Programme Policy Officer - Nutrition Consultant

.

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

The current WFP Country Strategic Plan (CSP, 2019-2023) in Cambodia aims to complement and contribute to the Royal Government of Cambodia’s (RGC) efforts to achieve zero hunger through supporting school-based programmes, strengthening resilient local food systems, enhancing government capacities on emergency preparedness and response and enhancing food security, nutrition and social protection governance.

In Cambodia 22 percent of children under 5 years of age are stunted, while 10 percent are wasted. Girls and boys from across the lower wealth quintiles are equally affected. Dietary deficiencies in zinc, iodine and B-vitamins widely affect women of reproductive age and children. Undernutrition is estimated to cost Cambodia approximately 1.7 percent of its annual GDP and is a major contributor to mortality and decreased health and productivity. In addition, overweight and obesity are increasing; 18 percent of women of reproductive age are overweight or obese (mostly older women) while 14 percent are underweight (mostly younger women).

In Cambodia, WFP is the chair or co-chair of several strategic coordination mechanisms within the nutrition sector, including the UNDAF Nutrition Accelerator and the SUN UN Nutrition (UNN) and Business Networks (SBN). In these leadership positions WFP is responsible for facilitating action across different stakeholders and sectors to work more efficiently and effectively together to increase convergence for accelerated nutrition impact in support of national nutrition efforts.

In line with the National Strategy for Food Security and Nutrition II, WFP also supports food fortification. Over the last ten years WFP has pioneered rice fortification to address micronutrient deficiencies and generate an evidence base for the impact of rice fortification on micronutrient status of school-aged children. WFP has supported the prioritization of fortification in national policy, mainstreamed fortified rice in the school feeding programme, and piloted local production of fortified rice. The next steps for rice fortification in Cambodia will entail a multi-pronged approach that addresses both the enabling environment for food fortification through legislative and policy action as well as support to private sector for the eventual commercialization of rice fortification.

Further, WFP will take a nutrition-sensitive approach to address underlying causes of malnutrition, contributing to the nutritional well-being of vulnerable groups throughout the life cycle, including through operations, such as the nutrition-sensitive school meals programme, nutrition analytics to inform the work of government and other partners (e.g. Fill the Nutrient Gap), and research to address emerging issues such as overweight and obesity.

OBJECTIVE:

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme in WFP Cambodia, the purpose of the assignment is to: i) lead the nutrition unit and contribute to the overall Country Strategic Plan, ii) lead the UNDAF Nutrition Accelerator and SUN Movement UN Nutrition Network (UNN) during chairmanship to facilitate collective action across stakeholders and sectors in support of national nutrition efforts, iii) coordinate WFP’s engagement with the private sector in nutrition, iv) coordinate nutrition-sensitive programme design, development, and planning including mainstreaming nutrition in line with the CSP, v) explore and advance efforts on nutrition-specific programming, and vi) perform other relevant duties as requested by the Country Office.

JOB TITLE:

Programme Policy Officer – Nutrition

TYPE OF CONTRACT:

International Consultant/Regular

UNIT/DIVISION:

WFP Cambodia Country Office/Programme

DUTY STATION

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Duration:

11 months

1. Lead the nutrition unit and contribute to the overall Country Strategic Plan

1. Support the strengthening of national nutrition initiatives, including support to the development of national government policies related to nutrition as well as nutrition strategies, action plans, protocols and guidelines in line with the SUN Movement and international guidance and current evidence.
2. Represent WFP at regional, national and international meetings to contribute to technical discussions, exchange experiences, advocate for nutrition interventions and identify areas of potential collaboration.
3. Work with staff in procurement, logistics, finance, communications, Research, Assessments and Monitoring (RAM) and other programme units and divisions to ensure effective design and delivery of WFP nutrition programming.
4. Prepare and support accurate and timely reporting, communications, and learning, contributing to a knowledge base and information sharing that informs decision making of WFP and other stakeholders.
5. Draft speeches, talking points and inputs to high-level workshops and other events.
6. Guide the implementation of the resource mobilization action plan for nutrition.
7. Support the monitoring and evaluation of WFP activities in line with the WFP M&E strategy, provide technical analysis, and interpretation.
8. Develop briefs to clearly communicate the nutrition situation effectively to nutrition stakeholders, including support to Fill the Nutrient Gap 2.0.
9. Support the formulation of nutrition priorities for formulation of the next Country Strategic Plan (2024 – 2028).
10. Produce abstracts and presentations for international conferences to showcase the relevant nutrition workstreams of WFP Cambodia.
11. Provide guidance and support for team members to complete tasks in a timely manner with high quality outcomes against weekly individual work plans and in alignment with annual unit work plan. Identify potential learning gaps and build capacity of team members. Hold weekly team meetings and conduct staff assessments and evaluations.

2. Lead the UNDAF Nutrition Accelerator and SUN Movement UN Nutrition Network (UNN) during chairmanship to facilitate collective action across stakeholders and sectors in support of national nutrition efforts

1. Develop rolling work plans for the Nutrition Accelerator and UN Nutrition Network.
2. Convene regular coordination meetings for the Nutrition Accelerator and UN Nutrition Network during chairmanship. Develop agendas, send out invitations, lead coordination meetings, take meeting minutes and review previous action points and ensure dissemination of relevant meeting documents for all members.
3. Follow-up with key speakers to ensure participation at Nutrition Accelerator/UNN on thematic areas of interest and take note of other thematic areas for presentation in future meetings.
4. Support joint research initiatives relevant for nutrition.

3. Coordinate WFP’s engagement with the private sector in nutrition

1. Guide further engagement with the private sector, aligning with WFP regional and global initiatives for private sector engagement.
2. Support the coordinator of the SBN in development of annual work plan.
3. Work with the coordinator of the SBN to support engagement of the private sector to scale up efforts on rice fortification.

4. Coordinate nutrition-sensitive programme design, development, and planning including mainstreaming nutrition in line with the CSP

1. Lead the development of concept notes, design of nutrition-sensitive programmes and the integration of nutrition-sensitive programmes within the CSP strategic objectives.
2. Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes to the Building Back Better programme (GAFSP) and other nutrition-sensitive projects.
3. Oversee nutrition inputs to donor reporting and proposals.

5. Advance efforts on nutrition-specific programming.

1. Work with Government and other stakeholders to build on momentum from the country-level Food System dialogues to support advocacy for nutrition, including on food fortification and MAM management.
2. Lead the development of concept notes and project proposals in line with the CSP strategic objectives.
3. Coordinate efforts to advance rice fortification in Cambodia.

6. Perform other relevant duties as requested by the Country Office.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Master's degree in the field of nutrition, public/global health, policy, or related field

Experience:

****At least 5 years of professional experience implementing, or supervising interventions related to nutrition-********sensitive**** ****and specific programming****

****Demonstrated experience managing a team****

****Experience working with governments on developing nutrition policies and/or implementing a nutrition programme (within food security or health).****

Knowledge & Skills:

Excellent project management, interpersonal****, coordination and communication skills.

Successful track record with nutrition sensitive programme implementation.

Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a wide range of partners with varying interests and priorities.

Ability to work independently and as part of team.

Exhibited cross-cultural competence.

Languages:

****Fluency (Level C) in English****

HOW TO APPLY

• Create an account on the WFP Career Website: http://www1.wfp.org/careers/job-openings
• Under Filter By “Country”, type “Cambodia” and select the position you want to apply to.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The vacancy will be closed on Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 17:00 GMT+7

T

• WFP recognizes the positive potential of flexible working arrangements to enable staff members the opportunity to select and alter their work schedules to better fit personal needs and help balance work, personal, and family responsibilities whenever operationally possible.
• WFP is committed to gender equality and parity (50% women and 50% men) and to diversity more generally, among employees across all grades, functions and contract modalities.
• WFP offers an attractive salary and other benefits, including health insurance.
• WFP Work Environment: WFP is committed to ensuring that all its workplaces are free from abuse, offensive behaviour, harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. WFP does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS and disability status. WFP is also committed to promoting a work culture in which every employee understands, and is able to carry out, his/her personal responsibilities for maintaining the dignity of work colleagues. WFP seeks to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. We believe our mission of fighting global hunger worldwide can only be achieved if women, men, girls and boys are offered equal opportunities in terms of access to resources and services, and participation in decision making roles.

.

Female applicants, individuals with disabilities, and those from developing countries, are encouraged to apply.

WFP is committed to an inclusive working environment which values diversity

and has zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment and abuse of any kind