Programme Policy Officer- Cash Based Transfers and Emergencies- NOA

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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.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. In Lao PDR, WFP supports the government in providing school lunches for primary students, counters malnutrition with targeted food support to the most vulnerable, and helps communities build resilient lives with sustainable livelihood options.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

These jobs are found in Country Offices (COs) and job holders report to a more senior Programme Policy Officer. Job holders are likely to be working under the close support and guidance of a more experienced professional staff member receiving guidance and regular feedback on work performed. They are typically involved in programme or policy activities or similar nature and analytical work of limited complexity.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Provide specialized expertise and contribute towards the development of emergency and cash-based transfer activities, plans and processes ensuring alignment with wider programme policies and guidelines;
2. Provide coordination and specialized project management support to emergency and cash-based transfer activities to ensure all activities are performed within the established targets following WFP’s policies and procedures;
3. Prepare narrative reports and substantial data analysis (e.g., food assistance needs, resource utilization, programme status, performance) and make recommendations to supervisors, ensuring deliverables adhere to corporate standards and quality control;
4. Lead and ensure accurate, timely recording of data within emergency and cash-based transfer areas of work, including beneficiary registration records, emergency field assessments, cash distribution reports, ensuring consistency of information presented to stakeholders;
5. Coordinate and liaise with internal counterparts on a range of complex matters to enable effective collaboration, implementation, and monitoring of ongoing project activities in emergency and cash-based transfer programme areas;

Key Accountabilities- Continue

6. Foster relationships and support partnership-building with local partners, agencies, NGOs and government institutions to perform accurate food security analyses and to ensure efficient delivery of food and cash assistance in emergencies;

7. Support the capacity building of WFP staff, cooperating partners, and national government within emergency preparedness and cash-based transfer programming;

8. Act as an escalation point for complex query resolution on all emergency and cash-based transfer matters within the area of responsibility.

9. Support staff, providing advice, guidance, and training, to ensure individual and team objectives are delivered to agreed standards and deadlines.

10. Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to ensure WFP can quickly respond and deploy needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
• Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
• Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
• Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
• Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability Name Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance Demonstrates ability to identify key variables and contextual factors that affect food assistance problems and programmes throughout the lifecycle to inform quality programme design or re-design. Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher) Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development. Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas (i.e. Nutrition, VAM, etc.) Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring. Emergency Programming Displays capacity to provide inputs into the development, implementation and realignment of high quality emergency programmes. Strategic Policy Engagement w/ Government Develops thorough recommendations using multiple inputs (e.g., government counsel, research, own experience) to strengthen national or subnational entities and government owned food and nutrition security programmes.

STANDARD 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.

Language: National Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language and the duty station’s language, if different.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

This section is optional to describe additional responsibilities & knowledge required for the specific job.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Proven track record in delivering community level development programmes;
• At least five (5) year experience working with NGOs, NPAs in disaster management, resilience programming, rural development, agriculture or development fields;
• Ability to communicate in English for both orally and in writing;
• Strong inter and intrapersonal communication skills;
• Good analytical, facilitation, negotiation skills;
• Ability to work in a team, establish effective working relations with persons of different cultural backgrounds;
• Experience in working with Government counterparts and familiar with public administration;
• Experience in policy consultations and development and/or project management.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract type: Fix Term Appointment

Contract duration: 12 months renewal

Duty Station: Vientiane

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Opening date: 23 December 2021

Closing date: 12 January 2022

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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.