Individual Consultant: Programme Policy Officer (Technical Support and Donor Liaison)

Position description

As technical liaison between WFP and BMZ, KFW and the Scandinavian funded projects in Ethiopia, the Programme Policy Officer has the responsibility of contributing to project design through ensuring alignment of project interventions to donor requirements, ensuring timelines in submission of concept notes and proposals to respective donors and that any variations or adjustments to implementation are adequately communicated to the donor. Responsibilities under this role may be extended to supporting projects funded by other donors in addition to the ones stated above as may be deemed necessary as well as strategic planning support to the Head of the Changing Lives portfolio in Ethiopia.

Under the direct supervision of the Lead, Innovation, Insurance & Financial Inclusion, the incumbent’s responsibilities will include: 

1. Project Liaison: Liaison for resilience building and livelihood interventions funded by BMZ, KFW and the Scandinavian Countries, and other forms of assistance, as defined by the head of changing lives. Provide regular feedback to the donors on project implementation and support identify, and address bottlenecks affecting the smooth running of the projects. Contribute to project design and ensure alignment of project concept notes or proposals to donor requirements and to WFP policies and the Country Strategic Plan (CSP). Liaise with WFP staff involved in the project implementation to provide guidance on project requirements and monitor project milestones against project targets and objectives, ensure deadlines and targets are met, and ensure that relevant policies, guidelines, and processes (WFP corporate and project-specific) are adhered to (compliance). 

2. Technical support: Contribute to the design of projects, ensuring alignment of concept notes and proposals to donor requirements; and ensure that the proposals are of a good quality and are submitted on time, and that they are aligned to WFP Ethiopia’s CSP and the respective projects/workstreams under the resilience building and climate change adaptation portfolio. 

3. Partnerships: As the liaison with KFW/MMZ and Scandinavian development partners under activity 5, keep the direct supervisor and the WFP partnerships team informed on the implementation of activities funded by KfW/BMZ and the Scandinavian countries. The selected candidate will undertake regular meetings, workshops, joint field visits, presentations, submission of reports and proactively seek opportunities for further funding to support the scale-up of interventions, in addition to seeking new partnerships as needed. Additional responsibilities include supporting the field offices with the selection, onboarding of cooperating partners, including drafting of agreements, with guidance and support by the Programme Partnership unit. 

4. Strategic Planning: Support the Changing Lives Portfolio Manager, as guided, to pro-actively formulate and contribute to strategy formulation, development of strategic plans, concept notes, scale-up plans for on-going projects, partnership strategy development, and consolidation of inputs into the second-generation CSPs. Also provide or contribute to reporting and knowledge management.

5. Reporting: Ensure timely and high-quality reporting, which includes compiling relevant annual project reports, provide inputs to WFP Ethiopia’s internal and external reporting structures such as the Annual Country Report (ACR), donor updates, and weekly updates, and provide other reporting inputs as required. Additionally, collaborate with M&E focal points to generate the necessary evidence emerging from the work done under respective activity leads within the resilience building and climate change adaptation portfolio, and changing lives agenda in general. This includes supporting the design of results frameworks, data collection processes, and contributing to evidence generation initiatives.

6. Financial Management: Ensure accountability of the use of project funds; oversee the administrative, financial, and budgetary aspects of project activities, including the monitoring of financial expenditures and transactions; ensure strict and consistent application of WFP rules and regulations and alignment to donor requirements. 

7. Knowledge Management: Liaise with focal points of various thematic areas relevant to the project as well as related projects, both externally and internally in the Country Office to ensure best practices are effectively captured and lessons from them applied to enhance programme delivery. Introduce innovative solutions (including digital) to capture, store and access such information. Also support the development of a framework within which knowledge management is effectively managed and utilized. 

8. Travel: Regular travel to the field and project sites, including the facilitation of donor- and high-level visits. 

9. Other: Carry out other relevant tasks and duties as requested by the immediate supervisor, Head of Programme, and Country Office management

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Education: Advanced University degree in Environmental Sciences, Management Sciences, (Development) Economics, Statistics, or similar studies.

Experience: At least 5 years of working in the humanitarian or development sector and demonstrated job-related professional experience in project design and management, partnership management, budgeting, and inter-sectoral engagements or other related fields 

Knowledge & Skills: 

• Ability to produce high-quality written materials, such as project proposals and reports, for internal and external consumption.
• Excellent presentation skills, conveying complex operational and strategic issues to senior and technical, internal and external audiences.
• Strong analytical abilities, both quantitative and qualitative; ability to leverage analytical skills into advanced data models
• Knowledge of WFP’s various operational areas and functions
• Knowledge of the humanitarian and development context in Ethiopia, including key (policy) documents and strategies
• Understanding of WFP’s dual mandate of saving and changing lives, particularly WFP’s past and ongoing resilience and livelihood projects and activities, both in Ethiopia and other countries.
• Knowledge of statistical methods to generate evidence in complex and experimental settings, such as randomized control trials.
• Strong time management skills with an ability to plan, anticipate requirements, problems and obstacles, and an ability to juggle competing priorities successfully, managing tight deadlines
• Self-motivated and proactive
• Ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders with credibility and tact, including with (senior) external partners
• Good interpersonal and communication skills, ability to perform in a matrix structure
• Fully committed to achieve the mandate of the World Food Programme in adherence with humanitarian principles
• WFP’s core competencies & alignment with WFP’s leadership framework (purpose, partnerships, people, performance)

Application instructions

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