Humanitarian-Military Interaction Lead, P4 at World Food Programme (WFP)

THE ROLE

• The current state of humanitarian response is characterized by more frequent natural disasters, including the potential global impacts of infectious disease outbreaks, and the increasingly protracted nature of the most severe conflict-driven crises. At the same time, states are more frequently relying on the capacity of their security and military services to support domestic civil protection operations, as well as non-traditional roles such as pandemic response tasks, the misrepresentation of ‘humanitarian assistance’ for political/military objectives and oversees emergency response operations. Due to its mandate, operational presence, and size, WFP is consistently operating in these spaces, where military and other armed actors are present in a variety of roles. As a result, WFP has developed a more robust internal civ-mil coordination capacity to manage interactions appropriately and coherently in a principled, appropriate, and effective manner with militaries and other armed actors.
• The Head of the HMI unit will provide technical oversight and management to the global HMI team, and ensure WFP maintains a coherent, reliable, and principled approach to interaction with militaries and other armed actors, providing support to all offices (COs, RBs, LOs, and HQ). This role is cross-functional and inter-disciplinary, it will rely on effective engagement and coordination with expertise across HQ departments, divisions, and units (incl. Security, Supply Chain, and Emergencies) and close collaboration with key-stake holders in RBs and COs. The HMI unit is responsible for the overall strengthening of WFP’s internal understanding of core interagency/international principles, frameworks and norms related to principled interaction with militaries; and, providing targeted support, in the area of HMI, to WFP offices and leadership as they design, develop and implement emergency response strategies and activities.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Under the supervision of the Chief of Operational Access and Humanitarian-Military Interaction, managing the work of the HMI Unit, the Head of HMI will be responsible for, but not limited to:

Governance:

• Oversee the implementation of the HMI portion of the OA/HMI 3-year strategy;
• Provide strategic guidance for the development of annual workplans, as well as overseeing the human resource requirements of the team;
• Support the Branch Chief and, the Deputy Director of Emergencies (Operations) with budgetary exercises and expenditure tracking.
• Provide direct support, technical/expert advice and information to WFP leadership on civ-mil related matters (including Mine Action), as requested;
• Represent, with Senior HMI Advisors, WFP in various global level interagency, NGO, or military led fora;
• Coordinate/Develop HMI related information for both internal and external audiences, and ensure the consistency and accuracy of information and corporate messaging on HMI related topics;
• Act as the WFP HQ focal point for the UN CM-Coord (inter-agency Civil -Military Coordination forum) programme of work.

Support Field Operations:

• With the HMI Operations Officer, provide day-to-day guidance and support to the HMI team globally;
• Oversee the identification, for RBs and COs, of technically proficient emergency HMI surge staff;
• Maintain a roster of appropriate candidates for longer term support to critical WFP emergency operations (in-line with broader EME surge work force planning).
• Deploy to WFP emergency operations to support in the establishment/strengthening of the relationship with local military actors (and the larger security sector) to support WFP operational and corporate goals in a principled manner.

Operational Partnerships:

• Represent HMI in the internal WFP Technical Access Cell, which is charged with which is a HQ level coordination platform for technical Humanitarian Access activities.
• Provide inter/intra divisional support in strategic planning and facilitating the divisions’ ability to implement those plans;
• Represent WFP as/when needed in inter-agency civ-mil meetings, conferences and technical/working-level discussions; and ensure WFP’s position/interests/concerns are reflected in interagency guidance, policies, doctrine, related to civ-mil coordination;
• Act as the HMI representative when working intra-divisionally (Security, Supply-Chain, Programme Policy), to ensure effective planning and cross functional engagement on operational issues;
• Facilitate and supervise the HMI Training Officer with the roll-out of the HMI residential training course on humanitarian-military operations.
• Support/guide the growing interest in civ-mil related research across academic, research and policy institutions.

Other:

• Actively engage with COs, RBs and within HQ to assess emerging and evolving risks for humanitarian early warning and identify gaps in preparedness, alerting decision makers on emerging risks, proposing integrated early actions to enhance readiness (early action);
• Contribute to stakeholder mapping and actor analysis for scenario building and early warning;
• Perform other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS AND KEY REQUIREMENTS

Education:

• Advanced university degree, or a university degree with experience in development or humanitarian affairs.

Experience:       

• At least eight years of relevant progressively responsible experience in complex emergency response contexts.
• Minimum 5 years of experience related to Civil-Military Coordination. Experience with international crisis response is desirable, as is familiarity with international humanitarian architecture and policy frameworks; project planning and activity management.

Language:

• Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language) is an advantage.

MORE ABOUT YOU

• Demonstrated high level of technical knowledge within the area of expertise;
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience with other UN agencies in the context of inter-agency collaboration;
• Previous experience working in the HMI/ civil-military environment (Including Mine Action);
• Has gained substantial experience in humanitarian operations roles with a good knowledge of WFP’s organizational policy and procedures related to programme and emergency operations and an general understanding of supply chain (logistics and pipeline);
• Has actively supported and been engaged in medium to large scale emergency operations and has led or participated in strategy planning with a mid-size, moderately complex country of equivalent environment;
• Demonstrated written and oral communication skills, including substantive analysis and report writing;
• Solid and proven managerial experience through the recruitment and management of multi-cultural teams;
• Demonstrated experience and leadership in a variety of contexts, including in emergencies and/or hardship duty stations, working under pressure;
• Good working knowledge and experience with MS Office and other standard WFP programmes.