Programme Policy Officer (School Meals), FT-NOB, Lilongwe

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WFP encourages female candidates and people with disabilities to apply
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.

POSITION DETAILS:

POSITION TITLE: Programme Policy Officer-School Meals Programme
TYPE & LEVEL OF CONTRACT: Fixed Term, NOB
UNIT / DIVISION: Programme Policy/Lilongwe Malawi.
DUTY STATION (CITY, COUNTRY): Lilongwe, Malawi
REPORTS TO: Head of Programme
DURATION OF CONTRACT: 12 Months renewable
DATES OF ADVERTISING: 26.04.2023 to 10.05.2023

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

This role will be based in WFP Malawi Country office in Lilongwe. Job holders will typically report to the Strategic Outcome Manager, and under the overall supervision of the Head of Programme, or designate.

Job holders operate with a high degree of independence, manage more junior staff to ensure that programme and policy objectives are achieved in full. They are usually involved in a wide variety of 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.

JOB PURPOSE

The WFP Malawi Country Strategic Plan is a five-year strategy aimed at supporting national efforts on hunger and nutrition, reduce vulnerability to food insecurity and malnutrition in recognition of gender and age in order to advance its resilience agenda in anticipation of recurrent shocks.

Under one of the Strategic Outcomes: “Vulnerable populations in food-insecure communities benefit from strengthened shock-responsive social protection systems and efficient supply chains that ensure access to safe, nutritious food all year round”, WFP supports the Government of Malawi in implementation of School Meals programme. With a policy to achieve universal coverage, the Government and its partners are currently reaching about 50 percent of all primary schools with the School Meals Programme. WFP supports an estimated 600,000 children in 450 primary schools in 7 most food insecure districts.

The purpose of the assignment is to support the government’s efforts by leading WFP Malawi’s School Meals programme as outlined in the Country Strategic Plan. School Meals programme is a critical safety net, as also recognized in the Malawi National Social Support Programme (MNSSP), as well as an essential component of an integrated school health and nutrition package, as outlined in the School Health and Nutrition Policy, WFP works with the Government and communities to effect national best practice guidelines for school meals, seeking to gradually expand Home-Grown School Meals (HGSM) models across the country and assist in the development of a more sustainable national school meals programme. This is also in line with the integrated approach of WFP’s CSP in Malawi, as linkages with activities supporting livelihoods and smallholder and local farmer organisations are established to supply nutritious, locally produced, diversified food commodities to schools for the SMP.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The Activity Manager will focus on the planning, implementing, and reporting of activities in partnership with functional areas to support the achievement of the relevant Strategic outcome with a focus on school meals as per WFP’s Malawi CSP. Under the direct supervision of the Strategic Outcome Manager, the Programme Officer – Activity Manager shall perform the following duties:

• Ensure day-to-day management of implementation of School feeding activity results in outputs that meet the CSP’s plan, at the appropriate quality, on time and within budget. Proactively assess risks, monitor overall progress and initiate corrective actions as appropriate to resolve issues.
• Plan and manage the activity’s budget, monitoring expenditures against outputs as the programme progresses. Manage the implementation of grants, ensuring timely completion of all associated deliverables and provide inputs for reporting to the donors as needed.
• Collaborate with and report progress on the activity delivery at regular intervals to functional managers and other staff with activity management responsibilities.
• Manage the performance of supervised staff. Facilitate the recruitment and development of individuals to the activity programme teams.
• Ensure that knowledge generated for and by the activity is captured and shared for use by internal and external stakeholders.

• Keep abreast on trends and issues related to school health and nutrition including gender equity in Malawi and globally, analyse and inform the internal organization management for any needs of programming decision making for the School feeding activity or cross-cutting elements
• Contribute inputs and information for the evaluation of the on-going CSP, specific evaluation and studies related to school feeding and support design of new CSP building on evidence generated and lessons learnt from current implementation.
• Support resource mobilization efforts, eg. through drafting of concept notes, providing inputs to advocacy related material (proposals, donor briefs, talking points for management etc.)
• Facilitate policy engagement and dialogue for influencing and or policy development and reformation with Key Government Partners and other stakeholders particularly in the area of School health and nutrition.
• Provide an analytical basis for discussions with the national government on WFP’s interventions to achieve its development goals.
• Represent WFP in external meetings. Participate and/or co-lead when needed in the relevant cluster, technical working groups, and other forums related to education, school health, and nutrition, through direct participation, briefings, information products, among others.
• Develop and manage partnerships with external partners including UN, government, private sectors, academia/knowledge sector, and implementing partners. Liaise with partners (internal and external) to share experience, lessons learned, and best practices.

• Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to design and implement school feeding, e.g. through providing inputs into training materials.
• Some specific responsibilities will also include:
• Project management of the expected expansion of the HGSM, ensuring strengthening of quality of implementation, oversight and adherence to SOPs.
• Build a relationship with the Government and other stakeholders at the technical level to ensure understanding and ownership of HGSM as well as community participation for more sustainable solutions to deliver school meals. This will require the exercise of higher communication skills and strategic partnership building.
• Identify capacity gaps, and lead the implementation of capacity strengthening activities for Government, especially in relation to design and necessary tools/systems to manage HGSM by Government, integration of HGSM into national planning processes and inputs into key policies, strategies
• Identify opportunities to improve the current model for HGSM, including procurement, funding and distribution planning methodology to design a more sustainable and transferable programme.
• Perform other related duties as required.

WFP LEADERSHIP:FRAMEWORK COMMON STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR

Leads by Example with Integrity	Drives Results and Delivers on Commitments	Fosters Inclusive and Collaborative Teamwork	Applies Strategic Thinking	Builds and Maintains Sustainable Partnerships
Demonstrates and encourages others to uphold the WFP values, principles and standards	Identifies and aligns objectives to the required outcomes, holding self and/or others accountable for the delivery of results for maximum impact	Promotes inclusive teamwork and psychological safety by encouraging colleagues to collaborate by sharing ideas and openly raising issues	Communicates and fulfils WFP’s vision and operational outcomes to deliver meaningful solutions	Initiates and builds partnerships by identifying and promoting opportunities for mutual areas of interest and benefit
Values diversity using respectful and inclusive language, and encourages others to do the same	Delegates responsibly and provides appropriate support empowering others to deliver results	Supports development for others by giving timely and constructive feedback	Demonstrates curiosity, designs and implements new ways of doing things when relevant	Collaborates with partners to deliver common objectives by sharing information and cocreating innovative solutions with beneficiaries when appropriate
Stays focused and calm when under pressure, encourages others to do the same, and offers guidance and support to manage difficult situations	Responds readily to change in different contexts and adapts accordingly	Seeks out, trusts and listens attentively to diverse views to capture, learn, build and share new perspectives	Gathers data and different perspectives, shares knowledge and uses evidence to inform decision making
Demonstrates humility and a willingness to learn and share knowledge, frequently seeking and acting on feedback, and pursuing opportunities to develop	Implements decisions, considering the risks and implications of actions for teams, projects and other initiatives

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in Agriculture, Nutrition/Health, Social Sciences or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience: At least 5 years relevant professional experience in project management focusing on School health and nutrition related interventions for Maters degree holders OR a first university degree with at least 7 years’ relevant professional work experience in project management focusing on School health and Nutrition related interventions. Focus on management of school meals programmes with linkages to agriculture and home-grown modalities is an asset.

Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English. Knowledge of the local language or UN official language is an added advantage.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with counterparts and staff within the office, and with other stakeholders;
• Excellent negotiation, facilitation and coordination skills;
• Has deepened technical knowledge through exposure to technical teams.
• Has taken leadership of implementing programmes.
• Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

• Skills in programme development/formulation and resource mobilization through funding proposal writing;
• Strong budgetary management skills;
• Good analytical skills and experience in report writing;
• Resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing; ability to work in a team, and establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan
• Ability to interpret and analyze a wide variety of programme issues and statistical information, and to maintain accurate and precise records;
• Ability to solve problems in a holistic manner and achieve planned goals;
• Self-starter and able to work with minimum supervision;

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WFP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff. Well qualified candidates, particularly females are strongly encouraged to apply.

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

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.

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