The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. We are seeking to fill the position of Programme Officer (Resilience) at the P3 level, based in our Country Office in Niamey, Niger.
WFP’s Niger Country Office has launched a three-year Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO), that brings together all interventions into a single programme. The challenge of this operation will be in the strategic linkages, in time and in space, of the WFP activities. Linking the food security and nutrition responses is of essence, as is the integration between WFP activities and those of its sister agencies notably UNICEF and FAO. An exercise of joint geographical targeting has been undertaken, a package of interventions defined and a baseline is being prepared.
The Programme Officer will take a major role in assessing ongoing projects under the new operation to propose the integration of some innovating and qualitative elements. Under the general supervision and guidance of the Deputy Country Director, he/she will be responsible for the following key duties:
- Contribute to the design and implementation of well integrated and sequenced resilience activities;
- Provide technical backstopping and advises, assist Sub-offices and facilitate seasonal livelihood programming and community-based participatory programming workshops;
- Support the building of partnerships for the realization of community plans and mobilization;
- Ensure good coordination with government counterparts at national, regional and local-level, UN agencies, NGOs and donors (USAID, ECHO) to build a strong coalition for resilience;
- Represent WFP on strategic and operational meetings on resilience with a view to strengthen the partnerships with all stakeholders;
- Act as WFP focal point for the Communes de Convergence;
- Ensure that WFP activities are in line with the priorities identified by communities and integrated with those of partners;
- Write donor proposals, reports and lessons learned, as needed;
- Reinforce partnerships with technical services and academic institutions to strengthen the technical framework of resilience activities, including the development and implementation of an operational plan of work with technical services at national, regional and sub–regional level;
- With respect to the Sub-offices, analyse potential problems, make recommendations and draft operational guidance, as necessary, to improve efficiency and transparency in the implementation of the operations;
- Coordinate inputs from Sub-Offices to ensure timely dispatch of cash and food commodities as per the approved monthly distribution plan;
- Participate in programme discussions to ensure that the point of view of Sub-offices is duly contemplated, flagging concerns, challenges and opportunities to improve programming and coordination;
- Work with all relevant units in the Country Office to strengthen the integration of activities in their planning, execution and reporting flow, and advise on new directions or processes;
- Work closely with the Vulnerability Analysis & Mapping (VAM) and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Units to identify how to measure resilience results and achievements;
- Any other operational support, as required.
Qualifications & Experience Required
Education:
- University degree, preferably at an advanced level, in Economics, Agriculture, International Affairs, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Development Studies or a field relevant to international development assistance.
Experience:
- At least five years of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in public sector management, development projects, emergency assistance, and/or operational aspects of food aid or commercial transactions;
- Proven experience in designing and implementing resilience programmes;
- Practical experience with government/donor liaison, project fund and NGO partnership management;
- Experience in preparing donor proposals and writing reports is an advantage.
Technical Skills & Knowledge:
- Knowledge of current approaches to livelihoods activities in conflict, transition, or development situations;
- Familiarity with national level policy dialogue (government, donors, UN agencies);
- Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook);
- General knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures governing administration and UN joint programming, including seasonal livelihood programming and community based participatory approaches is desirable;
- Knowledge of emergency and development contexts, humanitarian operations in Niger or the Sahel is desirable.
Competencies:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
- Effective action management to plan, coordinate and prioritize multiple tasks;
- Excellent cognitive capacity and problem solving skills;
- Outstanding teamwork and interpersonal skills with ability to work patiently and tactfully with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
- Excellent partnership skills to build strategic relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
Language:
- Fluency in oral and written English and French;
- Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is an asset.
REF: 14-0015805
HOW TO APPLY:
ApplicationProcedures:
Step 1: Register and create your online CV.
Step 2: Click on “Description” to read the position requirements and “Apply” to submit your application.
NOTE: You must complete Step 1 and 2 in order for your application to be considered for this vacancy.
Deadline for applications:1 Decemeber 2014
