Youth in Work Programme Policy Officer

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ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme 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.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

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WHY JOIN WFP? 

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Youth in Work Programme Policy Officer
TYPE OF CONTRACT: Regular Consultant Level II
UNIT/DIVISION: Climate and Resilience Service (PPGR) – Programme policy and Guidance (PPG) Division HQ
DUTY STATION (City, Country): Rome Italy, with frequent missions to the field
DURATION: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
WFP is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation (MCF) for a five-year 130 million USD partnership titled ‘Strengthening food systems to promote increased value chain employment opportunities for youth’ (Youth in Work). This partnership, which aims to strengthen local food systems and making them more efficient, sustainable and inclusive for youth, in particular young women, will be implemented in eight Country Offices, in three different regions: East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda); Southern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique) and West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal). In each of these countries, the programme will adopt an integrated value chain approach to implement context-specific interventions aimed at reaching the following outcomes:

• Young people, especially women, have improved employment opportunities along the value chain
• Smallholder farmers, especially youth and women, increase the value of their sales, resulting in improved income
• Smallholder farmers, especially youth and women, reduce post-harvest losses and improve the quality for targeted crops
• Improved inclusiveness of marginalized groups in agricultural value chains
• Improved value chain efficiency for young people, in particular women

The programme focuses on reducing post-harvest losses, increasing access of smallholder farmers to reliable and remunerative market opportunities and creating income opportunities across value chains for different crops. In complement to those core intervention areas, the partnership supports access to relevant finance solutions to the benefit of key value chain actors, as well as a range of other innovative digital solutions to strengthen the performance of those actors and improve the overall efficiency of the targeted value chains.

To manage the programme and the associated Trust Fund, a Programme Coordination Team (PCT) was set up under PPGR to support delivery and measurement of results by COs, facilitate the integration of the Programme within CSPs and regional strategies, build synergies with other corporate areas of work, learn from COs, RBs and other HQ youth engagement pathways, help document the importance of investing on youth and inform a potential youth engagement agenda, coordinate the partnership by maintaining a continuous dialogue with the Foundation's PanAfrican (PANA) team.

The partnership has a strong learning agenda with the purpose of facilitating evidence-based learning across countries through the monitoring, documentation and dissemination of results, lessons learned and good practices.

Purpose of the consultancy:
The consultant will be part of the HQ/RB Programme Coordination Team on the general coordination of the Programme with specific roles in channelling appropriate technical support in a variety of areas such as access to market, innovative financing and youth & women employment in agriculture value chains to RBx and COs, reporting, knowledge management and communications of the Youth in Work Programme.
The consultant will operate under the direct supervision of the Global Programme Coordinator and overall guidance of the Head of the Programme Themes and Integration Unit under PPGR. The consultant will work in close coordination with the WFP PCT, the Climate and Resilience service technical teams, the regional bureaus’ project focal points and focal points in target Country Offices.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Draw upon relevant technical expertise across the Smallholder Agricultural Market Support, inclusive finance, asset creation, livelihoods and regenerative practices portfolio in the organization, to support COs through RB coordinators in the PCT.
• Following PCT decisions, coordinate inputs for and produce strategic documents, including remarks, talking points, presentations, briefing notes, concept notes, proposals for overall signoff from the coordinator;
• Under overall guidance of the coordinator, lead the PCT preparation of consolidated reporting to the Foundation and oversee the preparation of the global and country reports, including generating evidence and producing quality narrative reports in a coordinated manner across different Country Offices;
• Organize the Global Programme Meeting and lead on the knowledge management and comms area;
• Collaborate with external research programmes, including leading the engagement and coordination with relevant researchers, to ensure that the research plan is in tune with country M&E plan and results integrated in country M&E framework;
• Implement the communication and knowledge management strategy, in order to enhance the visibility of the Programme and partnership in the programme areas;
• Create contents for and manage a range of different communication platforms and channels to support global and country fundraising activities, ensuring consistency with corporate messages;
• Provide ad-hoc support to WFP Regional Bureaux and Country Offices related to the Programme;
• Any other duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education: University degree in one of the following disciplines: agricultural economics, economics, agricultural and rural development, international relations, development studies, communications, journalism, social sciences, or other related fields

Experience: 10 years of post-graduate, progressively responsible professional experience in Agriculture, Agriculture Economics, International Development, International Relations, or other fields relevant to rural development and food systems, or a First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses. Field experience is desirable.

Languages: Fluency in English is required. Intermediate knowledge intermediate/level B) of French and/or Portuguese is desired.

Knowledge & Skills
• Advanced analytical skills with ability to compile, analyse and interpret quantitative and qualitative data, prepare reports and draw conclusions and recommendations;
• Practical knowledge on how monitoring data is collected, compiled, analysed and presented for management decisions, programme adjustment and donor reporting. Knowledge of WFP corporate normative framework, toolkit, guidance and systems, including COMET is desirable;
• Willingness to build capacity of others through formal and informal training processes;
• Ability to deliver results through planning and organizing activities;
• Ability to prepare relevant documentation and training materials;
• Proven ability to develop quality reports and analyses with minimal direction;
• Ability to work with relevant technology and procedures (e.g.: web-based databases and other statistical applications) to collect, organize, share and use corporate information.
• Previous experience in food systems, livelihoods and value chain development programmes or with development programmes with a focus on young people employment
• Solid command of MS Office suite (in particular Word, Excel, Power Point, Teams, Publisher, Sway etc.) and/or other equivalent contents creation and editing software and tools;
• Excellent writing and editing skills;
• Excellent communication skills, to engage a varied range of internal and external stakeholders;
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to deal patiently and tactfully with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Willingness to travel to remote regions, if necessary, on short notice.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our recruitment process is inclusively crafted to welcome candidates of all backgrounds, celebrating diversity and ensuring a respectful environment for all. We aim for an accessible and fair recruitment journey. Should you need any reasonable accommodations or have accessibility concerns, please reach out to us confidentially at global.inclusion@wfp.org. Our DEI team is here to ensure your full participation in our recruitment process.

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.