Programme Policy Officer (SAMS)

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.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

These jobs are found in Headquarters (HQ), Regional Bureaux (RBs) or Country Offices (COs) and job holders report to a 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.

JOB PURPOSE

The SAMS unit is seeking to recruit a National Programme Policy Officer (SAMS) to act as programme coordinator for the MCF-WFP partnership. Through support of the WFP-MCF programme, the successful applicant will also ensure alignment of activities across the entire SAMS portfolio. The position will be based in the WFP Rwanda Country Office in Kigali and the job holder will work under the direct supervision of the Head of the SAMS unit.

This position requires an experienced individual with a high degree of independence and will require management of more junior staff to ensure achievement of programme and policy objectives. The successful applicant is expected to manage resources and coach and coordinate support staff, as well as liaise directly with government actors and other key value chain partners (including private sector actors, development partners and NGOs).

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

• Provide day-to-day management of the Shora Neza project, coordinating all project activities.
• Manage cooperating and implementing partners through frequent/periodic meetings.
• Provide technical support to the cooperating partners and monitor their performance to meet the project objectives.
• Serve as a liaison between field operations and the country office.
• Coordinate with the regional project advisor based at RBN on Shora Neza project implementation.
• Ensure a coordinated approach with wider smallholder support programmes that complies with WFP standards and procedures as well as common interest identified among value chain stakeholders.
• Ensure collaboration and cooperation with key stakeholders, including governments, regional bodies, private sectors, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society, research and academic institutions and donors’ institutions to contribute to effective project implementation.
• Liaise with local and regional partners to coordinate technical support to entrepreneurs and MSMEs (farmer groups, private off-takers, aggregators) to scaleup their operations.
• Work with the Operational Information Management & Reporting officer of the SAMS unit to ensure rigorous data gathering and monitoring systems with project partners.
• Guide and supervise more junior staff, acting as a point of referral and supporting them with analysis and queries.
• Promote gender equality by mainstreaming it in all programmatic areas; identify gender and participation barriers within the agricultural sector and WFP operations and recommend appropriate strategies.
• Identify the main gender barriers/constraints to women and youth participation and engagement in the agriculture sector and WFP operations, and in designing appropriate gender strategies, components, and indicators to respond to gender issues);
• Perform other related duties 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

• Relevant experience in development and agricultural fields, with emphasis on pro-smallholder approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to provide consistent and timely client service to meet the changing needs and expectations of clients, allowing clients to actively participate in and contribute to decisions that are relevant to their needs. Adjusts services as required.
• Take ownership of assigned tasks, establish priorities and monitor own work plan with minimum supervision.
• Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relations with results-oriented private sector partners as well as internal WFP clients.
• Good analytical skills; resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, and negotiating skills.
• Excellent communication skills both orally and in writing and in multiple contexts.
• Knowledge of various aspects of financial services and business modelling is a bonus.
• Strong ability to take initiative with research and analysis and produce valuable results in conditions of uncertainty; solid operational skills including problem solving and project management skills, including ability to work and deliver projects proactively and under pressure.
• Experience facilitating multi-stakeholder engagement is an asset.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education & Experience: Advanced university degree in one or more of the following disciplines: economics, agriculture, business administration, finance or a field relevant to agricultural value chain management plus 3 years of relevant experience. OR a first university degree plus 5 years of relevant experience in agribusiness, project management or value chain analysis with a strong focus on the private sector.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language.  Knowledge of French and Kinyarwanda is an added advantage.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Previous experience in managing projects on youth employment and women empowerment and sound understanding of programming on women’s economic empowerment is highly recommended.
• Demonstrated knowledge of MSMEs, financial inclusion and entrepreneur support.
• Experience in gender transformative programming
• Experience in managing teams
• Working knowledge of French

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• JOB TITLE: Programme Policy Officer, Smallholder Agricultural Market Support, NOB
• TYPE OF CONTRACT: Fixed-Term
• UNIT/DIVISION: Smallholder Agricultural Market Support
• DUTY STATION (City, Country): Kigali/Rwanda
• DURATION: 12 Months

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Deadline for submitting the online application is on the 19th of June 2022, 23:59 CAT

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability Name	Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level
Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance	Displays ability to identify the main hunger problem at the national or subnational level to design and implement context-specific programmes that integrate complex analysis and the full range of food assistance tools.
Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher)	Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development.
Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas (i.e. Nutrition, VAM, etc.)	Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring.
Emergency Programming	Displays ability to translate understanding of programme principles in emergencies and protracted conflict situations into relevant, effective, and context specific approaches.
Strategic Policy Engagement w/ Government	Develops thorough recommendations using multiple inputs (e.g., government counsel, research, own experience) to strengthen national or subnational entities and government owned food and nutrition security programmes.

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All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.

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