Programme Policy Officer (School Feeding) CSTI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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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.

JOB TITLE: Programme Policy Officer (School Feeding)

CONTRACT TYPE: International Consultant Level 1

UNIT/DIVISION: Programme

DUTY STATION: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

DURATION: 11 months

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

Over the past 15 to 20 years, Ethiopia has achieved remarkable economic, socio- economic and socio-political development. The country has registered impressive consistent double-digit growth, growing the country to one of the modern successes in African history. Despite these gains, major challenges remain. Ethiopia ranks 173rd of the 189 countries on the Human Development Index. Twenty-four percent of the population is poor and suffers from food insecurity, insufficient access to adequate education and health services and inadequate employment opportunities for young people who have recently graduated from high school or university.

Ethiopia continues to experience the impacts of natural disasters, conflict, locust outbreak, rapid population growth, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and the poor macroeconomic context which threaten the food security and livelihoods of millions of people including school-age children thereby limiting Ethiopia’s capacity to cope with future shocks and stressors.

ABOUT SCHOOL FEEDING

WFP Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, has been implementing school feeding interventions since 1994. However, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 negatively impacted the gains made by school feeding programmes as schools were closed following government mitigation measures to control the spread of the virus, especially among school-going children. School dropout and absenteeism still remain high even with the re-opening of schools while attendance of children has been seriously affected during the emergency periods as seen with the recent conflict in the Tigray Region.

Currently, WFP Ethiopia implements school feeding programmes providing the minimum daily energy and nutrient requirements for proper growth and development among school-going children and also serves as an incentive for keeping children in school with the end goal of improved learning outcomes and human capital development. WFP’s school feeding predominantly targets regions where food insecurity is highest and where the number of enrolments, particularly for girls, is the lowest: Oromia, Afar, Amhara and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR). WFP supports the implementation of school feeding programs and other complementary activities targeting the most vulnerable based on food insecurity, poverty, low educational and nutrition indicators and gender-related problems. WFP also provide capacity strengthening support to both the Federal Ministry of Education and regional Breaux of Education.

WFP is currently engaged in programmatic shift towards sustainable food systems support, by creating effective linkages between school feeding and local agricultural production of smallholder farmers, for example, through Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) whereby food is procured locally to stimulate local production. For effective programming, monitoring of school-based programmes jointly with partners through efficient data management is also crucial to ensure accountability to beneficiaries, host governments and donors as well as to inform programme quality and design gaps

JOB PURPOSE

To provide support to School Feeding activities that effectively meet food assistance needs. Under the direct supervision of the Programme Head of Changing Lives, the Programme Policy Officer (School Feeding) will lead the design and implementation of school feeding activities in WFP Ethiopia. This includes the development of funding proposals, creating partnerships, and conducting assessments linking HGSF and smallholder farmers’ support, while supervising four staff members in the team and closely liaising with Sub Office colleagues.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

• Oversee the overall planning and implementation of the School Feeding activities ensuring consistency with WFP policies and other relevant guidance;
• Lead the roll-out of the HGSF Strategy, Implementation Plan and Budget, including advocacy in collaboration with the HGSF Technical Working Group;
• Lead the development of a strategy to link HGSF with smallholder agricultural market support (SAMS), in close collaboration with the resilience team in charge of SAMS activities.
• Lead the development of a WFP Technical Assistance strategy/framework for the Ministry of Education (MOE) on school feeding aimed at increasing, and better structuring of WFP’s technical assistance support to the MOE.
• Enhance and facilitate close collaboration with UNICEF and FAO in all ongoing school health and nutrition projects and ensure attainment of project-specific goals, while also enabling synergies across projects;
• Working with the UNICEF Education Team, advocating for the promotion of school health and nutrition in the overall education sector and including the development of a multisectoral policy
• Working with the MEAL Unit, initiate a pilot on an improved data management project as well as operationalize the digital transformation agenda of the School-Based Programming Unit in HQ;
• Contribute to the development and monitoring of partnership agreements for cost-effective and high-quality Programme delivery for WFP’s overall school feeding programme, ensuring the continued capacity strengthening of CPs, WFP frontline staff and government staff;
• Oversee the planning and implementation of capacity building of the Federal Ministry of education and regional Breaux of Education based on evidence and periodic reviews.
• Contribute to strategic discussions on School feeding and how these relate to the overall goals of WFP in the country;
• Provide regular updates to stakeholders, including the government, on the progress of the School Feeding implementation, best practices and lessons learnt.
• Participate (and when necessary, lead) in the development of proposals, reports and visibility materials to highlight and advocate for the adoption of best practices and lessons learnt with the aim of enhancing the School Feeding in the country
• Contribute to WFP-wide policy discussions regarding school meals, in alignment with WFP's strategies and policies, CSP, and relevant guidance.
• Liaise with other relevant teams within WFP (M&E, Gender and protection, VAM, Nutrition, Supply Chain, etc.), ensuring Programme integration.
• Lead the development and implementation of different projects/activities with pilots, such as Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) and School Gardens.
• Ensure correct management of the budget for the school meals Programme;
• Backstop and act upon issues arising from the school feeding Programme;
• Any other duties as required

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced university degree or university degree with experience and training/courses in one or more of the following disciplines: business, economic, social policy, international development or related disciplines

Experience: At least 3 years of progressively responsible, job-related professional experience in school feeding, smallholder farmers’ support, programme management, or related fields. Demonstrated experience in establishing effective partnerships with government entities, donors, and partners, as well as experience in managing teams effectively.

Knowledge & Skills: A demonstrated ability to prepare concise and well-written reports and documents in English is critical. Proficiency in utilizing computers, including word processing, spreadsheet, PowerPoint, and other office software packages and systems.

Competencies: Cognitive Capacity, Teamwork, Action Management, Innovation, Partnerships, Client Orientation

Language: International Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

7 MAY 2023

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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.