Programme Policy Officer (Adaptation Fund Cordinator)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The climate crisis is multiplying existing threats to food security, hunger and malnutrition, intensifying the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, amplifying the scarcity of land and water, and drastically curbing agricultural productivity gains. Climate change disproportionally impacts the most vulnerable people, the majority of whom live in fragile areas prone to climate hazards, ultimately putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is committed to step up the number and scale of its climate-related interventions to support adaptation efforts of vulnerable people and governments globally, focusing on food and nutrition security. WFP is supporting governments to access climate finance from various bilateral and multilateral sources such as the Adaptation Fund (AF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Since February 2022, WFP Republic of Congo (RoC) Country Office has been implementing a five-year project funded by the Adaptation Fund called “Building adaptive capacity to climate change in vulnerable communities living in the Congo River Basin”. The project aims to reduce Congo's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and strengthen adaptive capacities of vulnerable communities and the ecosystems they depend on, by promoting food security and nutrition through a gender sensitive approach. The project purposely targets those who are most affected by climate change, poverty, food insecurity and who rely on agricultural livelihoods that are limited by and vulnerable to climate change impacts, especially women and indigenous groups. It does so through three interlinked components:

• Component 1: Knowledge, awareness and capacities on climate change impacts and adaptation options are increased;
• Component 2: Households have the information needed to better manage and minimize the impacts of climate variability and weather events on their livelihoods;
• Component 3: Communities apply adaptation measures to their livelihood activities.

The project’s Executing Entity is the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin, which implements the project through a National Implementation Unit (NIU). As Implementing Agency, WFP’s role is to insure that the project is well executed, and to provide management and administrative support to the National Implementation Unit as needed.

WFP RoC Country Office is looking for aProgramme Policy Officer (Adaptation Fund Cordinator) who will join the Activity 4 (Resilience) Programme team and play a key role in supporting the implementation of the Adaptation Fund project in Congo. The Officer would report to Activity Manager for Activity 4, and would work under the overall guidance of WFP Representative and Country Director and the Deputy Country Director / Head of Programme. The Climate Programme Officer will also regularly liaise with the Climate Advisor in the Regional Bureau for Southern Africa in Johannesburg (RBJ) and with the Climate team (PRO-C) in HQ.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Programme Officer will support and provide guidance to the project’s National Implementation Unit within the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin.

Specific tasks include:

1. Provide advice and support to the project National Implementation Unit (NIU) to plan and implement project activities. This entails:
   • Supporting the NIU to plan annual activities, developing workplans, expenditure plans and procurement plans;
   • Closely follow-up implementation progress, organizing regular meetings and working sessions with the national counterpart, supporting activity planning and implementation;
   • Co-supervise the work of the three Local Coordination Assistants (LCAs) hired to supervise the implementation of the project in the field. The LCAs are formally under the supervision of the Director of the National Implementation Unit, but have a WFP contract and are based in WFP’s sub-offices in the three departments where the project is implemented;
   • Collect and review trimestral performance reports from the NIU;
   • Ensure that project-related documents and resources are regularly stored in a shared folder with the Ministry, are organized and up-to-date;
   • Provide support and advice during stakeholder consultations and implementation of project activities in the field (with field missions when needed);
   • Support the preparation of grant and other legal agreements, in collaboration with WFP's Legal Office;

1. Ensure that the project is implemented according to the project’s standard operating procedures and Adaptation Fund’s rules and regulations. This entails:
   • Liaising with experts in the CO, in RBJ and in HQ to ensure technical soundness of activities;
   • Ensuring activities’ compliance with Funds' rules, regulations, processes and requirements;
   • Coordinate the development of annual project performance reports (PPR), gathering inputs from the National Implementation Unit and the different CO units (Finance, Procurement etc.), integrating feedback from RBJ and HQ focal points and addressing any questions from the Adaptation Fund secretariat;
   • Provide advice and support the review of mid-term and final evaluations and audits, in collaboration with the relevant units in RB and HQ.

1. Support Activity 4 team and the CO in general with climate change adaptation – related activities, including:
   • Provide support in writing concept notes and funding proposals, when needed;
   • Provide support and inputs to climate-related studies and assessments, such as vulnerability assessments, climate response analyses, policy recommendations etc;
   • Other tasks as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Apply For Job