Consultant Programme Policy

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TITLE: Programme Policy Officer

TYPE OF CONTRACT: CST-1

UNIT/DIVISION: Regional Bureau for East and Central Africa (RBN) / Programme Climate and Resilience Unit

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Nairobi, Kenya

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

ToR for this position is two-folds: i) project management for the KOICA-WFP project and ii) support for food systems and integration.

The KOICA-WFP CFP partnership program, titled "Building Climate Resilience for Food Security in the Fragile Setting of the Horn of Africa," emerges from a shared commitment to addressing the multifaceted challenges of climate vulnerability, fragility, and conflict in the Horn of Africa, particularly in Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan. Over three years, this program aims to fortify the food security and resilience of agropastoral communities against the backdrop of increasing climate adversities. 

The program is a strategic response to the dire situation in the Horn of Africa, characterized by extreme and unpredictable climate events and vulnerabilities that exacerbate poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and gender inequalities. Recent years have witnessed the largest number of acutely food-insecure individuals in the region, a crisis exacerbated by unprecedented climatic events such as droughts and floods. These climate shocks, coupled with economic instability and ongoing conflicts, have severely disrupted the ecosystems and food systems, putting millions at risk and eroding the developmental gains of the past decades. 

In tackling these challenges, the KOICA-WFP partnership is guided by a holistic approach that aligns with the Korean government's Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus implementation strategy and WFP's strategic plans. The program's interventions are designed to be context-specific, leveraging WFP's vast experience and operational presence in the region to deliver sustainable solutions that help address the causes of food insecurity and build long-term resilience. 

Central to the program's strategy is the emphasis on enhancing the climate resilience of food systems, promoting inclusive climate risk financing instruments such as climate risk insurance and anticipatory actions to protect vulnerable people and investments, and fostering income generation and empowerment opportunities, particularly for marginalized groups including women and youth. By integrating humanitarian assistance with developmental investments, the program aims to break the cycle of crisis and response, enabling communities to build a more prosperous and resilient future. 

The Programme Coordinator will oversee all aspects of the KOICA-funded programme, ensuring dedicated support and coordination across the three Country Offices and the Regional Bureau including providing a unique bridge between programme and partnerships in a well-organized and sustainable manner, as well as to liaise with the Government Partnerships Team of WFP Seoul office.

This project provides a timely opportunity for WFP to push for integrated programming. Building on this, this position will be part of Food Systems and Integration team which will serve as a focal point for food systems related initiatives and activities while supporting the Bureau and the COs in mainstreaming food systems lens in their narratives and programming and ensuring coherency across the organization. The team will also work closely with thematic leads in the unit to promote integrated resilience programming.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The programme policy officer will act as the main regional focal point on overall programme coordination and support for KOICA-WFP Partnership Programme on Building Climate Resilience for Food Security in the Fragile Setting of the Horn of Africa in terms of regular engagement, technical support to programme implementation with close engagement together with the WFP Seoul Office. She will also be part of the Food Systems and Integration team to support mainstreaming food systems lens whilst promoting integrated resilience programming in the Bureau and the COs.

Project Management

Manage the development and implementation of programme plans and activities, providing technical oversight and guidance to the three Country Office (Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan) programme focal points and colleagues.   Plan, monitor, and prioritise KOICA resources to maximise cost-effectiveness, providing timely reports to Seoul office. Effectively communicate project progress and results to the donor and the other stakeholders to improve transparency and accountability. Manage the preparation and dissemination of accurate and timely reports, publications, and a variety of information products for internal or external use that enable informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders. Ensure the quality and appropriateness of all procedures and outputs of the programme. Ensure the dissemination of learning and knowledge sharing from the programme. Coordinate engagement in strategic communications and knowledge management with a focus on sharing project experiences, especially across the three implementing COs. Improve visibility of KOICA-WFP activities in the region by proactively ensuring consistent and accurate programme information in all internal and external communications. Take responsibility for ensuring gender perspectives are incorporated in all areas of work, to ensure equal participation of women and men along with a gender transformative approach where possible. Prepare and participate in meetings, conferences and other events of relevance when required, including taking the lead in organizing annual learning events in the region; During the programme implementation, work closely with all stakeholders on the development of a subsequent follow up and/or related programme, depending on availability of funding from KOICA. Work with the WFP Seoul Office KOICA-funded Government Partnerships Consultant to draft and edit documents to improve readability as well as to ensure consistent language usage and proofread to detect and correct errors in spelling, grammar, syntax and layout.  Translate relevant documents into Korean to English or vice versa as necessary. Perform other tasks as required.

Partnership Management

Coordinate and plan monitoring and field trips to the implementation sites and activities with WFP Country Office Staff, WFP RBN, WFP Seoul office to ensure programme quality and coordination. Work with the WFP Seoul Office KOICA-funded Government Partnerships Consultant to manage donor relations including regular and ad-hoc communication, reporting and consultation on project activities and address inquiries regarding project activities.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

Facilitate knowledge exchange amongst country offices, RBN and HQ as well as tracking of activity progress and budget expenditure, and consolidating information across project countries. Identify risks and deviations, seek solutions and ways of improvement in project delivery and coordination.

Food Systems and Integration

Serve as RBN's focal points for food systems related issues and key initiatives such as the Global Network Against Food Crises and the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. Stay abreast of latest food systems related policies, publications, and events and keep Management informed. Keep track of financing for food systems initiatives for the region. Support COs in mainstreaming food systems in their Country Strategic Plans and narratives while ensuring consistency across the organization. Support capacity strengthening of staff in the Bureau and COs through facilitating trainings and webinars. Produce and update key documents including the RBN food systems approach paper 2021. Promote integrated resilience programming in RBN and in COs through organizing regular brainstorming sessions and facilitating knowledge exchange with other regions with good practices.

Results/Expected Outputs:

The programme policy officer will be expected to show results in the form of stewarding the management of donor contributions with due respect to conditionalities, contextual and political risks; coordinating any specific reporting requirements with donors, WFP Seoul office and WFP HQ, RBN and COs; ensuring timely submission of proposals/reports; informing partners on fund usage and reporting on project progress; building and sustaining effective close working partnerships with relevant government counterparts, national stakeholders, and WFP stakeholders through active networking, advocacy and effective communication to build capacity; and exchanging knowledge/expertise and to reinforce cooperation to achieve sustainable and broad results on programme/projects. The programme policy officer will also take the lead during the implementation of the programme to coordinate the development of a potential follow up programme, built on lessons learnt, existing gaps and emerging needs.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced University degree in Development studies, Development Economics, Public Administration, Public Policy Political Science, International Relations, International Cooperation, or other relevant fields, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses

Experience:

Has gained experience in Republic of Korea (ROK) ODA project management or experience in national or international ODA-related policies.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Excellent work planning and project management skills ideally demonstrated in a humanitarian or development context.
• Experience working with UN agencies, government entities, or civil society in the fields of agriculture, livestock, resilience building or natural resource management.
• Good communication skills, and excellent ability to coordinate across multiple units and organizations. Excellent ability to engage with various stakeholders with maturity and tact, proven diplomacy and cultural sensitivity.
• Attention to detail; ability to plan and organize work, with a high degree of autonomy.
• Partnering and teamwork: inclusive and collaborative, builds and shares new perspectives, gives timely and constructive feedback.
• Action management: delivers results, delegates appropriately, adapts readily to change.
• Ability to produce high-quality formal reports with strong English and Korean writing skills; effective command of cross-cutting and thematic issues supported by WFP; knowledge of ROK's ODA and foreign policies and government institutions;
• Ability to work in a team setting that has direct contact with multinational counterparts.
• Good computer skills including MS Excel, PowerPoint, Word; Ability to work in a team setting that has direct contact with multinational counterparts.
• Ability to plan and organize work efficiently.

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English language and in Korean

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