Programme Policy Officer (ICT4D) SSA8 - Maputo

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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.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in Information and Communication Technologies or related fields or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience: At least 5 years of experience field work with Information and Communication Technologies;

• Experience in development and/or implementation of digital solutions in the agricultural sector is desirable;
• Other development programme/project experience focusing on digital solutions in rural areas is Mandatory;
• Agro-industry and agricultural marketing knowledge is optional.

Knowledge and Skills: 

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations is the largest humanitarian organization engaged in the global effort to achieve Zero Hunger worldwide. In Mozambique, WFP’s Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2017-2021 supports the national Government’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SGD 2: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture and SDG 17: partnership strengthening among sectors. Through implementation of its Country Strategic Plan 2017-2021, WFP in Mozambique aims to increase smallholder productivity and income (Strategic Result 3 of the CSP and SDG target 2.3) and to enhance livelihoods of targeted smallholder farmers in northern and central Mozambique (Strategic Outcome 5 of the CSP). This will be achieved through two outputs: (i) targeted smallholder farmers (SHF) benefit from WFP value chain support to improve access to profitable markets and increase their incomes; and (ii) targeted smallholder farmer households benefit from improved knowledge in food conservation including and processing, nutrition, care practices and healthy diets to improve their nutrition status.

Over the past years, WFP in Mozambique has implemented a range of initiatives targeting smallholder farmers in efforts to enhance the aggregation, marketing and decision-making opportunities of smallholder farmers, with a focus on women, while improving access to profitable markets and increasing incomes. These initiatives include Purchase for Progress (P4P), Purchase from Africans for Africa (PAA Africa), the UN Joint Programme involving WFP, IFAD and FAO (Building Commodity Value Chains and Market Linkages for Farmers’ Associations), the EU funded Support to Accelerate Progress Towards MDG1c in Mozambique (MDG1c Project); and Cartier Foundation funded Zero Post Harvest Loss project. Through these projects, WFP supported the formation/creation of more than 20 farmers organisations in Tete, Manica, Zambezia and Nampula provinces (around 30 thousand farmers) including capacity building (through trainings focusing on the production cycle, from pre- to post-harvest as well as commercialization and marketing and the provision of labour-saving technologies) to improve the quality of agricultural produce and increase income from their surplus harvest. Other interventions included facilitating a series of price negotiation workshops between farmers and buyers to build farmers confidence to receive better prices for their produce. Furthermore, WFP Mozambique has invested in women farmers to ensure their meaningful participation in these organisational structures, has demonstrated the cost-benefit of using hermetic storage to reduce postharvest losses, improving grain quality.

JOB PURPOSE

Despite efforts of the Government, WFP and other government partners, the marketing of agricultural products remains a challenge in Mozambique smallholder farmers (SHF) face many problems to place their products on local markets, with the most frequent being: the limited number of traders, long distances to markets, lack of transport, poor condition of roads, and low agricultural commodity prices, amongst others. On the other hand, traders often complain about poor quality, inadequate quantity and inconsistent availability of agricultural produce from smallholders. The lack of access to price information and markets, and inadequate postharvest handling practices and storage facilities are the main reasons most smallholders sell their produce at low prices, keeping them in a continuous cycle of poverty and vulnerability.

Improving market access will require upgrading the infrastructure network for post-harvest with respect to storage, processing and conservation of products, marketing, and improving information management systems. To support smallholder farmers to overcome such obstacles, WFP is implementing a 3-year pilot project (October 2019- October 2022), to connect farmers to markets called the Virtual Farmers’ Market (VFM). The VFM serves to link smallholder farmers to markets, providing an opportunity for farmers to virtually access markets and sell their produce. WFP is partnering with a private sector to pilot a virtual platform in Mozambique. The platform was conceptualized based on field experience of WFP in Zambia, and is becoming an Agro-Digital transformation solution for farming solutions for the future to: (i) Allow digital procurement, (ii) Bring about predictability to the crop yields with analytics-based advice, (iii) Ensure timely supply and purchasing of inputs, (iv)Plug crop wastage by streamlining supply chain, (v) Assure profitability and self-sufficiency to the farmers and (vi) ensures ready credit and insurance avenues for the farmers. Through the platform, this project aims to promote and strengthen market linkages among smallholder farmers and traders by facilitating the establishment of partnerships to support smallholder farmers’ access to vital information on market prices, weather forecasts, availability of agricultural inputs and services through a virtual marketplace. This project fits within the context of the strategic outcome 5, activity 6 of the WFP Country Strategic Plan: Enhance the aggregation, marketing and decision-making

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The Programme Policy Officer will work under the direct supervision of the Activity 6 manager. Specifically, will be responsible for the following duties:

1. Provide technical support during implementation of the VFM project to various stakeholders, but primarily to project staff;
2. Be the Liaison person between VFM platform development entity and WFP;
3. Ensure the delivery of relevant training to the stakeholders for the effective implementation of the platform;
4. Conduct regular monitoring visits to project sites, and collect, monitor and evaluate data to ensure that the objectives and activities of WFP are being met and that this is reported on a regular basis using the monitoring report templates;
5. Assist the project on data collection from the cooperating partners and District Authorities and analysis on monthly basis;
6. Submit monthly performance reports to project management and recommendations for improved performance on the programme implementation;
7. 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.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

1. Develop relevant training materials, and guidelines for relevant value chains;
2. Train smallholder farmers, agricultural extension Agents, WFP staff and partners on appropriate post-harvest management prevention techniques including produce handling, sorting, drying, storage, processing for value addition, packaging to prolong shelf life;
3. Provide technical guidance and capacity building trainings for implementing partners and local institutions.
4. Supervise and monitor PHLM activities by conducting regular visits to project sites;
5. Provide guidance for the establishment of demonstration trials at community and household levels;
6. Support the establishment of market linkages between smallholder farmers and other business actors in the selected value chains;
7. Develop or identify suitable post-harvest handling resources/information from other actors like FAO, MADER and research institutes that can benefit the farming communities.
8. Conduct awareness raising on program objectives and procedures, interaction with programme stakeholders (such as Government and other WFP partners, as well as within WFP units);
9. Carry out frequent field missions to targeted districts: assess programme outputs, and recommend best practices for project improvements;
10. Follow up data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained. Includes research and analysis of policy and operational issues to support activities, as well as carry out frequent field missions to targeted districts and assess programme outputs; and draft regular monitoring report on status of implementation and progress and contribute to the data analysis.
11. Perform other functions that, within their specialty, are required.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Has gained experience in implementing technical programs (i.e. nutrition, etc.).
• Has implemented programmes and provided input into designing operations.
• Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Type of Contract: Service Contract -SSA8

Duration: 06 months

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

04.03.2021

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Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries 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.