Programme Policy Officer (School Feeding) – CST – Anananarivo

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting global hunger. WFP’s mission is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetime. Every day, WFP works around the world to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, especially women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

WFP’S MANDATE AND INTERVENTIONS IN MADAGASCAR

In Madagascar, WFP is supporting the government’s efforts through an assistance strategy to respond to the humanitarian emergency, strengthen community resilience and support sustainable development efforts. In collaboration with government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN system partners, WFP, organizes cash or in-kind transfers to meet the food needs of families affected by climatic hazards, provides school meals that promote access to education for girls and boys, supports the prevention and treatment of malnutrition, and provides technical and financial support to groups of small agricultural producers to improve their production and access to the market.

WFP also provides the air transport service, ensuring safe, reliable and cost-effective transport for humanitarian and development actors to other parts of Madagascar.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

School feeding and school-based Programmes are a key focus for the Madagascar Country Office CSP (2024-2028). The Country Office is currently managing several projects funded by World Bank, The Government of Madagascar, Germany, France…etc.

WFP has been providing financial and technical assistance to the Government to expand and strengthen the school feeding Programme, ensuring that primary school students in the Government’s priority region receive school meals. While the CO continues to manage direct implementation of Programmes in 900+ schools, WFP’s capacity strengthening / technical assistance work to the Government and communities continues to grow.

There are increasing demands arising out of the current projects and intensive engagement required around scaling up in new areas. However, the Country Office does not currently have sufficient capacity and thus has identified the need to employ an International Consultant.

The Consultant will serve as the Activity (school feeding) manager and will be responsible for the overall management of the school feeding team, in coordination with the other components of the Programme unit.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

 Under the guidance of the Head of Programme, the incumbent will carry out the following activities / tasks:

1. Manage the Country Office school feeding Activity team, ensuring a common goal, coordinated and clear communication to field offices, support units and management, and the smooth running of operations.
2. Oversee the overall planning and implementation of the School Feeding activities ensuring consistency with WFP policies and other relevant guidance.
3. Support the development of a strategy to link HGSF with smallholder agricultural market support (SAMS), in close collaboration with the HGSF coordinator, Supply chain unit, Field Offices and the resilience team in charge of SAMS activities.
4. Work closely with the Budget and Programming unit to manage financial resources allocated to School feeding activities under the CSP.
5. Work closely with the Partnership unit to develop new proposals to donor’s, support the report writing to donors and provide all information required.  Oversee compliance with donors and corporate requirements, including regular donor reporting and communication.
6. Oversee the planning and tracking of Programme quality and progress, including the implementation of oversight and evaluation-related actions, strong Programme documentation and the identification of gaps and potential solutions.
7. Lead WFP’s school feeding operational and strategic partnerships – including with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, and Cooperating partners – to ensure cohesive and coordinated support.
8. Engage with WFP’s Regional Bureau and HQ on initiatives and guidance to ensure that school-based programmes in Madagascar benefit from new learning, tools and models.
9. Manage the enhancement of WFP’s school-based programmes through the integration of gender, AAP, disability, and other cross-cutting themes.
10. Coordinate and participate in regular field missions to provide oversight and support to school feeding operations in the field.
11. Represent WFP during meetings with partners to contribute to technical discussions, exchange of knowledge and experiences, and identify areas for potential collaboration.
12. Support the professional development of team members, including in the area of country capacity strengthening and perform other tasks as required.
13. Work with the RAM Unit and TEC unit, support the pilot on an improved data management project as well as operationalize the digital transformation agenda of the School-Based Programming Unit in HQ.
14. Support country level initiatives (as required during the time of the assignment) including designing the transition strategy, the use of CBT in school feeding Model, designing of new proposals, advocacy for more investments in School feeding and school-based Programmes.
15. Take on other activities in relation to school health and nutrition work as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

Masters/Advanced university degree in a relevant discipline: food security, nutrition, Management and development studies, social sciences, economics, social safety nets or other field relevant to international development assistance.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of work experience in the area of school feeding, Programme Management or related field

• Previous experience providing support to Country Offices in specific school feeding activities at the national level.
• At least 6 years of experience in managing development projects and teams, including for school feeding / school-based programmes with increasing level of responsibility.
• Programme design, support and implementation experience will be an asset.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong organizational and project management skills with ability to work with high degree of autonomy.
• Strong analytical skills and demonstrated ability to transform analytical products into presentable visual pieces with key messages.
• Strong knowledge management skills including demonstrated ability to produce professional level written outputs and ability to present in French and English.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills including good facilitation, negotiation and problem solving skills.
• Ability to undertake policy discussion and dialogue with senior level stakeholders within Government and non-governmental organisations and value diverse opinions, regardless of background, experience, or country assignment.

• Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relations with persons of different cultural backgrounds and multi-task as needed.
• Willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
• Ability to work independently in a timely and organised manner.
• Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

Languages:

• Fluency in French and English languages.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS: APRIL 15, 2024

QUALIFIED FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to behaviors such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of power and discrimination. All selected candidates will be required to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore be subject to rigorous background checks either internally or by the intermediary of 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 result in disqualification or dismissal.

WFP will not seek payment at any stage of the recruitment process, including at the offer stage.