Programme Policy Officer (Economist and Market Analyst) - VAM - NOA - Sana'a

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WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. 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.

Aiming to feed 13 million of the most vulnerable people with food assistance, WFP’s emergency response in Yemen is the agency’s largest anywhere in the world. WFP also provides nutrition support to 1.7 million children and mothers and delivers school meals to 850,000 children each day.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

hese jobs are found in Country Offices (COs), Regional Bureaux (RBs), and Headquarters (HQ). Job holders performing front office management functions typically report to the Division Director or Country Directors. In cases where these positions support a specific business stream, the reporting line may be to the Head of Unit or Chief. At this level job holders are expected to demonstrate responsibility and initiative to respond independently to queries with only general guidance. They have responsibility for undertaking specialised business support work, such as organisation and coordination of work. There is a requirement to use judgment in dealing with unforeseen problems on a daily basis. Job holders are expected to manage resources, and coach and/or coordinate a team of support staff.

JOB PURPOSE

Over the last 5 years and because of the conflict and related break down of the economy in Yemen, the food security situation in Yemen has been worsening with an intermittent improvement in 2019. The December 2020 IPC results indicated that 16.2 million people would be food insecure (IPC 3+) in the first half of 2021, even when humanitarian food assistance is provided; this includes 47,000 people classified in IPC phase 5 (catastrophe). Thus, WFP plans to continue the reinforcement of the analytical capacities for improved food security and economic analysis services to be able to inform the programme.

The research, assessment and monitoring unit undertakes regular large-scale surveys, monitoring activities, rapid assessments and mapping services to inform the WFP country officed with updated food security information including economic and price data. These help both programmatic decisions and advocacy efforts. The current price monitoring system with weekly data collection has been expanded from a pure governorate level to district level in the southern governorates deploying a private third-party service provider, while similar efforts are being envisaged for the northern districts. In addition, WFP Yemen has piloted the market functionality index in 2020 assessing the feasibility to switch to market-based distribution modalities, in particular cash. Further market assessment and analyses are becoming crucial for WFP to support the scale-up of cash distributions but also to assess market impacts of humanitarian interventions. To manage the entire process from design of data collection to data analysis and reporting, the VAM unit in Sana’a is recruiting an economist/market analyst.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Contribute towards the development of a limited number of projects, plans and processes, ensuring alignment with wider programme policies and guidance.
2. Provide project management support to specific and defined programmes and projects of small to moderate size that are relatively straight forward in nature, ensuring a coordinated approach with wider programmes that complies with WFP standards and procedures.
3. Follow data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained.
4. Research and analyse policy and operational issues to support senior colleagues in the development of policies, programmes and activities.
5. Contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on programmes and activities that enable informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.
6. Liaise with internal counterparts to ensure effective collaboration, monitor ongoing projects.
7. Support the identification, development and management of potential partnerships to collaborative working leading to improved food assistance packages.
8. Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to prepare for and respond to food assistance needs, e.g. through project management support of learning initiatives.
9. Provide guidance to support staff, acting as a point of referral and assisting them with analysis and queries.
10. Other as required.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive) Part - 1

• Collaborate with and contributing to manage an external service provider in the implementation of nationwide food price monitoring system at district level.
• Contribute to the design of a data base of market/economic data inclusive of imports in the CO.
• Ensure data quality of market/economic data collected and reported by WFP inclusive of the data entry interface.
• Ensure that data is uploaded to corporate systems in a timely manner.
• Contribute to timely monthly market bulletins of the country office by analyzing price data, economic data, preparing narratives and visualization.
• Plan, design and contribute to the implementation of market assessments and analyses to inform programme decisions including transfer and modality choice.
• Contribute to the integration of market-based information into (inter-agency) food security assessments.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive) Part - 2

• Establish a rapport with Central Bank of Yemen branches to be able to monitor contextual factors for the currency exchange rates and trends of the reserve.
• Prepare ad-hoc economic briefs.
• Represent the RAM/VAM unit in the interagency cash market working group.
• To the extent possible, work in partnership with government/non-government counterparts to strengthen market and price information systems and promote. the mainstreaming and harmonization of such systems.
• Strengthen Country Office market intelligence, through maintenance of relevant market and socio-economic data, regular monitoring and reporting on market. and economic conditions, and their implications for market functioning and food security.
• Perform other related duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree or University degree with experience and training/courses in one or more of the following disciplines: Economics, Development Economics, Agricultural Economics, Statistics, Mathematics or similar relevant discipline.

Experience:

• At least 1 year of post-graduate, progressively responsible, job-related experience in economic and/or food security analysis.
• Strong quantitative skills are required.
• Experience of working with household survey data is an asset.
• Experience working in a team, involving people of different nationalities and/or cultures.
• Experience with ODK/MoDA.

Language: Fluency in English (level C written and spoken). Fluency in Arabic (level C written and spoken).

Nationality: Yemeni.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong skills in both macro and micro economic analysis and preferably in relation to food security
• Statistical analysis (primary and secondary data collection/collation and analysis)
• Proficiency in Windows, MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook); basic knowledge in database management
• Proficiency in a statistical software package is required (Stata, R, SPSS, Python)
• Competencies: Cognitive Capacity, Teamwork, Action Management, Innovation, Partnering, Client Orientation, Advisory Skills, Facilitation and Training.

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.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. The applicant should be a Yemeni national
2. Only candidates who are short-listed will be contacted
3. Applications must be submitted online with:

• Use English language only
• Indicate all your job TOR
• indicate clear years of experience with each job (Month/Year)

4. WFP staff who are still under probation period are not eligible to apply for another FT position.
5. WFP staff on FT contracts must have completed one year in the current position to be eligible to apply for another FT position.
6. By submitting your application, you have read the Terms of Reference for this position and agree that any false, wrong or incomplete information might lead to your disqualification in this recruitment process.
7. Successful candidates vetted as viable candidates through the application process will be retained on internal roster for a two-year period and may be given further consideration for future similar specific position advertised in the duty station.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

04 July 2021

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WFP never uses external recruitment agencies and recruitment is always is free of charge. WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. The selection of staff are made on a competitive basis and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance. Only applicants whose profiles meet the advertised job requirements will be considered and only within the announced deadline.

لا يقوم برنامج الأغذية العالمي بالاستعانة ابداً بأشخاص او بوكالات خارجية في التوظيف، علماً بان عملية التوظيف دائماً مجانية. يبحث برنامج الأغذية العالمي عن مرشحين من أعلى درجات النزاهة والكفاءة المهنية والذين يتقاسمون مبادئنا الإنسانية.

يتم اختيار الموظفين على أساس تنافسي ونحن ملتزمون بتعزيز التنوع والتوازن بين الجنسين. سيتم النظر فقط للمتقدمين الذين تفي ملفاتهم الشخصية بمتطلبات الوظيفة المعلن عنها، وفقط خلال الموعد النهائي المعلن

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.