Programme Policy Officer (Resilience)-NOA Vientiane

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. 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. In Lao PDR, WFP supports the government in providing school lunches for primary students, counters malnutrition with targeted food support to the most vulnerable, and helps communities build resilient lives with sustainable livelihood options.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

This job is found in Lao Country Office(Vientiane Capital) and job holder directly reports to Programme Policy Officer (SO3) and overall supervision by Head of Programme. Job holders are likely to be working under the close support and guidance of a more experienced professional staff member receiving guidance and regular feedback on work performed. He/she is typically involved in programme or policy activities or similar nature and analytical work of limited complexity.

JOB PURPOSE

To provide support to policy and programme activities that effectively meet food assistance needs.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Provide specialized expertise on livelihood and resilience building towards development and implementation of the food assistance for assets creation (FFA) field operations for WFP Projects;
2. Assist in coordination and liaison with Government counterparts and development partners to ensure effective collaboration, exchange information and/or updates on strategic plans and priorities related to disaster risk management, food and nutrition security, livelihood recovery and resilience building;
3. Lead in capacity strengthening of Field Offices in resilience & FFA programming, community consultation, beneficiary registration and activities design and implementation;
4. Assist in capacity strengthening of the Field Offices and cooperating partners in beneficiary accountability communication, distribution monitoring and post-distribution monitoring in collaboration with technical support units (e.g., Monitoring and Evaluation).
5. Identify potential collaboration with development partners in line with WFP resilience programme/project operational design;

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.

DESIRED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Knowledge:

• Competent understanding of climate risk management and resilience operations in Lao PDR with a broad knowledge of best practices, techniques and processes;
• Basic understanding of resilience programming;
• Good communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships, persuade, influence adapt communication styles to different situations and individuals.

Skills:

• Experience in livelihood improvement and resilience programming
• Knowledge of nutrition issues in developing countries will be an added advantage.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Proven track record in delivering community level development programmes;
• At least five (5) year experience working with NGOs, NPAs in disaster management, resilience programming, rural development, agriculture or development fields;
• Ability to communicate in English for both orally and in writing;
• Strong inter and intrapersonal communication skills;
• Good analytical, facilitation, negotiation skills;
• Ability to work in a team, establish effective working relations with persons of different cultural backgrounds;
• Experience in working with Government counterparts and familiar with public administration;
• Experience in policy consultations and development and/or project management.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract type: Fixed Terms Contract (for Lao national only)

Position title: Programme Policy Officer(Resilience) NO-A

Number of post: 1 post

Duty Station: Country Office in Vientiane

Duration: 1 year (renewal)

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Posting date: 6 June 2022

Closing date: 19 June 2022