Programme Policy Officer (Head of School Feeding) CST 2

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or 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

School feeding programmes are used in many countries to promote education, health and agriculture. They also serve as an incentive for parents to send and keep their children in school while simultaneously improving children’s ability to focus on learning instead of their hunger. School feeding is therefore the
largest social protection/safety net in the world.
In a context of widespread poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, school feeding has been an important safety net in Sierra Leone since independence, ensuring that many children can participate in primary education, and receive a daily minimum healthy diet. At the core of new National School Feeding Policy (endorsed by parliament in May 2021) is the wish to pursue a home-grown model. This is expressed in the policy‘s vision of a sustainable school feeding programme that ensures nutritious and healthy meals to primary schoolchildren in Sierra Leone, using to the largest extent possible food produced and processed by local, smallholder producers, and implemented entirely by national actors and agents. To align to the new policy, collaboration between WFP’s School Feeding and the Asset Creation and Livelihood teams is actualising the vision of Home-Grown School Feeding(HGSF).

After a successful pilot phase, WFP is rapidly scaling up HGSF with keen donor interest. The school feeding programme is a national flagship initiative under the leadership of the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the National School Feeding Secretariat. WFP is one of four main implementing partners of the National School Feeding Programme covering 5 districts during the 2022/23 academic year. WFP’s school feeding programme reaches over 1,000 primary schools and provides a daily hot meal for over 200,000 children.

JOB PURPOSE

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme, the incumbent will ensure effective and quality implementation of WFP and the Government’s school feeding programme.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Lead, plan, monitor and coordinate the implementation of school feeding in close collaboration with other WFP units including programme (Asset Creation and Livelihood and nutrition teams),Research, Assessment and Monitoring, budgeting and programming, logistics, and procurement.

• Sustain and strengthen close and effective partnerships with MBSSE and the National School Feeding Secretariat at national, regional and district-levels through regular and results-oriented engagements.
• Lead and support (as applicable) exercises to assess the gaps and opportunities for school feeding and its policy and regulatory framework, sustainable financing, institutional capacity and coordination, design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, engagement of non-state stakeholders (SABER and/or dedicated technical assessments).
• Contribute to the design of the capacity strengthening strategy and activities for the school feeding programme and stakeholders and lead their implementation.
• Support capacity strengthening for the National School Feeding Secretariat as well as coordination mechanisms at national, regional and district levels to improve institutional capacity and coordination for the National School Feeding Programme.
• Effectively and inclusively manage the school feeding team, and efficiently delegate tasks and responsibilities to staff that play to their strengths and optimize project implementation.
• Work in close partnership with the Heads of Sub Office and school feeding sub office staff to ensure effective oversight of school feeding at the field-level and collaborative working with government counterparts and development partners.
• Ensure close and structured coordination and collaboration with other school feeding partners to promote a culture of learning and cooperation.
• Closely monitor school feeding budgets, expenditures and food pipeline, ensuring the best use of resources to achieve objectives within a moderate budget.
• In close collaboration with the Asset Creation and Livelihood and nutrition teams, lead the design and implementation of WFP’s Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in Sierra Leone, and ensure objectives are met, food safety and quality standards are adhered to, linkages with small holder farmers are maximized, gender and environmental considerations are adhered to;

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Advise and support the development of functional training in areas of expertise to enhance the capacity of WFP staff and partners to effectively design and deliver the school feeding programme
• Keep up to date on corporate and regional campaigns and alliances and proactively advocate for these in Sierra Leone including developing guidance and implementation modalities and operations, to ensure a clear and strong connection with the mandate.
• Establish and maintain operational partnerships with school feeding and other development partners to achieve a collaborative implementation approach and build inter-linkages with other complementary initiatives to maximise the impact of school feeding.
• Systematically produce quality documentation to track the implementation of the school feeding programme so WFP’s experience contributes to building sectoral knowledge and best practices.
• In collaboration with the Research, Assessment and Monitoring unit, ensure robust implementation of the monitoring framework and that indicators tracked are aligned with national priorities.
• Lead the preparation timely and quality analytical reports, publications, and information products, and work closely with the Communications and Partnerships team for effective dissemination.
• Lead the development of funding proposals to secure sustainable resourcing of the school feeding programme.
• Ensure food quality control and compliance with nutrition, food safety and quality standards including national and international standards to minimize risks to health, and injury,
• Develop training material for schools’ staff and volunteer cooks to fully implement school feeding guidelines storing food and preparing the meals.
• Lead, motivate and develop a team of staff to enable high performance

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance:
Demonstrates ability to identify key variables and contextual factors that affect food assistance and education throughout the lifecycle to inform quality programme design or re-design.

Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher):
Demonstrates ability to consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources to inform transfer modality selection and programme development.

Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas
Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialized fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring of Home-Grown School Feeding.
Demonstrate strong strategic thinking and engagement

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced degree in social sciences, education, Development Economics or relevant field or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training courses.
Experience: Five years relevant professional experience in Programme design and management in School Feeding and cash-based activities or local procurement components.
Knowledge & Skills: Proven capacity to provide tailored technical support to on home grown school feeding programme design and implementation.
Proven capacity to produce high quality guidance, training material and written reports.
Capacity to represent the Country Office in meetings and strategic engagements with partners.
Ability to think creatively and strategically, ability to work autonomously
Capacity to work in a multi-cultural environment, excellent writing skills, project management.
Strong networking skills

Languages: Fluency (level C) English

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Female Candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org  Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

28th June 2024

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WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.