Programme Policy Officer, NOA - Social Protection at World Food Programme (WFP)

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: An advanced university degree in one or a combination of the following fields is required: Social Policy, Public Policy, Social Work, Sociology, Economics, Public Finance Management or another relevant technical field.

Experience: A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience is required. Sound understanding of national social protection policy-making processes and ability to filter operationally relevant lessons for governments and other partners. Demonstrated experience in cross-agency collaboration and providing input into policy discussions and decisions. Demonstrated experience in managing data collection and analysis for policy decisions. Strong understanding of social protection programming in both development and emergency contexts will be considered as a strong asset.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of Kiswahili will be an added advantage.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The jobholder will be accountable to the Head of Country Capacity Strengthening Unit under the direct supervision of the Programme Policy Officer (Social Protection/Social Safety Nets)

JOB PURPOSE

The Programme Officer is responsible for assisting the leadership, management and supervision of the social protection programming and related advocacy at strategic planning of interventions and subsequent delivery of sustainable results for WFP’s technical assistance to the Government of Kenya. This includes programmes aimed at improving (i) social protection policies to reduce hunger; (ii) social protection coverage and impact on the most vulnerable persons; (iii) the transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of public investments and financial management from a systems perspective; and (iv) governance, decentralization and accountability measures to increase public participation including gender considerations. The foregoing will be achieved through direct interactions with government counterparts, UNDAF and other development partners.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Social protection programme development

• Understand the national social protection policies, strategies, set up and function to identify areas of cooperation and potential technical support.
• Provide technical assistance to setting social protection programme priorities, strategies and implementation plans.
• Dialogue and work closely and collaboratively with colleagues, government representatives and partners to determine national and county-specific priorities to ensure the achievement of sustainable results for poverty and hunger reduction.
• Provide technical and operational support in all programming processes to ensure integration of food assistance and shock-responsive components into the social protection framework in a coherent and harmonized system

Institutional strengthening through innovation and evidence generation on vulnerabilities to inform policy and programmes

• Contribute to to the development of relevant evidence-based polices and legislations at the national and county levels.
• Provide technical assistance for research and dissemination of findings to programme and policy makers and advocate for the utilization of such findings to improve the performance of the sector.
• Oversee the collection, analysis and presentation of data on food poverty and how this can be tackled through social protection. This will include provision of appropriate technical support for strengthening the national capacity to collect, report and use data for policy decision-making.
• Support the development of information management system at the national and county levels to enhance programmes accountability, transparency, referrals, linkages, efficiency analysis, policy debates and appropriate decisions.
• Develop appropriate social protection training materials for different audiences and facilitate the updating of the developed packages to meet the evolving needs within the country.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (Continued)

Strengthening social protection coverage and impact for vulnerable populations

• Support the government to implement policies, including the social protection investment plan with an intention of increasing coverage of and impact on vulnerable populations as defined in the social protection policy.
• Promote strengthening of integrated social protection systems, providing technical support to government to improve the design of cash transfer programmes with improved linkages with other socially protective interventions such as resilience building through provision of productive assets; nutrition; education; and health and health insurance services.
• Provide technical assistance for further development of a social protection system that is responsive to shocks which may fully or in part be attributed to the negative effects of weather and economy and the likelihood for increased vulnerability of the poorest and food insecure populations.
• Contribute to improved monitoring and research around social protection impact on poverty and food security outcomes, and research findings for strengthening programme results.

Strengthened advocacy and partnerships

• Facilitate strengthening of effective partnerships with the Government, UNDAF partners, donors, civil society and political leaders, to support the achievement of the twin goal of vision2030 and relevant targets for SGDs 1,2 and 17.
• Identify other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration with all partners contributing to the social protection agenda in Kenya.
• Develop funding proposals and prepare timely reports for presentation to the donors.
• Contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on programmes and activities that enable informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.

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.