DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP? 

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit positioned food systems at the heart of achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, breaking down sectoral silos and prompting governments to adopt a whole-of-society approach with food systems transformation as one of the six key transition areas to deliver on the 2030 Agenda. As part of its five-year Country Strategy Plan (2024-2028), WFP Nepal supports the government in developing a food systems transformation strategic plan including providing technical assistance in localization of the plan through piloting it in selected local governments. WFP’s work also includes promoting nutrition-sensitive social protection through supporting the government in scaling the home-grown approach under the national Mid-Day Meals programme and supporting the production and distribution of fortified rice in chronically food-insecure districts through the nascent Rice Fortification programme.
The Government of Nepal provides school meals to nearly 3 million children nationwide making it the largest social safety net in the country. The government allocates an annual budget of US$75 million in 2025/2026, which represents over 5 percent of the total education sector budget. In 2021 the Government joined the global School Meals Coalition, focused on improving the quality, adequacy, coverage, and sustainability of an integrated school meals programme. To support advance these objectives, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology with technical assistance from WFP developed a Home-Grown School Feeding Framework in December 2024 that aims to support local agriculture and markets while improving the health, nutrition, and education of children. WFP is supporting the development of operational guidelines for the framework and is supporting government gradually scale up in selected local governments with aims to fully roll it out throughout the country by 2032. Similarly, as the Government of Nepal has emphasized in its School Education Sector Plan, the implementation of programmes and campaigns on green schools, climate change, sustainable development, and other initiatives aimed at mitigating natural disaster risks, WFP Nepal has expanded its work in clean cooking and renewable energy, supporting the use of cleaner technologies and preserving trees as an effective strategy for both climate adaptation and mitigation.

Despite the federal government’s increased investment, local governments continue to face capacity gaps that hinder the planning, financing, monitoring, and implementation of high-quality, nutrition-sensitive social protection programmes, including the Mid-day Meals programme. From a food systems perspective, gaps remain, and WFP’s work aims to leverage programmatic integration to ensure a stronger food systems approach in its support to national programmes.

WFP’s technical assistance, among other, includes provision of an integrated package of services such as support to local governments in operationalizing home-grown school feeding; strengthening the public distribution system of government to ensure regular supply of fortified rice (including for the national Mid-day Meals programme); and, sensitizing smallholder farmers on climate-resilient and nutrition-sensitive agriculture, as well as promoting production of local food commodities to meet schools’ demands.

In 2026 and beyond, on food systems and school meals, WFP’s technical assistance aims to address the gaps in up to 250 local governments jointly identified with the government with the goal of enhancing local government capacity to deliver nutritious school meals sourced from local smallholder farmers and linking with the network of Fair Price Shops that sell fortified rice. Specific priorities include operationalizing the new Home-Grown School Feeding Framework, supporting the development of procurement and food safety guidelines, strengthening multisectoral coordination, and training school-based staff, the school community and farmers’ cooperatives in food handling and management through nutrition education.

This technical assistance will be a crucial cornerstone to ensure that the local governments continue to build on systemic improvements in policy, financial, institutional capacity, and transforming local food systems.
In 2026, WFP Nepal has resources from several sources, including the Government of Finland, all of which are essential to rolling out the Home-Grown School Feeding Framework and operationalizing it at local levels.

GENERAL INFORMATION

We are currently seeking a Junior Professional Officer to fill the position of Programme Policy Officer (School Meals and Food Systems) with our programme unit based in Kathmandu, Nepal.

This post is open in the context of the Junior Professional Officer (JPO) Programme, sponsored by the Government of Finland, and is addressed exclusively to Finnish citizens.

Title of Post: JPO Programme Policy Officer (School Meals and Food Systems)
Grade: P2
Supervisor: Head of Programme
Unit: Programme
Division/Country Office: Nepal
Duty Station: Kathmandu, Nepal
Duration of assignment: Two years

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme and technical backstopping from the Head of Social Protection and the School Meals Manager, the JPO will have the following responsibilities:

Technical Support on School Meals and Food Systems (60%)

• Provide project management support to current WFP projects and activities in support of the national Mid-day Meals programme, Rice Fortification programme, and the Nuts and Fruits in Hilly Areas (NAFHA) project.

• Contribute to the design of food systems and nutrition-sensitive social protection projects, plans, and processes, ensuring coherence with WFP’s standards, policies, and guidance.

• Coordinate with WFP programme and engineering colleagues on integrated programming priority areas concerning school, meals, rice (and food) fortification, climate adaptation, and green energy in school.

• Support the development of indicators, monitoring tools, and evaluation frameworks for the Mid-day Meals programme and Rice Fortification programme, ensuring compliance with corporate minimum monitoring requirements and standard operating procedures.

• Strengthen the capacity of government stakeholders and WFP staff in establishing and implementing a home-grown school feeding approach in line with the Government’s new home-grown school feeding framework.

• Support the school meals teams in Kathmandu and in field locations in designing, reviewing, and producing training materials.

• Work closely with the Monitoring, Review, and Evaluation (MRE) team to track ongoing projects, facilitating collaboration, ensuring timeliness and efficiency, and identifying risks to programme delivery.

• Provide support for WFP’s strategic engagement and partnerships with local donor groups—particularly the Embassy of Finland—related to Finnish-funded (home-grown) school meals projects, including exploring new collaboration or programme opportunities.

Partnership and Resource Mobilization (20%)

• Strengthen partnerships and knowledge networks inside and outside WFP to support enhanced school meals implementation.

• Support identification, assessment, and negotiation with potential partners to promote a holistic, multisectoral approach to school meals programming.

• Collaborate with the external relations unit to explore, assess, and document partnership opportunities with Finland, as well as other public or private stakeholders.

• Prepare scoping notes, concept notes, funding proposals, and donor briefing documents as required.

• Coordinate with other UN agencies to ensure complementarity, joint programming, and coherent programmatic support.

Knowledge Management (20%)

• Establish digital/online documentation systems, one-stop repositories, and information-sharing platforms for school meals-related materials.

• Contribute to the development of project-specific communication and outreach materials.

• Compile, document, and disseminate case studies, lessons learned, and evidence to support scale-up of innovations and best practices.

Perform other tasks as needed to support day-to-day operations of the programme unit and management, as required.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

• Strategic documents, position papers and evidence-based analysis on food systems transformation, school meals and nutrition-sensitive social protection are produced.

• Innovative best practices narratives and approaches developed and integrated into new/ongoing projects.

• Donor/corporate reports and other technical reports/briefing notes produced.

• Communications and outreach materials produced.

• Programme/project concept/proposal developed.

• Programme/project implementation plan and result-framework formulated.

• Partnerships with wider stakeholders established.

• Technical documents for senior management and donors analysing technical and policy issues, strategies and programmes related to school meals produced.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Age limit: Be not older than 32 years as of the closing date of the application.

Education: Advanced university degree in Public Health, International Development, Education, or any other relevant field.

Experience for entry into the role:

• Minimum of two years relevant working experience in the development sector or relevant field, preferably focusing on food security, School Meals, Public Health, and Nutrition.

Qualifications:

• Candidates must hold a Master's degree

• Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)

• Behavioural competencies: leads by example with integrity, drives results and delivers on commitments, fosters inclusive and collaborative teamwork, applies strategic thinking, builds, and maintains sustainable partnerships.

Language:

• Fluency (level C) in the English language.

• Spoken and written knowledge of either Finnish or Swedish.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Exposure to the international arena either by direct work for an international institution/organization or by interacting with international stakeholders.

• Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language).

• WFP’s international professionals are required to serve in different locations around the world during their career (including in hardship duty stations); willingness to be mobile would maximise opportunities for long-term retention into the Organization.

SUPERVISION

A detailed work plan will be developed within the first month of the assignment and agreed with the supervisor. Regular mentoring, coaching and support will be provided by the first and second level supervisors. JPO will work with different teams and will be provided with guidance and support.

TRAINING COMPONENTS

Standard WFP trainings to be completed, and additionally, trainings on school meals and social protection to be done on WFP’s WeLearn platform. Finally, a training on food systems transformation, nutrition-sensitive social protection and home-grown school meals to occur through corporate resources, as well as through WFP Nepal programme unit.

LEARNING ELEMENTS

At the end of the two-year assignment, the JPO should have obtained:

• Very good knowledge in liaising with donors and other stakeholders with good negotiation skills and ability to communicate effectively.

• Good skills in project proposal writing, development of project implementation plan and result-frameworks.

• Familiarity on best practices and approaches in food systems transformation, nutrition sensitive social protection and school meals programme/Home-Grown School Feeding Approach in a developing country context.

• Good general understanding of WFP’s overall operations and activities in the region of assignment.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs or spontaneous applications by email.

• If you experience challenges while submitting your online application, please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org for technical support only.

• Please note that applications sent to this email address cannot be considered.

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.