Senior Country Engagement Manager & Gender Specialist
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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 end global hunger. 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.
In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives. Present in nearly 80 countries, the organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to nutritious food and contribute to the lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas. We manage an operating budget of approximately $5.9 billion each year, distributing 12.6 billion rations to those most in need. We reach an average of 80 million people with food assistance in around 80 countries each year. The World Food Programme office in Johannesburg is a Regional Office coordinating and supporting the delivery of humanitarian assistance to 12 Southern Africa countries including, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazaville, Tanzania, Angola.
For more on WFP and what we do, please go to http://www.wfp.org/videos/zero-hunger
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
The African Risk Capacity Specialized Agency of the African Union1 (ARC) provides financial tools and infrastructure to help African Union (AU) Member States manage natural disaster risk and improve the way predictable natural disasters are responded to on the continent by reducing the time it takes for assistance to reach those affected through early, local response. ARC achieves this by bringing together three critical elements that create a powerful value proposition for its participants: early warning, contingency planning and insurance. Together this package provides governments with access to immediate funds for early and planned responses to support vulnerable populations in the event of disasters. This vehicle allows ARC to help its Members build capacity to lead their own responses and reduce their reliance on the international appeals process for assistance over time. More critically, however, reduced response times save the lives and livelihoods of those affected and protect development gains, essential for growth and building a more disaster-resilient Africa for the future.
JOB PURPOSE
The African Risk Capacity has developed an additional product (outbreaks and epidemics) to offer early and targeted financing to African Union Member Countries for selected disease pathogens (Ebola, Marburg, Lassa Fever and Meningitis). The O&E product was launched in December 2022. The product’s selected diseases affect over forty countries in Africa, of which based on a purely epidemiological analysis, 20 have been identified as most suitable for the
product, these are: Uganda, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, Zambia, Ghana, Mauritania, Malawi, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Mozambique, Liberia, Rep. Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania and D.R. Congo.
The pilot to design the product and capacity building for O&E was conducted and successfully concluded in 2019. This involved two countries Guinea and Uganda. Five workstreams were piloted around country preparedness, ARC preparedness Index, contingency planning, disease spread modelling, response cost modelling, Data index and market survey. The product targets early intervention and pay-out which will go to fund outbreak response activities. In order to scale up beyond the pilot countries, ARC would need to engage with targeted countries, set up or build on existing Technical Working Groups (TWG) and provide the capacity building and support for disease profiling, modelling of selected pathogens, contingency planning and other requirements for inclusion on an O&E insurance pool.
KEY ACCOUNTIBILITIES
- Scoping Missions – Conduct scoping missions and engage with targeted O&E countries. In addition, work with key Ministries, for example, Health, Finance and Disaster management of AU member state that expresses interest to participate in ARC O&E
- Technical Working Group Engagement: Facilitate the signing of MoUs or revision of existing MoUs to include O&E by Governments, set up multistakeholder Technical Working Groups (TWGs) which includes government and non-government partners’ experts in the fields of Public Health, Disaster Risk Management, Health Emergency planning, and response, Health information systems, Finance, Contingency Planning and Humanitarian Response, Social Protection and Insurance.
- Country Political/Institutional Process Engagement: Conduct scoping mission and lead the country engagement process to final policy signature.
- In-country Development Partners Engagement : lead continuous engagement and manage partnerships with Development Partners (DP) present in the country and others whose work and activities influence country development policy and actions to ensure there are no external impediments to the country’s participation in the risk pool.
- Support the O&E Insurance Broker in Engagement with Governments
- Work closely with Insurance Broker(s) and firms to prepare countries to make an informed decision to purchase insurance contracts for O&E. The incumbent will lead the initial discussions on Risk Transfer, including the content and training organized to ensure governments are appropriately prepared.
- Serve as the O&E gender focal point
- Lead gender component and strategy of Outbreaks and Epidemics Programme.
- Lead mainstreaming of Gender in the team’s planning and implementation for gender transformative outcomes as per the O&E Gender Strategy.
- Facilitate ownership and implementation of gender transformative activities at the national level (Technical Working Group).
- Lead Gender mainstreaming and contribute to the successful implementation of the workplan and objectives outlined in BMGF agreement.
- Contribute to and represent ARC O&E in continental and global forums on issues pertaining to O&E and Gender.
- The incumbent will work closely with ARC Government Services teams and other departments to promote and support ARC’s work in the global policy area on disaster risk financing, climate change, climate adaptation, and early warning and health emergencies. This could include liaising with ARC’s communications staff, contributions to the ARC website, contribute to on social media narratives.
STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Education/ Qualifications
- Advanced Degree in International Development, Public/International or Global Health, Development Studies, Law, International Relations, and other relevant areas or a Bachelors Degree with additional years experience.
Experience:
- A minimum of 8 years progressively responsible professional experience in the public sector, public health, financial risk management, development projects, emergency assistance, or in any other related field.
Knowledge & Skills:
- International experience in Africa, in particular in the Western and Central Africa, or East and Southern Africa is required.
- Experience in dealing with African governments is a strong asset.
- Strong analytical research, writing and communication skills.
- Availability to undertake frequent travel.
Language:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French, including the ability to write clear and concise briefing papers and external communication, strategic operational documents, etc.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in another UN official language (Arabic or Portuguese) is a strong asset.
CONTRACTUAL INFORMATION
- This is a 6-month renewable Service Contract
- Gross Monthly Salary Range: R95 263 – R117 603
- Benefits: Annual Leave, Pension & Medical Insurance
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
This vacancy announcement will close on Friday 10 March 2023.
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This position is open to South African Nationals and Permanent Residents of South Africa
Qualified female applicants are especially encouraged to apply
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.
