Programme Officer (Resilience & Livelihoods)

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance. WFP 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.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF POSITION:

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is the United Nations agency that supports the Colombian Government and national institutions in their goal of eradicating malnutrition by 2030, while promoting local economic development and providing transformative and sustainable solutions in the context of peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance, and management of mass migration from Venezuela. With presence in Colombia since 1969, WFP has a territorial attendance in 15 departments of the country through eight offices strategically located in the capitals of the departments of Arauca, Caquetá, Córdoba, Chocó, La Guajira, Nariño, Norte de Santander, and Valle del Cauca. Its activities are strongly aligned with the priorities of the National Government to address the needs of humanitarian assistance, recovery, development and peace throughout the Colombian territory.

The new United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) that has been agreed with the Government of Colombia has three pillars, 1) “estabilizacion: paz con legalidad”, 2) “migración como factor de desarrollo” and 3) “asistencia técnica para la aceleración de los ods catalizadores”. Pillar 1 will supports the efforts of the Colombian State in: (i) social and economic reintegration of FARC ex-combatants and their families; (ii) strengthen the institutional offer development as well as livelihoods and capacities of communities in PDET municipalities; (iii) the incorporation of families belonging to the PNIS into licit economies, with a population, ethnic and gender focus and (iv) building resilience and adaptation to climate change of vulnerable communities exposed to climate hazards and extreme natural events.

As part of these activities, WFP provides early recovery, resilience-building, adaptation to climate change and livelihoods support to victims of conflict and natural disaster, ex-combatants reintegrated under Colombia’s peace process, indigenous communities and, victims of violence. Activities range from technical assistance, to conditional cash-based transfers for assets creation (FFA), and access to markets for rural communities. WFP is also working on capacity strengthening of smallholder farmers with a strong focus on support to rural women and ethnic populations.

Strong partnerships are a strong factor for success and WFP is therefore working closely with several government entities in the process, including, the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) for reintegration of ex-combatants, Agency for Territorial Renewal (ART) for stabilization activities in PDET municipalities, the Ministry of Agriculture (MADR) for rural women empowerment activities and the Ministry of Environment (MADS) for assets creation, strengthening local resilience, climate change adaptation activities and deliver support for economic integration of migrants with Ministry of foreign affairs and Presidency. Work is also conducted closely with other UN entities such as FAO, IFAD, UNDP, ILO and IOM.

The National Programme Officer (Resilience and Livelihoods) will take the lead on the activities implemented in relation to pillar 1 of the UNSDCF, to provide strategic guidance on resilience activities ensuring that they are in line with WFP and national policies and guidelines, develop new activities with key strategic partners and to ensure that the projects are successfully implemented through one of WFPs field offices.

Job holders will work under the direct supervision of the Emergency Coordinator as an integral part of the programme unit. Job holders will operate with a high degree of independence, manage more junior staff to ensure that programme and policy objectives are achieved in full. Will be involved in programme and policy activities and analytical work, some of which may be of a considerable complexity. At this level job holders are expected to contribute to performance improvement.

OBJECTIVE:

To provide support to policy and programme activities that effectively meet food assistance needs, in order to strengthen resilience and recovery of livelihoods in rural areas.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Contribute towards the development of a wide variety of projects, plans and processes of an overall portfolio of integrated resilience programmes, ensuring alignment with wider programme policies and guidance.
2. Provide project management support, including the use of financial resources, to specific and defined programmes and projects of considerable size/complexity, ensuring a coordinated approach with wider programmes that complies with WFP standards and procedures.
3. Develop and coordinate data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained.
4. Research and analyse a range of policy and operational issues to inform the development of policies, programmes and activities.
5. Contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on programmes and activities that enable informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.
6. Liaise with internal and external counterparts, in particular to the Government, to ensure effective collaboration, monitor ongoing projects and highlight potential risks to project delivery.
7. Support the identification, development and management of potential partnerships to collaborative working leading to improved food assistance packages.
8. Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to prepare for and respond to food assistance needs, e.g. through providing inputs into training materials.
9. Guide and supervise more junior staff, acting as a point of referral and supporting them with analysis and queries.
10. Other as required.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS (details to be determined by Post Managers):

1. Provide technical support and guidance as relevant, to individual, household and community livelihood assets creation through watershed/landscape-based approaches.
2. Provide solid technical support on a broad range of strategic, programmatic, and operational issues to support government efforts and engage with partners and stakeholders to scale up resilience programmes.
3. Contribute to enhancing WFP’s leadership status in different forums on subjects related to resilience; support engagement in the humanitarian-development-peace nexus contexts to seek entry points for context driven assets creation design and implementation.
4. Advocate for resources for a portfolio of WFP resilience programmes, that clearly articulate where the need and opportunities for food assistance related resilience programmes are relevant and required and follow up on the resource situation of projects including commodity and cash availability.
5. Contribute to Country Office operations that build resilience at different levels through Country Strategic Plans; liaise with Emergency Preparedness and Social Protection focal persons in terms of early warning, trends and risk analysis, and contingency planning to ensure complementary response to humanitarian crises and nexus needs.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK: COMMON STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

Advanced University degree in International Affairs, Economics, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Social Sciences or other field relevant to international development assistance, or First University Degree with additional two (2) years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Required Experience:

At least three (3) years of postgraduate professional experience in implementing development programs, preferably in livelihoods and resilience. Experiencia providing input into designing operations, and into policy discussions and decisions

Desired Experience:

Experience from working in social and economic development livelihood centered approaches on poverty and vulnerability reduction and implementing resilience building activities.

Languages:

Fluency in Spanish is required. A (level B) in English language is required; a (level C) is highly desirable.

Application deadline: 4 December 2022

For this vacancy, only applications from candidates with Colombian nationality who meet all the requirements established in the position profile will be considered. Women, as well as people of ethnicity (indigenous or Afro-descendant), people with disabilities, and qualified transgender people are especially encouraged to apply for the position.
It is recommended to apply using the P11 format, which can be found by typing "P11 Format" into the search engine of your choice. Download it, fill it out, sign it and attach it to your application.
The WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status, and is committed to achieving diversity in the workplace in terms of gender, nationality and culture. People from social minority groups, indigenous groups and people with disabilities are also encouraged to apply.
All job applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
 Visit the following website to learn more about the work that the WFP does.
http://www.wfp.org.

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