Programme Policy Officer – Resilience & Livelihoods

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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- WFP Palestine Country Office

Over the past five years, socioeconomic conditions in the State of Palestine have deteriorated and a protracted protection and humanitarian crisis has undermined the food security of millions of Palestinians. 1.8 million people are food insecure across Palestine and the aid dependency ratio is increasing. Rising inflation, linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and now also spurred by the Global Food Crisis, has contributed to reductions in the purchasing power of Palestinians and increased food insecurity. For Palestinians engaged in agriculture and herding, climate-related obstacles, including droughts and rising temperatures, increasingly impede productivity.

Building on the strengths of its 2018-2022 country strategic plan, WFP Palestine’s new plan for 2023–2028 will address the needs of Palestinian communities through a humanitarian‑development–peace nexus approach, responding to immediate humanitarian needs and simultaneously addressing longstanding socioeconomic vulnerability.

While food assistance, through cash-based transfers and in-kind food to meet essential needs, remains WFP’s largest activity, this will be complemented by livelihood and resilience building interventions to address issues of poverty and poor labour-force participation, which have been identified as one of the key drivers of poor access to food, and to strengthen resistance to shocks. Nutrition integration will be integrated throughout the programme, to address immediate and underlying causes of micronutrient deficiencies.

WFP Palestine has demonstrated longstanding commitment and contribution to the strengthening of capacity at the national level, through strategic partnerships with various government line ministries, to enhance the consideration of food security, shock-responsiveness and nutrition-sensitivity in national systems, programmes, policies and plans. WFP is engaged in joint programming and implementation with other United Nations agencies. Under the new CSP, WFP is expanding its enabling services – in the form of a CBT platform, CFM, logs sector – to continue supporting the wider humanitarian community to achieve collective outcomes and continue supporting the people we serve.

JOB PURPOSE

WFP is committed to helping governments reduce the number of undernourished people from 815 million to zero by 2030. The Palestine Country Offices will expand its resilience-building programme in the coming years for vulnerable households, women and youth, including in areas such as livelihood support programming in protracted crises, livelihood support in urban and middle-income contexts, aligning asset creation and human capital development efforts with national productive safety nets. Activites will work to enhance the resilience of vulnerable households and food systems in Palestine, and eventually to deliver on its mandate to reach Zero Hunger. Additionally, WFP co-leads the Palestine Food Security Sector with the FAO.

WFP Palestine is seeking a professional who will lead the team which is responsible for supporting the development and implementation of a high-quality integrated resilience programme that aims to build and scale up resilience among climate and conflict vulnerable communities in Palestine. The Resilience and Livelihoods Officer will also enhance coordination and support with other stakeholders, including the Palestinian Authority, UN agencies, NGOs, research institutes. The incumbent will lead strategy and programme design efforts and manage relevant budgets.

Key functions

• Lead the programme and strategy design, coordination, management and oversight of WFP resilience programming;
• Provide advice and oversight support to the development of livelihood and resilience building projects, plans, and processes, ensuring alignment with wider programme policies and guidance.
• Provide project management support to specific and defined programmes and projects, including but not limited to vocational trainings and agricultural support;
• Ensure a coordinated approach with other WFP Palestine programmes that complies with WFP standards and procedures;
• Directly supervise staff working on resilience projects and coordinate the efforts of other WFP staff who are working to support the implementation of resilience projects;
• Provide technical advice or mobilise technical expertise on programme and policy issues including assessment and analysis, the choice of objectives, activities, transfer modalities, the deployment and testing of innovative approaches and the development of strategies to support government efforts to reduce hunger and malnutrition and increase resilience and livelihood opportunities;

• Manage the preparation and dissemination of timely analytical and critical reports, publications, and a variety of information products or proposals for internal or external use;
• Support drafting of concept notes and proposals to contribute to resource mobilisation efforts for WFP projects;
• Establish and maintain operational partnerships, including with relevant government ministries, to identify opportunities for collaborative approaches with a focus on livelihoods and resilience, as well as in relation to other sector issues directly relevant to WFP plans and programmes;
• Enhance WFP’s visibility in different forums on subjects related to livelihoods, resilience, vocational training, transition and development contexts and other related issues, through direct participation and/or through briefings, information products and other materials.
• Act as WFP Palestine's focal point for engagement with the Food Security Sector and other relevant sector working groups, actively participate in discussions, represent WFP strategic interests, summarise discussions to highlight areas of interest/opportunities/challenges for WFP Palestine with recommendations for action.
• Ensure the conflict sensitivity of activities by working closely with Peace & Conflict Advisors in CO, HQ and the Regional Bureau;

• Advise on partnership opportunities internally and externally to strenghten WFP Palestine's humanitarian-development-peace Nexus approach, particularly related to livelihood support and social protection, to enhance WFP’s integrated programming with other stakeholders;
• Promote a culture of learning and knowledge management to enhance CO level efforts in leveraging fundraising, building new partnerships, advocacy, positioning WFP as a partner of choice and leader in resilience and livelihoods programming;
• Support the facilitation of learning and strategic linkages between relevant internal references (RB, HQ), external entities, resilience and livelihoods staff and CO activity managers;Ensure production of quality reports to donors and material for wider communication, in coordination with Partnerships and Communications units
• Perform any other duties required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in International Affairs, Economics, Nutrition/Health, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Social Sciences or other fields relevant to international development assistance, or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience: Six years or more of postgraduate professional experience in a relevant field of work, with a background and interest in international humanitarian and development assistance.

Knowledge and Skills: General knowledge of project management and coordination best practices, techniques and processes with some understanding of the theoretical background; Strong written and oral communication skills, including substantive analysis and report writing skills; Knowledge of, or the ability to quickly assimilate, UN/WFP specific processes and systems.

Languages: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of Arabic is an advantage.

Deliverables at the end of the contract

Expand livelihoods programming throughout the Country Strategic Plan based on evidence and data; Successfully implement integrated resilience programmes in Gaza and the West Bank; Develop the capacity of the resilience and livelihoods team under direct supervision to a level sufficient to nationalize the livelihoods activity manager’s post during the course of the CSP; Expand strategic partnerships with Palestinian ministries and stakeholders working in resilience, livelihoods and the wider food system; Enhance coordination with all stakeolders working in food systems and TVET; Develop indicators for livelihood and resilience interventions that are contextualized and tested in Palestine; Track and report the fund utilization and needs for WFP Palestine's livelihoods and resilience activities regularl Contribute related inputs and data to the concept notes, publications, infographics, briefings, period and ad-hoc reports where required. ↵

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Utilizes understanding of WFP’s Strategic Objectives to communicate linkages to team objectives and work.
• Be a force for positive change: Proactively identifies and develops new methods or improvements for self and immediate team to address work challenges within own work area.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Identifies opportunities to further align individual contributions with WFP’s mission of making an impact on local communities.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Helps colleagues to see the link between their individual tasks and the contributions of their unit’s goals to the broader context of WFP’s mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Is able to identify, support and encourage focused on-the-job learning opportunities to address gaps between current skillsets and needed future skillsets for WFP.
• Create an inclusive culture: Recognizes the contributions of teammates, and encourages contributions from culturally different team mates to recognise the value of diversity above and beyond just including it in programming for beneficiaries.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Provides and solicits ongoing constructive feedback on strengths and development opportunities to help develop individual skills, whilst also helping others identify areas for improvement.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Sets clear targets for self and others to focus team efforts in ambiguous situations (e.g., unprecedented issues and/or scenarios).

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Thinks beyond team’s conventional approaches to formulate creative methods for delivering food aid and assistance to beneficiaries.
• Focus on getting results: Maintains focus on achieving individual results in the face of obstacles such as volatile or fragile environments and/or organizational roadblocks.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Takes personal accountability for upholding and delivering upon team’s commitments and provides assurance to stakeholders.
• Be Decisive: Demonstrates ability to adjust to team’s plans and priorities to optimize outcomes in light of evolving directives, while also responding quickly in high-pressure environments, such as in emergency settings.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Demonstrates an understanding of when and how to tactfully engage other units in conversations on impact, timing, or planning.
• Build strong external partnerships: Networks regularly with key external partners using formal and informal opportunities to understand each partner’s unique value proposition, and to build and strengthen relationships.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Demonstrates ability to adapt engagement approach in the context of evolving partner circumstances and expectations.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Demonstrates ability to articulate to internal and external audiences the value that individual contributions and immediate teams bring to partnerships.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

By CoB of 12 May 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.

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