and responsibilities for both school feeding and nutrition:

• Provide project management and/or general support following established targets and WFP’s policies and procedures. • Compile and manage data, conducting basic analysis, from relevant sources, inputting to COMET or other relevant databases (in reference to food request notes, partnerships data, distribution data, other output data, assessments/monitoring data, etc.); • Support in development and tracking of monthly process monitoring plans and tools; • Ensure reporting requirements of cooperating partners are met, following up on payments as needed; • Manage the administerial aspects of the United Nations Partner Portal by supporting interested parties in registering their organization, uploading documents, conducting online and offline due diligence screening of all potential partners; • Support in the proposals review and serve as secretariate for cooperating partner committee processes; • Ensure electronic (and physical, if required) archiving of all official documents; • Document all official meetings and exchanges through notetaking; • Serve as alternate to the programme unit business support assistant in processing and managing routine administrative and financial tasks, including collating inputs, staff mission planning, raising of purchase orders and requisitions, invoice tracking, events/workshops planning, and basic translations from/to English/Tajik/Russian on short documents, presentations, and written correspondence; • Any other tasks as needed.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

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

University degree in Business Support, Administration, Education, Social Science, Public Health, or other field relevant to international development assistance is desirable.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Minimum 5 years of experience in programme, of which at least 1 year is in implementation of projects working in the private business sector, government agencies, United Nations, and/or national or international non-profit organizations.

A focus on social protection, education, or nutrition will be considered as an asset.

Desired Experiences:

Experience in liaisons with national counterparts such as local authorities, state agencies and ministries.

KEY COMPETENCIES

• Communication: Adapts to the level of language and complexity of content as relevant to the audience. Facilitates transparent communication among staff. • Ethics and Values: Ensures WFP’s regulations, procedures and policies are applied within the work unit. Deals fairly and equitably with all individuals. • Interpersonal Relations: Aware of, and sensitive to, the interpersonal strengths and limitations of others. Uses diplomacy and tact to find mutual solutions where there are conflicting interests. • Initiative: Proposes methods to enhance work processes. Proactively identifies potential problems in the work unit and implements measures to avoid them. • Concern for Order: Develops strategies to quickly respond in high pressure situations and systems to organise complex data for future use.

LANGUAGES

• Fluency in both oral and written communication in English and Tajik is required. • Strong knowledge of Russian is required.

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WFP is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce. WFP has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority or discrimination. 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.