Rural Logistics Researcher - National Consultant - SSA8

.

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, physical or mental disability.

ABOUT WFP TUNISIA

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency fighting hunger. WFP reaches more than 80 million people every day - delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with smallholder farmers, communities and governments to improve the food security and ensure nutritious diet for vulnerable communities and build their resilience.

Innovation is critical to enable the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver on its mandate to reach Zero Hunger. Yet, to achieve the ambitious goal of Zero Hunger by 2030, we must fully maximize the potential that technology and innovation offer. WFP uses cutting-edge techniques and human-centered design to improve project sustainability and keep beneficiary needs in mind. Innovative projects are piloted at an early stage to ensure impact and maximize cost effectiveness and scalability at the later stage. One such innovation was selected and recognized as a high-potential innovation: the ‘Last Mile Ecosystem’. WFP Tunisia and WFP Regional Bureau Cairo (RBC) are piloting an innovation with the support of the Innovations Accelerator (INKA), which will make a significant and lasting impact on UN Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. The Last Mile Ecosystem is a state of art digital solution which connects smallholder farmers with local school canteens through a network of private transporters. The solution ensures that each actor in the last mile chain gets a fair share of improvements, be it income or social cohesion or transparency or accountability etc. so it becomes a sustainable enterprise benefiting each actor economically and socially. With the Last Mile Ecosystem innovations project, WFP Tunisia will support the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture in making strides towards a new digital economy. Each actor in the last mile chain gets a fair price i.e. smallholder farmers get an increased income & access to sustainable markets; government uses an efficient procurement system for tracking commodities; transporters get revenue generation opportunities and school kitchens get access to fresh quality food to prepare hot meals. First piloted with the Nadhour Central Kitchen the concept demonstrated that the local OOESCO representation could procure fresh food from smallholder farmers and get it delivered to school kitchens. A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was created. In the second phase, evidence-informed iterations will help scaling up the prototype and validate that the innovation meets the needs and expectations of smallholder farmers.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree in social research or other related degrees Experience: The Consultant must fulfil the following minimum requirements: • Strong proven expertise in qualitative research • Excellent understanding of how to approach and communicate with different population groups and professionals and local government authorities • Good existing links to support with recruitment of interview participants • Knowledge in human centered design, user experience design and/or co-design is a plus.

Knowledge & Skills: - Experience with a variety of qualitative data collection techniques, for example, focus group discussions, individual interviews, etc. - Proven track record of delivering user research projects – ideally to inform the development of new products - Strong conceptual thinking for user research, new strategies & innovative projects - Able to interact with a broad range of stakeholders and external audience with maturity and tact - Collaborative spirit, able to partner with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy - Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy - Sets high-level of ambition for the project and own work to achieve impact for the hungry people we serve - Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme

Languages:

Fluency in oral and written English, French and Arabic is mandatory

JOB PURPOSE

The Consultant is expected to deliver in timely manner, adhering to the highest quality standards, the following:

- Detailed fieldwork plan, explaining recruitment details, timings, etc. - A complete report on the research conducted for the Rural Logistics for Smallholder farmers the Last Mile Ecosystem project.

- The final report will be written in French.

- The consultant will provide an additional / separate executive summary written in English.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Pursuant to the Last Mile Ecosystem concept, WFP Tunisia is looking for a consultant to conduct research on the rural logistics for smallholder farmers in some selected districts of Tunisia.

Reporting to the Project Activity Manager and the Head of Programme, the incumbent will conduct an analysis of the “rural logistics situation” of smallholder farmers in selected districts of Tunisia. Key responsibilities will include:

• An analysis of the transport costs, average distances covered and the condition of infrastructure in last mile (access roads etc.).
• An analysis of the various means of transport used in the last mile, their payloads and transport costs (per ton/km)
• Gender profile of the transport sector.
• The challenges and benefits faced by both transporters and smallholder farmers in delivering fresh products.

This research should eventually lead to:

• Descriptive: Produce a framework on best transport patterns and marketing solutions against different circumstances. The framework will include the means of transport, consignment size, typical onloading and offloading locations and the markets where products from smallholder farmers can be found.
• Analytic: Provide a better understanding of the various transport modalities in rural agricultural marketing and advise on most adequate solutions.

Conducting research for the Last Mile Ecosystem Innovation working closely with the WFP Tunisia, and other partners.

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. Innovative Thinking Strong conceptual thinking for user research, new strategies & innovative projects

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 EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Has gained experience in implementing technical programs (i.e. nutrition, etc.). • Has implemented programmes and provided input into designing or Co/designing User Experience. • Has proven track record of delivering user research projects – ideally to inform the development of new products

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

- National consultancy Contract of 25 DAYS Only - no extensions

- MUST BE a tunisian national residing in Tunisia

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Sunday 20 FEBRUARY 2022 - midnight

.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.