Programme Policy Officer, Resilience Building and Livelihoods, P4, WFP, Cairo

Background:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. We are seeking to fill the position of Programme Policy Officer (Resilience Building and Livelihoods) at the P4 level, based in our Regional Bureau in Cairo, Egypt. This Regional Bureau covers a broad and very diverse set of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe sub-regions.

The Cairo Regional Bureau (RBC) is supporting local and national recovery, rehabilitation, “resilience building” and livelihoods protection strategies and efforts. Several Country Offices (COs) have already started to integrate “resilience building” into their strategies, programmes, and initiatives, and there are good examples of such interventions delivered in very different contexts and settings, including in Sudan, Yemen and Palestine. To build on this success, RBC is looking for a more coherent, harmonized and systemic approach to resilience building to be implemented across the region.

Under the general supervision and guidance of the Deputy Regional Director, the Programme Policy Officer will bring knowledge and capacities in the areas of resilience building and livelihoods protection and enhancement, in relation to different settings including displacement, conflict and climate adaptation.

Specific duties will include:

• Lead and coordinate the technical works of the RBC in relation to food security, resilience building and livelihoods in different operational settings;
• Provide technical, programme and strategic guidance to COs in the design and implementation of food security projects, programmes and initiatives, with a special focus on resilience building, asset creation, and livelihoods enhancement opportunities;
• Undertake technical assistance missions to support field level initiatives;
• Help identify, review, and map out key experiences and lessons, comparative advantages and opportunities, as well as knowledge and operational gaps in relation to transitional and resilience building efforts in the field;
• Lead and facilitate learning and cross-fertilization of experiences across the region building on CO achievements and results, including the development of guidance materials and functional training in areas of expertise to enhance the capacity of WFP staff and partner to design and deliver effective food assistance programmes;
• Liaise with HQ in relation to the development of guidance materials and tools, ensuring that RBC’s experience, vision and concerns are adequately reflected;
• Lead regional strategy and policy development efforts in the area of food security, resilience building and livelihoods, and support RBC work onsocial protection and safety nets, and Disaster Risk Reduction, in close collaboration with other staff in the RBC;
• Support specific, high level regional interagency initiatives, including in the area of resilience building, contributing to programme and strategy design, as required;
• Support WFP’s policy engagement in international, regional and national events and meetings including through the preparation of policy briefs, advocacy and communication material, as well as internal briefing documents;
• Facilitate the development of partnerships and innovative initiatives with UN agencies, specialized institutions, donors and development actors in the field of resilience building;
• Lead, motivate and develop a substantive team to enable high performance;
• Ensure the best use of assigned financial resources for achievement of set objectives within a significant budget;
• Take responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives in all areas of work, to ensure equal participation of women and men;
• Perform any other duties as required.

Qualifications & experience required:

Education:

• Advanced university degree in International Affairs, Economics, Nutrition/Health, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Social Sciences or other field relevant to international development assistance, or First University Degree
• Two additional years of relevant work experience from the minimum experience requirement stated below.

Experience:

• At least eight years (of which three international) of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in international humanitarian, development work or other related fields;
• At least three years of experience in the areas of resilience building and livelidhoods protection and enhancement, in relation to hunger and food security; in relation to different settings including displacement, conflict and climate adaptation.
• Relevant field experience in the implementation of resilience building and livelihoods programmes and initiatives especially in complex transitional settings (i.e. displacements);
• Proven ability and experience in the development of interagency networks, partnerships, strategies and communications initiatives.

Technical skills & knowledge:

• Advanced understanding of the latest policy debate, theory and application of resilience building and livelihoods programmes;
• Knowledge of major humanitarian and development challenges and issues, specifically strategies for poverty and hunger reduction, including social protection and safety nets;
• Understanding of donor policies, strategies and programme priorities in relation to humanitarian assistance and resilience;
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook);
• General knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures governing administration is desirable.

Competencies:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Effective action management to plan, coordinate and prioritize multiple tasks;
• Excellent cognitive capacity and problem solving skills;
• Outstanding teamwork, leadership and interpersonal skills with ability to work patiently and tactfully with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Excellent partnership skills to build strategic relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders;
• Ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavour through technical leadership in a broad range of operational areas.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English;
• Intermediate knowledge of Arabic or another official UN language (Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages).

Terms and conditions

Selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year.

WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance. For more details please visit icsc.un.org

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status. Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are encouraged to apply.

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.