Programme Policy Officer- Government Engagement-School-based Programme- NOB

Programme & Policy

Overview

Support development and implementation of national school lunch programme.

You have:

• Master’s degree or advanced degree in Sociology, Public Health, Public Administration, Political Science, International Relations or Business Administration or relevant field is required.
• Fluency (level C) in English language and Lao.
• At least 5 years’ experience with Master degree or 10 year experience with Bachelor degree in humanitarian activities and/or public works and/or community mobilization.
• Work experience, preferably with technical roles in government partnership management, school feeding, systems development, public policy/administration and programme management.
• Substantial experience in advocacy and policy development/research in the development context.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, flexibility, adaptability and ability to work effectively as a member of a team.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbally and in writing, and ability to tactfully negotiate.

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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 world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

School feeding and school-based programmes have been a key focus for the Laos Country Office since 2002 and Strategic Outcome 1 (school feeding) remains the largest outcome area under the CSP (2022-2026). The Country Office is currently managing multiyear projects funded by USDA, the German and Korean governments,and from private sector partners to support national school lunch programme in Laos.

WFP has been providing financial and technical assistance to the Government to expand and strengthen the national school lunch programme (NSLP), ensuring that pre-primary and primary school students in the Government's priority districts receive nutritious school meals all year around with complementary support for improve health, nutrition, and literacy.

While providing direct support for school lunch programme (SLP), WFP has been working closely with the government of Lao PDR to build national capacity for nationalization of the SLP, in line with the School Feeding Handover Plan signed between WFP and MoES in May 2018. The Prime Minister’s Decree on integrating the SLP into the national budget line was endorsed by the National Assembly in late 2022, is a significant step in guaranteeing a solid foundation and long-term commitment towards the nationalization of the program.

A key component of WFP support for SLP is to provide high level policy support and strengthening national capacity for the transition of SLP to the full government ownership in the future. Through support to national legislation and guidelines, the strengthening of technical capacity, and the facilitation of knowledge sharing, WFP aims to strengthen national systems for establishing sustainable and nationally owned SLP for the country.

JOB PURPOSE

In this context, the incumbent of this assignment will primarily perform programme tasks to augment national systems for implementing sustainable national school lunch programme, while contributing towards programm planning and designing , as well as partnership efforts of the WFP Country Office. Under the overall supervision of the Strategic Outcome 1 Manager, PPO- Government Engagement will be responsible for delivery of technical expertise on approaches and methods for creating enabling policy environment with strong national policies and guidelines for promoting national ownership of SLP.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

• Maintain effective relationships with the government of Lao PDR, UN agencies, NGOs, and other partners, in order to keep them informed on important, strategic operational approach of WFP supported school feeding programme. • Provide information to the government, UN agencies, NGOs and other partners on the strategy, design, relevance and impact of programmes, to advocate the work of WFP to support school lunch programme. • Contribute to building and maintaining relationships with external partners including government, UN, NGOs and other development partners in support of programme strategy, implementation, enhanced coordination and resource mobilization related to SLP. • Attend meetings with the Government, UN and other multilateral bodies and NGOs , sharing information and inputs from WFP that will contribute to ensure that WFP positions are properly explained and taken into account in decision making for support national SLP. • Maintain awareness of current activities, political and social events of UN and other multilateral bodies/governments, conduct analysis to understand how they may impact WFP activities and programmes and provide timely information to WFP staff for decision-making. • Coordinate collaboration with government partners and relevant stakeholders to establish and enhance national school feeding coordination and management structures, lessons learnt from national programme implementation, and the emerging roles and responsibilities of various actors. • Work with relevant institutions to finalize and operationalize the national school feeding transition Strategy in line with recommendations from System Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) assessment and its action plan. • Continue to work with relevant stakeholders to identify capacity gaps and opportunities and lead capacity assessments and plans to address these gaps. • Guide and supervise more junior staff, acting as a point of referral and supporting them with more complex analysis and queries. • Lead WFP’s research and evidence generation initiatives linked to capacity strengthening with a focus on school feeding. • Lead/facilitate discussions within WFP and with the Government on action needed based on this evidence, and subsequently to national capacity strengthening priorities. • Support regular risk analysis and programme adjustments required to strengthen school feeding design and delivery in the context of current socio-economic situation of the country. • Document the learning from transition and handover processes, facilitate internal and external discussions on lessons learnt on capacity strengthening and proactively lead the actions leading to programme adjustments based on this learning. • Coordinate with government for developing policies, guidelines, M&E framework, and other key policy documents for SLP. • 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. • Work as a focal point for coordinating with Inclusive Education Promotion Centre (IEPC). • Perform other duties as required or as directed by the reporting officer.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Master’s degree or advanced degree in the areas of Sociology, Public Health/ Public Administration/Political Science, International Relations or Business Administration or relevant field is required.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language and Lao

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 Displays ability to identify the main hunger problem at the national or subnational level to design and implement context-specific programmes that integrate complex analysis and the full range of food assistance tools. 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 ability to translate understanding of programme principles in emergencies and protracted conflict situations into relevant, effective, and context specific approaches. 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.

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

• At least 5 years’ experience with Master degree or 10 year experience with Bachelor degree with in humanitarian activities and/or public works and /or community mobilization or related area is required. • Work experience, preferably with technical roles in government partnership management, school feeding, systems development, public policy/administration and programme management. • Substantial experience in advocacy and policy development / research in the development context. • Experience in community development, and civic engagement under UN projects would be an added advantage.

• Has engaged in strategic programme/policy processes to inform programme design and implementation. • Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions across sectors. • Has experience working with different types of stakeholders (government, UN, research bodies, external experts) at national and sub-national level. • Demonstrable ability to think strategically, innovatively, and practically to ensure achievement of desired change objectives. • Excellent interpersonal skills, flexibility, adaptability and ability to work effectively as a member of a team. • Excellent communication skills, both verbally and in writing, and ability to tactfully negotiate. • Having experience with leading the project implementation in one or more of WFP’s programme areas (e.g. food security, nutrition, agriculture, education or similar) ideally with a government partnership, institutional development and/or systems strengthening. • Understanding of WFP’s operations in Lao PDR.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract Type: Fixed Terms Contract ( Lao Nationals Only)

Duration: One year with renewal

Grade: NOB

Duty station: Vientiane

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Opening date: 28 May 2024

Closing date: 10 June 2024

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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.

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Potential interview questions

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