Youth In Work Programme Policy Officer

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 29 November 2024-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

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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.

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: 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 aims to strengthen local food systems and make them more efficient, sustainable, and inclusive for youth, particularly young women, and will be implemented in eight Country Offices across three regions: East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda); Southern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique); and West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal).

The programme will adopt an integrated value chain approach to implement context-specific interventions aimed at achieving 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, particularly 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 addition to these core intervention areas, the partnership supports access to relevant finance solutions and a range of innovative digital solutions to strengthen the performance of value chain actors and improve the overall efficiency of the targeted value chains.

Purpose of the consultancy:

The consultant will be part of the HQ/RB Programme Coordination Team, providing technical support in 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.

ACCOUNTABILITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Draw upon relevant technical expertise across the Smallholder Agricultural Market Support, inclusive finance, asset creation, livelihoods, and regenerative practices portfolio to support COs through RB coordinators in the PCT.
• Coordinate inputs for and produce strategic documents, including remarks, talking points, presentations, briefing notes, and proposals for overall signoff from the coordinator.
• Lead the PCT preparation of consolidated reporting to the Foundation and oversee the preparation of 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 communications area.
• Collaborate with external research programmes to ensure that the research plan aligns with country M&E plans and integrates results into the country M&E framework.
• Implement the communication and knowledge management strategy to enhance the visibility of the Programme and partnership in the programme areas.
• Create content for and manage various communication platforms 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 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 the ability to compile, analyze and interpret quantitative and qualitative data, prepare reports and draw conclusions and recommendations.
• Practical knowledge of how monitoring data is collected, compiled, analyzed, and presented for management decisions, programme adjustment, and donor reporting. Knowledge of WFP corporate normative frameworks, toolkits, 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 focusing on youth employment.
• Solid command of MS Office suite (in particular Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Publisher, Sway, etc.) and/or other equivalent content 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.

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process.

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).

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

All employment decisions are made based on 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.