Programme Policy Officer - NGO Partnerships

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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 or disability.

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

In Syria, WFP provides food assistance to more than 4.6 million people each month. This includes families who require emergency assistance when affected by conflict and displacement and also those who need help to improve their nutrition and food security. WFP supports children across Syria with healthy meals and snacks at school, mothers with nutritious diets, and families and communities with sustainable livelihood projects.

WFP Syria engages local and international non-governmental organizations who serve as Cooperating Partners (CPs) to implement WFP programmes. WFP relationships with NGO partners are critical; it is essential that we partner together in mind, heart, and resources. We want deeper and better relationships for a bigger impact for those we serve. This Programme Policy officer post is focused on NGO Partnerships and the candidate is expected to serve in a manner to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of management and administration of the Country Office partnership agreements with cooperating partners involved in management of food assistance.

JOB PURPOSE

Job holders are likely to manage a complex portfolio field level agreements and cooperating partners relations, including direct management or coordination of the FLA cycle at CO level or formulation of substantial parts of CP management policies and provision of technical advice at Field Office level, liaising with RBC. As such, job holders will be expected to have an extensive breadth of programme and policy knowledge/experience including strong technical abilities in programme and partnership. The job holder will also advise and manage the NGO Partnerships sub-unit within Programme Unit that effectively meets food assistance needs, or contribute to policy formulation and/or provide technical advice or oversight on NGO Partnership strategy and implementation.

This position will be based in Damascus, Syria. The job holder will report directly to the Head of the Emergency Relief and NGOs & Partnership Unit.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Establish/maintain operational partnerships to identify opportunities for collaborative approaches and initiatives that improve assistance packages and support advocacy work.

2. Lead/devise the process of FLA management for all units, ensuring that review and due-diligence have been followed.

3. Coordinate the process of CPC (Cooperating Partners Committee) and provide key information to the forum on all aspects of Partnerships.

4. Supervise Field Level Agreements (FLA) management team to ensure all agreements are prepared correctly and in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

5. Lead the process on the UN Partners Portal (UNPP) for registration, identification and selection of cooperating partners. Additionally, provide trainings and orientation to other units, field offices and cooperating partners (CPs) on the UNPP process.

6. Provide guidance to technical units on budget negotiations with CPs. Prepare analysis of various FLA budgets in order to harmonize the process and ensure no duplication of costs or double charging.

7. Supervise/train a team of national staff who serve as primary focal points for cooperating partners, providing feedback to NGOs on the outcome of their proposals, and provide oversight to the review and finalization of the Call for Proposals (CFP) received from technical units, and circulating to potential NGOs for proposal submission while ensuring the given timelines.

8. Provide technical assistance and guidance to technical units and field offices on mid-year/end of the year performance assessments, ensuring timely completion of the process, maintaining a database of the results for review by CPC during FLA extensions and renewal process.

9. Participate in the UN Partnerships working group and share key information on CP performance, spot checks and micro-assessments and audits.

10. Deliver trainings and learning sessions for CPs and WFP field offices and technical units' staff on FLA process including partnership processes, budgeting, proposal drafting, capacity assessments, performance assessment and reporting, developing required training materials for their future reference and use.

11. Ensure timely creation of FLAs in COMET and quality distribution reports while ensuring relevant invoices are submitted timely for the reconciliation against deliveries and payment processes.

12. Provide information and reports on partnerships for programme and management briefings preparing point report and the Annual Corporate Report (ACR).

13. Develop, update and train staff on SOPs for FLA management and terms of reference for the CPC committee updating and revising based on new changes and corporate guidelines.

14. Liaise with all stakeholders and provide management for tracking the progress of the FLAs in terms of use and ensuring communication with technical units and field offices for expected FLA amendments and adjustments.

15. Lead, motivate and develop a team of staff to enable high performance.

16. Others, as required.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

Education: Advanced University Degree in International Affairs, Economics, Social Sciences or other field relevant to international development assistance, or a First University Degree with 3 additional years of programme-related work experience and/or training courses.

Experience:

1. Job holder will have 5 years experience working across the programme portfolio, including VAM/Nutrition.

2. Job holder will have led a sub-office or a small country/area office programme team or a component of a country office programme portfolio.

3. Job holder will have engaged in policy discussions and provided input into policy decisions.

Languages: Fluency (Level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (Level B) of Arabic is an advantage.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The contract offered provides a competitive base salary and favorable conditions such as medical insurance, flexible working arrangements, Daily Subsistence Allowance, Rest & Recuperation (every six weeks) and Danger Pay allowance.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline for applications is January 26 2023 at 23:59 (GMT+2)

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WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.