VAM Officer NOA, Nairobi

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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.

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.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT

Functioning and integrated markets are a key pre-requisite for using market-based approaches to providing food assistance, like cash or vouchers, as well as for supporting local procurement and informing the market linkages/access by small holder farmers. An in-depth understanding of Value Chains, as well as the structure, conduct and performance of the markets and the extent to which markets may be able to respond to increased demand for food, even during shocks is crucial to shape WFP’s food assistance programmes. In addition, price data is a fundamental piece of information for food, nutrition and vulnerability analysis and decision making in many WFP strategic outcomes and activities. Prices are frequently used to cost the minimum expenditure basket which is used to calculate Cash & Voucher transfer values, measuring household food access, for the study of seasonal trends, for cost-efficiency analyses etc. Further to that, price data is also uploaded every month onto a corporate database; a public tool for humanitarian project design that needs to be permanently up to date with high quality and reliable information. Price information collected by WFP is also widely used as a data source for external stakeholders.

JOB PURPOSE

The Programme Policy Officer will contribute to VAM evidence base that supports food security and nutrition policies and programmes (e.g., needs and market assessments and situation analyses, programme design, targeting, cost effectiveness, and operational efficiencies. They will advise on emerging technologies and provide geo-spatial data analytics and data visualizations to support contextual analyses and decision-making, and to enable data-driven project planning, implementation, monitoring, and communication of results.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Contribute to the development of VAM projects and activities, plans and processes, ensuring alignment with wider WFP policies and guidance.
2. Support the development of systems and tools for the monitoring and assessment of food assistance needs in line with innovative methodologies and best practice.
3. Support the development of food and nutrition security and vulnerability analysis and the preparation of timely reports on food and market information needs in line with wider VAM policies, processes, and guidance to enable effective decision-making on the development of country strategy, policies and programmes.
4. Plan, design and lead market assessments, value chain analysis, surveys, and special studies to inform market-based programming in the various WFP Kenya Country Office outcomes and activities.
5. Provide technical advice on the composition and costing of the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), the Minimum Food Basket (MFB), including their use in determining of Cash & Voucher transfer values.
6. Support on the coordination of data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained.
7. Support in the design and maintenance of digital platforms for data analysis and data visualizations, including geospatial analysis, to support programme activities and provide background for decision-making and planning (using, e.g., MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Tableau, Power BI, ArcGIS).
8. Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners, and national government to conduct vulnerability and market analysis to effectively inform preparedness and response activities.
9. Participate in relevant coordination and technical forums with Government, agencies and partners ensuring WFPs views are represented and for exchange of information and joint initiatives.
10. Provide training and support to relevant partners that are focusing on food security and nutrition issues to enable sharing of experience, lessons learned and best practice.
11. Guide and supervise staff, acting as a point of referral and supporting them with analysis and queries.
12. Act in an assigned emergency response capacity as required to meet emergency food assistance needs.
13. Other as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: University degree in Economics, Food Security, Statistics, agri-business, Data Science, Public Health/Nutrition, Geography, Agriculture, Development studies or a field relevant to International Development Assistance. Experience:

• Minimum two years professional postgraduate experience in the field of market, prices, and value chain analysis.
• Experience in handling both qualitative and quantitative data (e.g., collecting, cleaning, visualizing, interpreting).
• Experience in collaborative work with national governments, other UN agencies and key stakeholders in food and nutrition security.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Demonstrated proficiency in the use of several statistical tools and methods for food and nutrition security analysis.
• Developed practical expertise in food security analysis and mapping by participating in multiple assessments, including the design, data collection analysis and reporting.
• Demonstrated technical knowledge and understanding of WFP vulnerability mapping systems and emergency assessment standards.
• Data analytics and visualization with Business Intelligence Tools like Tableau or MS Power BI.
• Geospatial data analytics (e.g. modelling, mapping with GIS software like ArcGIS, QGIS).

Languages: Fluency (level C) in English language.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability Name Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level Food Security Analysis Demonstrates ability to conduct structured food security analysis—Identify underlying macro and micro factors impacting food security of communities and countries. Provides findings and recommendations for the programmatic response. Food Security Monitoring Manages the implementation of food security monitoring systems. Investigates any observed anomalies in the datasets and informs program management for operational response. Technical Specialized Knowledge (e.g., Economics, Statistics, Public Health, Remote Sensing, GIS, etc.) Provides managerial and technical guidance for designing and conducting analyses, including computation, interpretation, and presentation of results for food security surveys and key indicators (comprehensive food security and vulnerability surveys, food security monitoring, implementing mobile surveys, market analysis, food consumption scores, coping strategies indices. data disaggregation, etc.) Food Security Assessment Leads all aspects of surveys including design, implementation, analysis, findings and reporting. Ensures that assessment findings are easily translated into operational programmatic response. Strategic Operational Understanding Demonstrates strong understanding of country operations to participate in response analysis exercises to improve the cohesion between analytical findings and programmatic response. Constructs evidence base underlying technical and policy advice given to stakeholders.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Demonstrated proficiency in the use of several statistical tools and methods for food security analysis. • Developed practical expertise in food security analysis and mapping by participating in multiple assessments in countries, including the design, data collection and analysis. • Demonstrated technical knowledge and understanding of WFP vulnerability mapping systems and emergency assessment standards.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Type of Contract: Fixed Term, NOA

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya

Contract Duration: 01 Year

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. The World Food Programme DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS.WFP embraces diversity and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that celebrates diversity and inclusivity in all ways. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications and merit. Applicants profile MUST match the C.V attached. Any discrepancies between the C.V and the profile will lead to automatic disqualification.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline for application is 11.59 pm EAT on Wednesday 01 November 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.