Project Manager, Environmental Sustainability in Humanitarian Logistics (WREC) at World Food Programme (WFP)

The Logistics Cluster is an Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) coordination mechanism that is responsible for coordination, information management, and, where necessary, logistics service provision to ensure an effective and efficient logistics response takes place in humanitarian emergency missions. In its role as the Logistics Cluster lead, WFP maintains in its HQ in Rome the Global Logistics Cluster (GLC) Support Team which supports the activities and initiatives of the Logistics Cluster globally. 

The Environmental Sustainability in Humanitarian Logistics (WREC) Project seeks to reduce the adverse environmental consequences of humanitarian logistics through awareness, practical guidance, and provision of real-time environmental expertise. The WREC Project is a two-year, potentially renewable, project which aims to support the humanitarian community with specialized humanitarian logistics expertise, training, and tool development to support environmental sustainability initiatives. 

Life-saving humanitarian action can have unintended environmental impacts, which can hamper the effectiveness of relief, recovery, and sustainable development efforts. The humanitarian supply chain, typically responsible for the procurement, transport, and warehousing of goods, as well as for the management of premises, waste, and fleets, is at the centre of these impacts. 

The project is coordinated by the Global Logistics Cluster and supported by a coalition of humanitarian organizations - the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Save the Children International (SCI) and the World Food Programme of the United Nations (WFP). Representatives of all those five entities form the Project Steering Committee. 

The project team will be composed of one dedicated Project Manager, an information management/reporting officer (sitting in the Global Logistics Cluster Support Team) and four environmental subject matter experts (SMEs), each hosted within one of the coalition organizations.  The Project Manager will report to the Global Logistics Cluster Coordinator or Deputy Global Logistics Cluster Coordinator.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

You will be responsible for the overall project planning, coordination of activities and workplans, and tracking and reporting on the implementation of a number of activities/sub-projects related to the Environmental Sustainability in Humanitarian Logistics Project.

Planning & Reporting:

• Work with the Chair with the planning of all key project timelines and associated deliverables, associated project meetings, donor reporting and submissions and interactions with broader partner community. 
• Work with the Chair and Steering Committee on fund-raising activities via the creation of project proposals, briefings about the project to potential donors, in close coordination with the logistics cluster support team, the Project Steering Committee and project team members. 
• Preparation of donor reports in line with the proposal timelines. 

Coordination:

• Coordination with the representatives of the participating organisations (Project Steering Committee), serving as a non-decision-making member of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) and as a secretariat function on behalf of the PSC, ensuring documenting and archiving of all decisions action points. 
• Technical supervision of the subject matter experts (SMEs) embedded within the participating organisations to ensure timely and effective implementation of project deliverables. 
• Coordination with other actors involved in projects related to environmental sustainability in humanitarian action as it relates to humanitarian logistics, ensuring to maintain partnerships and keeping up to date on complimentary activities. 

Implementation: 

• Guiding/advising project team members and contributors with tracking of the implementation of activities and deliverables outlined in the project scope, monitoring tasks on a day-to-day basis against plans to ensure project completion within time and budget. 
• Providing solutions to the PSC with adjustment to the Project budget with changes to funding. 
• Facilitating the work of the PSC with Partnership Framework Agreement and any associated legal MoUs required to facilitate funds and staffing management of project related assets (including staffing). 

Within this scope, you will, either directly or in coordination with other project managers and SMEs assigned to specific areas of work:

• Develop plans that emphasize the proper use of environmental resources with a focus on sustaining these resources in the long term. 
• Develop and prepare the implementation of project work plans and ensure compliance with specific assigned objectives. 
• Using Mendelow’s power-interest matrix (or equivalent tool) ensure stakeholders are appropriately categorised and managed; identify and engage with related and complementary initiatives and ensure linkages with these initiatives are appropriately maintained. 
• Manage coordination with project stakeholders on an ongoing basis to ensure cohesion and alignment throughout project implementation. 
• Manage the Project Budget and take responsibility to engage sufficient participants to achieve project goals. 
• Assign tasks and responsibilities to appropriate personnel within the project team as detailed within the Project Plan and associated RACI matrices. 
• Identify project dependencies into and out of the project (especially linkages with other environmental initiatives in the humanitarian sector) and critical path to ensure maximum efficiencies across the sector in this area of engagement. 
• Identify project risks, anticipate problems and discuss as required mitigation efforts to ensure overall delivery is not compromised. 
• Following the Project Plan, develop team work plans, including milestones and deliverables, review status reports from the project team, analyse results, and troubleshoot problem areas, consulting with the Project Chair (GLCC) and PSC as necessary. 
• Where relevant, supervise, evaluate, and guide the work of professional and support staff working on the project. 
• Proactively manage changes in project scope, identify potential crises, and devise contingency plans, in coordination with SMEs and coalition partners 
• Provide in-depth and comprehensive reporting on project status, issues and results to relevant parties including donors and partners as required/requested 
• Undertake any other functions as required related to the management of the Project. 

QUALIFICATIONS AND KEY REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION: 

You have:

• University degree in project management, communications, logistics, international development, or environmental sustainability; or the equivalent combination of education and experience. 

EXPERIENCE: 

You have:

• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in Project Management of multi stakeholder projects and drafting and elaborating partnership projects.

LANGUAGE:

You have:

• 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)

MORE ABOUT YOU

You have: 

• Knowledge of logistics operations and systems 
• Strong familiarity with Project Management software
• Ability to transform Business requirements into Technical Project Documentation
• Excellent command of English both spoken and written. Excellent presentation and people skills
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment 
• Ability to react to project adjustments and alterations promptly and efficiently.