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 (Cash & Vouchers)at the P4 level, based in our Regional Bureau
Office in Nairobi, Kenya.
With the shift from food aid to food assistance, WFP is expanding its use of
transfer modalities, e.g. cash and vouchers, which allow tailoring of food
assistance responses to local contexts and market realities.
Experts in cash and voucher transfer
programming at the regional level will help build and support country office
capacities to ensure that cash and voucher transfers become an integral part of
corporate response options ensuring timely application of the programme and
operational guidance developed by the Cash for Change Initiative.
Under the general supervision and
guidance of the Senior Regional Programme Officer within the Programme Unit and
with the technical guidance of the Chief Cash for Change Unit, the Regional
Programme Officer will be responsible for the following key duties:
- Develop an annual work plan identifying
priority countries and operations with the potential to appropriately
increase levels of cash and voucher based programming and to standardise
approaches
- Identify key steps, timings and support
required to assist Country Offices (COs) to scale up cash and voucher
based transfers in a manner that is cross-functional and supports
alignment to the corporate Cash and Voucher Business Model
- Provide technical support and guidance to COs
through identifying additional support capacity and, where necessary,
directly undertake field missions and remote assistance focusing on
response analysis (choice of transfer modality), design, implementation
and evaluation of cash and voucher based programmes
- Provide COs with technical backstopping
related to needs assessments, sectoral capacity assessment, transfer modality
selection and delivery mechanism design
- Coordinate with the Cash for Change Unit and
other relevant HQ divisions and units to ensure technical coherence in the
design and management of cash and voucher based interventions and a
uniform approach to their scale up and evaluation
- Review project proposals and other relevant
documentation to ensure quality assurance and compliance with corporate
policies, strategic objectives and guidance
- Participate in the programme review process,
providing relevant feedback to highlight issues of potential concern at
the operational, policy or strategic level
- Provide support in the drafting and review of
Terms of Reference (TORs) for various cash and voucher related studies and
evaluations
- Support processes that can feed into corporate
development of programme guidance and capacity building tools by
incorporating relevant field experience and documenting lessons learned
and best practices. This should include the development and piloting of
innovations in the cash and voucher field
- Support corporate capacity building
initiatives related to cash and voucher based programming, and participate
in training and workshops as required
- Represent WFP at workshops, seminars, meetings
and other events related to cash based programming as requested
- Perform other duties as required.
Qualifications & Experience
Required
Education:
- University degree, preferably at the advanced
level, in Economics, International Affairs, Nutrition, Public Health,
Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, Social Sciences or a field relevant
to international development assistance.
Experience:
- At least eight years (three of which
international) of postgraduate progressively responsible professional
experience in planning, design and implementation of humanitarian and
development programmes with at least five years of relevant work
experience at the implementation level in developing countries.
- Strong experience in the design,
implementation and evaluation of in-kind food, cash and voucher transfers.
- Proven capacity to manage innovation in
programme approaches.
- Previous work experience related to transfers
in social safety net and/or emergency setting, particularly refugee
settings, is highly desirable.
Technical Skills & Knowledge:
- Strong understanding of the theory and
application of food security, livelihood and safety net programmes;
- Good understanding of targeting, monitoring
and evaluation techniques and their application;
- Knowledge of major humanitarian, recovery and
development challenges and issues, specifically strategies for poverty and
hunger reduction;
- Knowledge of issues related to international
development cooperation and humanitarian assistance;
- Knowledge and understanding of the UN’s role
in development cooperation;
- Proficiency in MS Officer (Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Outlook) an other standard office software packages and
systems;
- General knowledge of UN system policies,
rules, regulations and procedures governing administration is high
desirable.
Competencies:
- Resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of
judgement and tact
- Good analytical and negotiating skills
- Ability to communicate clearly both orally and
in writing
- Ability to establish priorities and to plan,
coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under supervision
- Ability to develop and maintain effective work
relationships with counter parts and staff within the office, with host
population, donor, NGOs and other UN agencies
- Ability to gain the assistance and cooperation
of others in a team endeavour through technical leadership in a broad range
of operational areas
- Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with
people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Language:
- Fluency in oral and written English with an
intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working
languages).
- Working knowledge of French is desirable.
Terms and Conditions: Selected candidate will be employed on a
fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year. He/she will be
required to travel abroad sometime to remote and difficult locations.
WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance.
For more details please visit
icsc.un.org
Application Procedures:
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: 12 November 2014
WFP has zero tolerance for
discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.
Qualified female applicants and
qualified applicants from developing countries are encouraged to apply.
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.
Ref: 14-0015682