Programme Officer (Social Protection)

Organizational Setting The key mission of the FAO Representation in Somalia, which is led by FAO Representative (FAOR), is to assist and support the national government to develop policies, strategies and programmes aimed at accelerating the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the area of FAO's global mandate and Strategic Objectives. More specifically, FAO's response aims to address national needs and priorities in achieving food security, reducing hunger and malnutrition, developing agricultural, fishery and forestry sectors, and ensuring the sustainable use of environmental and natural resources and respond to recurrent emergencies. In addition to wide scope of technical support interventions policy development, FAO Somalia is implementing several emergency, resilience-building and development interventions. FAO recognises the critical role of social protection in poverty reduction and inclusive growth particularly when integrated in broader rural development strategies. Impacts realized globally from integrated approaches include boosting economic growth; enhancing the productivity of families; achieving food security and nutrition, and building the resilience of poor rural communities. Thus, FAO, together with partners, is advocating for the expansion of social protection to effectively reach populations living in rural areas and promote linkages between social protection and agriculture, food security, nutrition, natural resource management, decent rural employment and resilience building. In cognizance of the fragile and protracted context precipitated by recurrent climatic, environmental and conflict related shocks in Somalia, FAO Somalia is committed to the realization of inclusive and sustainable growth by supporting the Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States in building and strengthening a nationally-owned social protection system that is integrated with the broader livelihood and rural development strategies.

Reporting Lines The Programme Officer reports to the Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer and will work in close coordination with other programmes and units in FAO Somalia.

Technical Focus Support the social protection portfolio for FAO Somalia, contribute to, define and operationalize FAO's agenda on social protection in line with Government priorities with a focus on building risk-informed, evidence-based shock-responsive social protection systems applicable in fragile, humanitarian and protracted crisis contexts.

Key Results Develop, implement, monitor and evaluate assigned programme/projects.

Key Functions • Participates in the development, implementation and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects; monitors and analyses programme/project development and implementation; • Reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and proposes corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; identifies and tracks follow-up actions; • Assists in policy development, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of impact evaluation or equivalent studies; • Prepares various written outputs, e.g. drafts background papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications; • Undertakes outreach activities; conducts training workshops, seminars; makes presentations on assigned topics/activities; • Coordinates activities related to budget and funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and prepares related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.).

Specific Functions • Supports the design and development a country specific social protection strategy and action plan to support FAO Somalia's overall social protection programming through a collaborative and consultative process with the Government and relevant stakeholders/sectors; • Oversees the implementation of the Government's social protection priorities in line with the UN Collaborative Framework (UNCF), FAO's Country Programming Framework (CPF) and Social Protection Strategy documents; • Undertakes research and analysis on potential linkages of social protection interventions to the productive sectors (agriculture, livestock, economic, market, social, environmental, natural resources) to address food and nutrition insecurity and increase household income capacities, further utilizing the evidence to advocate for policy advocacy at all levels; • Analyses FAO's current practice and procedures on cash based interventions (CBIs), identifies and recommends pathways for linking these with the current efforts of the Federal Government to establish a national social protection system, and progressively move towards longer term interventions within FAO Somalia programme; • Participates in thematic discussions around the implementation of Somalia Social Protection Policy and Implementation Framework; • Supports partnerships with relevant Government ministries 'MOLSA, MoAI, MOLR- and key partners in social protection and seeks opportunities for collaboration with other UN agencies and development partners; • Identifies current and new emergency instruments with potential to develop complementarities to new and existing social protection instruments in the protracted complex and fragile context of Somalia. • Contributes to the mainstreaming of protection in emergency and resilience interventions through effective coordination/collaboration with other sectors and building synergies within FAO Somalia programmes and provides technical backstopping to field projects; • Supports staff in strengthening their technical knowledge and know how on social protection in order to effectively deliver social protection interventions; • Drafts a variety of social protection documents including technical reports, strategic methodological, documents, and input into technical and best practice documents, statistical and/or analytical tools for social protection; • Supports and participates in resource mobilization activities through contributing to development of proposals, concept papers and negotiations; • Liaises with other stakeholders (local government, state authorities and partners) through participation in the organised technical working groups/committee meetings/workshops for information dissemination that address the country policy implementation of social protection; • Supports gender and protection mainstreaming in FAO Somalia's social protection portfolio.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________ CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements • Advanced university degree in social science, social protection, social development, statistics, economics international development, project planning/management and/or rural development; • Five years of relevant experience in social protection policy and or programmes management, administration of food and nutrition security programmes/safety nets/social assistance, or related area; • Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies • Results Focus • Teamwork • Communication • Building effective relationships • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills • Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable; • Extent and relevance of experience in the field of social policy, social protection, social development, statistics, economics and/or rural development; • Ability to develop clear strategic goals consistent with the country programme objectives and to design and synthesize strategies for programme development and meet all commitments within the prescribed time, cost and quality standards; • Extent and relevance of experience in devising new methods, concepts, approaches and techniques, providing social protection policy advice, advocating and supporting negotiation at policy and programmatic level; • Extent and relevance of experience in partnerships with Government and development partners and building networks to obtain cooperation with other development partners; • Extent and relevance of experience in developing training materials and delivering trainings with excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write accurate reports; • Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset.