Programme Policy Officer- Community Engagement (NOB)

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

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

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world´s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change to change their lives. Funded entirely by voluntary contribution, WFP assists more than 140 million people in over 120 countries and territories to bring life-saving food to people displaced by conflict and destitute by disasters and help individuals and communities find life-changing solutions to the multiple challenges they face in building better futures.
WFP actively works with the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and other partners to ensure that, by 2030, the Lao population will have a healthy nutritional status; be resilient to withstand shocks; enjoy good education and join the current generation to contribute to a prosperous future for Laos.

WFP Country Strategic Plan (2022-2026) will contribute to implementation of the Government’s 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP, 2O2L-2025), sector strategies and plans of action and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2022-2026), and to achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. WFP works in close collaboration with all levels of the Lao PDR Government and other UN and NGO partners to reach these objectives.

JOB PURPOSE

School feeding and school-based programmes have been a key focus for the Laos Country Office since 2002 and Strategic Outcome 1 (school feeding) remains the largest outcome area under the CSP (2022-2026). The Country Office is currently managing multiyear projects funded by USDA, the German and Korean governments and funding from private sector partners to support national school lunch programme in Laos.

WFP has been providing financial and technical assistance to the government to expand and strengthen the NSLP, ensuring that pre-primary and primary school students in the Government’s priority districts receive nutritious school meals all year around with complementary support for improve health, nutrition, and literacy.

The long-term sustainability of the SLP not only depend on the Government’s ability to budget for and support the program, but also on strong community ownership, as a key indicator for success. An effective program will depend on the leadership and initiative of the community in ensuring that commitments and contributions are managed and met, and that problems are solved locally.
Community mobilization and development is a cross-cutting effort to increase community awareness of the SLP; to engage communities in the implementation and improvement of the program; to enhance infrastructure in support of the program; and to ultimately take ownership of the program to ensure sustainability.
To this end, WFP is supporting for strengthening community ownership of SLP through establishing policies and guidelines at national level and coordinating community engagement to SLP at the provincial, district and village levels.
In this context, the incumbent of this assignment will primarily perform programme tasks related to community engagement, while also contributing towards programm planning and designing, as well as partnership efforts of the Country Office.
Under the overall supervision of the Strategic Outcome-1 Manager, PPO- Community Engagement will be responsible for delivery of technical expertise on approaches and methods for developing national policies and guidelines for promoting sustainable community ownership for SLP, organizing large-scale community engagement at ground level for implementing sustainable SLP, and provide strategic guidance for managing WFP District Community Mobilizers.
The PPO- Community Engagement will support the CO, specifically for SO1 team and field office teams to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate community mobilization activities including the Social & Behaviour Change activities (SBC).
The PPO will ensure commitment and involvement of local authorities and community members in to the SLP program. S/he will work in close coordination and maintain good working relationship with the Inclusive Education Promotion Centre (IEPC), Provincial Education and Sports Services (PESS), District Education and Sports Bureau (DESB) s, and other government line agencies, and other stakeholders both at national and sub national level.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The PPO – Community Engagement will liaise closely with WFP CO Management, SO 1 team and technical staff in other SO s.
Key responsibilities will include:

• Provide strategic guidance for the government to develop and implement community mobilization strategy for supporting SLP.
• Work with the government to develop framework for community mobilization for national school lunch programme.
• Develop community engagement strategy for SLP , jointly with the government, ensuring that effective and productive collaboration between all stakeholders is maintained.
• Work closely with the government and other stakeholders to document, develop, test and rollout key messages essential for community to actively engage with the NSLP.
• Work closely with the national and sub-national level partners in designing and roll out of training and capacity building activities for community mobilizations.
• Develop guidelines for promoting community engagement activities under WFP strategic outcome areas.
• Provide technical inputs for project design, strategies, tools, and implementation modalities for promoting community engagement through Social Behavior Change (SBC) under WFP support.
• Work closely with the sub-national level government agencies and WFP field offices to ensure timely collection, analysis and reporting of field-level data from activities implement for promoting community engagement.
• Develop system for proper documentation of community level activities to help the SO 1 team in preparation of regular reports (may include field level data) as and when required for decision-making purposes.
• Support to develop manuals and materials for trainings on community mobilization at different levels including training of Village Education Development Centre (VEDC) s.
• Work closely with implementing partner(s) in designing and roll out of training and capacity building activities in the project target areas especially the training of VEDC members.
• Undertake regular field visits to ensure smooth implementation of project activities and analysis/review field data for better programme planning purpose.
• Oversee and provide day-to-day coordination support between national and sub national level for promoting community engagement in SLP through WFP supported activities.
• Develop a mechanism for WFP field team to engage with the diverse community mobilization activities supported by WFP to understand their information needs, preferences, capacity, and community information systems.
• Ensure gender, protection, accountability for affected population, and consideration for people with disability are considered throughout all areas of community engagement.
• Perform other duties as required or as directed by the reporting officer.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Master’s degree or advanced degree in the areas of Sociology, Public Health/ Public Administration/Political Science, International Relations or Business Administration or relevant field is required.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language and Lao

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.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

This section is optional to describe additional responsibilities & knowledge required for the specific job.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• At least 05 years’ experience with master degree or 10 years’ experience with Bachelor degree in humanitarian activities and/or public works and /or community mobilization or related area is required.
• Experience in community development, and civic engagement under UN projects would be an added advantage.
• Substantial experience in advocacy and policy development / research in the development context.
• Knowledge of local community development principles, trends, and policies in Lao PDR.
• Excellent conceptual and analytical skills.
• Demonstrable ability to think strategically, innovatively and practically to ensure achievement of desired change objectives
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with partner agencies and key contacts in the government, NGO, civil society and media sectors.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to effectively handle multiple tasks and meet strict deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, flexibility, adaptability and ability to work effectively as a member of a team.
• Understanding of WFP’s operations in Lao PDR.
• Understanding of WFP systems and processes highly desirable.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Contract Type: Fixed Terms Contract ( Lao Nationals Only)

Duration: One year with renewal

Grade: NOB

Duty station: Vientiane

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Opening date: 28 May 2024

Closing date: 10 June 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.