Programme Policy Officer NOB (FtMA Productivity Lead)

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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

Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) is a consortium of six Agri-focused organizations, working to making markets work better for smallholder farmers (SHF) since 2016. Through a demand-led approach, FtMA works with local agricultural ecosystem players to sustainably improve farmer livelihoods whilst fostering commercial viability for stakeholders. FtMA fosters the growth of viable smallholder facing business models through strategic and hands-on partnerships with off-takers and other Agri-players. FtMA coordinates the ecosystem, co-innovates products, and services, and provides information management to smallholder farmers through Farmer Service Centres (FSCs). The products, services and information cover market access, access to finance, access to inputs and technology, and post-harvest handling and storage to overcome critical value chain bottlenecks in smallholder crop markets.

FtMA is operational in Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia with plans to scale to other countries and is coordinated by World Food Programme (WFP). In Kenya, FtMA is working with approximately 400 FSCs serving more than 75,000 smallholder farmers across 13 counties and five main value chains namely, sorghum, soya bean and Irish potato, maize, and rice.

JOB PURPOSE

To provide support to policy and programme activities that effectively meet food assistance needs. Works with local agricultural ecosystem players to sustainably improve farmer livelihoods whilst fostering commercial viability of value chain stakeholders. Contribute towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2; “Zero Hunger”.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Technical lead in agronomy and related matters to guide in developing strategies to sustainably increase productivity and incomes for smallholder farmers.
2. Mobilize and coordinate private sector input partners and other Agri services providers within and outside the alliance to participate and invest in developing practical solutions for SHFs to produce sustainably and increase productivity.
3. Establish and manage Public sector relationship by ensuring the County governments and other partners buy in and participate in the FtMA model.
4. Lead agriculture ecosystem players in developing a scalable and sustainable model to offer last mile delivery of extension information, inputs and other services to SHFs.
5. Identifying other development partners complementing FtMA activities and developing working relationships that are mutually beneficial. Specifically incorporating partners dealing with Climate Smart Agriculture technologies that are relevant to SHFs
6. Work with partners offering SHFs digitization solutions to effect mainstream technology that is both effective and efficient in reaching out to thousands of farmers on extension and other services.
7. Technical backstopping and troubleshooting for the field teams in agronomy and related matters. This includes identifying training and capacity building areas for the team and partners to work with.
8. Support Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) team to develop tools to be used in data collection, baseline studies, impact assessment and surveys.
9. Attend and represent FtMA-Kenya in stakeholder meetings/forums as directed

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.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in one or more of the following disciplines: Agriculture, Horticulture Agriculture Economics, or any relevant field. or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses. Language: English and Kiswahili

At least eight (8) years of experience in agribusiness, either in private sector enterprises or in non-profit value chain related projects, with a strong exposure to private sector segment.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Has deepened technical knowledge through exposure to technical teams. • Has taken leadership of implementing programmes. • Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

WFP is an equal opportunity employer and does not charge fees from applicants at any stage of the recruitment process. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Qualified female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply. For any queries write to [email protected]

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline is 23 July 2021.

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Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries 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.