Programme Policy Officer (Agricultural Value Chains) SC-9 Vientiane

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WFP encourages female candidates and people with disabilities to apply.

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity and 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.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

This job is based in Country Office and job holder reports to a Strategic Outcome Manager or more senior Programme Policy Officer.
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.

Background:

Lao PDR is characterized by high levels of stunting (33%), wasting (9%) and micronutrient deficiencies in children and women of reproductive age. Overweight and obesity have significantly increased in the past decade, echoing global and regional trends, and is a growing concern particularly among adult women. Thus, Laos can be characterized as experiencing the triple burden of malnutrition. Nutrition remains a high priority in the national development agenda. Since January 2022, WFP has been implementing a Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026 which is formulated around the achievement of four strategic outcomes. Through Strategic Outcome 2, WFP aims to improve the nutritional status of key population groups. This includes promoting changes in people’s behavior through the introduction of complementary, nutritious foods; diversification of diets; improving infant and young child feeding practices; and enhancing communities’ ownership of initiatives such as school feeding. WFP aims to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable people throughout their life cycle, as well as increase their resilience to seasonal and long-term shocks and stresses.

WFP and the Lao Farmer Association (LFA) were successful in procuring a grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) to implement the “Building Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience for Food, Nutrition, and Income Security” project from mid-2024 to mid-2028. The project adopts an agroecology-focused approach that includes:
(i) professionalization of the LFA, commodity networks, and Agriculture Production Groups (APG or sub-PO) to enhance their capacity to deliver services to their members.
(ii) support to climate-resilient production through access to financing, improved production technologies, reduced production and post-harvest losses and farmer-to-farmer circular learning involving farmer experts (lead farmers) and demonstrations.
(iii) market-led approach to production, post-harvest and value addition through reliable market linkages between farmers groups organized in commodity networks and SMEs.

JOB PURPOSE

The Programme Policy Officer (LFA) will support the team and activities within Strategic Outcome 3 of the WFP Country Strategic Plan (CSP, 2022-2026) and report to Head of SO3 in the Country Office. He/She will particularly be responsible for the management of the “Building Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience for Food, Nutrition, and Income Security” in close collaboration with LFA, the WFP Management, the WFP Field Offices involved in the project implementation as well as with the government stakeholders at different levels.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

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 with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.
Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English and Lao is a requisite

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Support LFA in all aspects of the management of the “Building Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience for Food, Nutrition, and Income Security” project.
2. Provide technical support to the LFA Management Teams in Vientiane and Field Offices in the regards of projects implementation, monitoring and reporting.
3. Provide specific technical support on the Value Chains involved in the project and strengthen the activities to form linkages between producer groups and agribusinesses.
4. Carry out spot checks on the functioning of the accounting system of LFA and LFAs financial reporting to WFP.
5. Work closely with the other teams in program units, as well as M&E, to track and analyse project data that enable informed decision making.
6. Ensure accurate and timely reporting to WFP and the donor (GAFSP).
7. Provide regular KM and COM inputs for WFP and GAFSP, such as lessons learnt, stories for the website, success stories etc.
8. Liaise with Government and other counterparts to provide regular feedback sessions and discuss overall progress for the project and establish partnerships where feasible.
9. Provide technical advice or mobilize technical expertise on programme and policy issues including assessment and analysis, the deployment and testing of innovative approaches and the development of strategies to support government efforts.
10. Strengthen community ownership and effectiveness of the project at national and sub-national levels.
11. Establish and maintain operational partnerships to identify opportunities for collaborative approaches and initiatives that improve assistance packages and support advocacy work.
12. Enhance WFP’s leadership status in forums relating to area of specialism, for example food security, nutrition, livelihoods, resilience or engagement in humanitarian, transition and development contexts through direct participation, briefings, and the development of information products and other materials.
13. 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.
14. Advice and support the development of functional training in areas of expertise to enhance the capacity of WFP staff and partners to design and deliver effective food assistance programmes.
15. Lead, motivate and develop a team of staff to enable high performance.
16. Perform other tasks as required.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people’s skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
•  Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
•  Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

 At least six (6) years of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience implementing humanitarian, and/or development programmes.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

– At least six (6) years of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience implementing humanitarian, and/or development programmes.
– Experience of working with the agriculture sector, with an emphasis on nutrition sensitive agriculture and linkages with the private agribusiness sector.
– Has experience in working closely with government counterparts, preferably the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).
– Proven and demonstrable project management skills.
– Action management skills and ability to take decisions.
– Effective interpersonal communication and coordination skills.
– Teamwork and partnership in multicultural environment.
– Analytical skill

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract type & Level: Service Contract (Level: SC-9)

Contract duration: One year with renewal

Duty station: Vientiane Capital, Laos (based in Lao Farmers Association Office) 

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Opening date: 10 May 2024

Closing date: 23 May 2024

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Female applicants are especially 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.