PPO Emergency Preparedness & Response, Refugees and Coordination NOB - Jordan

TYPE OF CONTRACT/LEVEL: Fixed term / NOB

UNIT/DIVISION: Programme

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Amman, Jordan

DURATION: 12 Months (renewable)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE APPOINTMENT:

Assisting over 100 million people in around 83 countries each year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with local communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. To be effective in this mandate WFP must ensure that it reaches the right people and that it manages its relationship with those individuals and their communities in a responsible, accountable, and effective manner.

In 2012 WFP launched its largest humanitarian response operation to address the food needs of Syrian refugees in Jordan. Since then, WFP has been providing food assistance to vulnerable groups on monthly basis to secure a stable access to food and stabilize their food security.

Within the framework of its Country Strategic Plan 2023-2027, WFP continues to provide food assistance to the most vulnerable refugees, however at reduced levels in terms of number of beneficiaries and transfer value. Considering the funding constraints and the political shifts in Syrian in December 2024, WFP is currently providing food assistance to approximately 85,000 refugees in camps with a monthly transfer value of JOD 15 ($21) per person.

While WFP continues to provide unconditional food assistance to refugees in camps, it works on resilience-strengthening programmes to foster self-reliance of refugees. WFP’s primary focus in this area is to equip refugees with transferable vocational skills which can increase their opportunity for waged or self-employment, whether they return back to Syria or remain in Jordan.

Crises globally are increasingly becoming protracted, more complex and overlapping. The Syrian refugee’s situation in Jordan is an evident case of complex and protracted spillovers of a man-made crisis which has demonstrated the need for a multi-faceted response model to address the compounded impact of such crises throughout their different phases. WFP is adopting an integrated pathway to support transitioning between addressing humanitarian needs, reducing humanitarian needs, enhancing resilience, while ensuring coordination and supporting national systems for emergency preparedness and response. Enabled national systems and improved coordination will reduce dependency on external assistance and improve humanitarian response during emergencies.

WFP is seeking to recruit a National Programme Policy Officer (PPO) to lead the emergency preparedness and response portfolio in the Country Office. The candidate will lead the development and roll out of WFP’s transformative emergency preparedness and response model to support the overall humanitarian response landscape in Jordan with a specific focus on food assistance and food security support. The PPO will also oversee the ongoing humanitarian food assistance operation, the refugee resilience-strengthening program and lead on WFP’s response during emergencies. The PPO will work under the guidance and supervision of the Deputy Head of Programme at Country Office level and will perform the following responsibilities:

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Multi-faceted emergency preparedness and response:

1. Lead the development and oversee implementation of an integrated and transformative programmatic response model to meet immediate food and nutrition needs of refugees and other vulnerable people, enhance national and local response capacities, and lay the groundwork for early recovery, resilience and transition to interventions led by the government and development actors.

2. Identify, establish and maintain relationships with government and non-government actors with potential roles in emergency preparedness, emergency response, early recovery and transition to self-reliance.

3. Develop and rollout a capacity strengthening package to bolster local and national emergency response capacity in terms of food assistance and food security stabilization.

4. Co-lead on WFP’s support to national actors to establish the regional hub for humanitarian response and food security, building on WFP global expertise and best practices in emergency preparedness and response.

5. In coordination with relevant stakeholders, develop effective and implementable transformative pathways for Syrian refugees in Jordan building on lessons learned and WFP’s existing interventions, with due consideration to local and regional dynamics.

6. Develop crisis response scenarios and CONOPS as needed and act as WFP Jordan corporate emergency preparedness focal point.

7. Work closely with WFP Supply Chain team on all aspects related to emergency preparedness and response and ensure projects are well-coordinated across the Country Office.

8. Work closely with other functional units (including supply chain, identity management, cash-based services and others) to develop opportunities for on-demand services to be offered by the Country Office to other agencies or WFP operations.

9. Develop and maintain the Country Office readiness matrix and minimum preparedness actions to ensure swift response during emergencies.

Coordination, operational and strategic engagement:

1. Oversee and provide strategic direction to the implementation of emergency and transition response interventions, including general food assistance and self-reliance activities, in accordance with WFP’s corporate requirements and in coordination with other relevant units.

2. Ensure close coordination with other WFP activities to identify, implement and strengthen linkages between WFP interventions, in particular social protection and climate resilience.

3. Chair/co-chair the Food Security and Basic Needs working group, functioning under the Inter-Sectoral Working Group for Syria crisis response.

4. Coordinate closely with UNHCR and other relevant UN and Government partners at the strategic level in relation to the humanitarian response under the Syria crisis and represent WFP in relevant strategic discussions.

5. Lead on donor reporting for all emergency and transition response interventions, as well as ensure timely inputs to interagency reporting mechanisms.

6. Work closely with relevant technical units to ensure effective assistance delivery mechanisms, including but not limited to cash and in-kind, and appropriate targeting approaches.

7. Monitor local and regional developments, assess their potential impact on WFP’s operations/response and advise WFP management on possible scenarios and response.

8. Engage in strategic discussions on Syrian refugee returns and adapt WFP’s response accordingly.

9. Identify new funding opportunities for all aspects of the emergency preparedness, response and transition portfolio and develop funding proposals.

Team management:

a. Lead, motivate and develop a substantive team to ensure high performance with quality outputs.

b. Support team members through coaching/mentoring and guidance to support performance and ensure appropriate development.

c. Conduct targeted trainings for staff related to emergency preparedness as required.

Perform other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Advanced University degree in Disaster Risk Management, Development, Development Economics, International Relations, Performance Management, or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of relevant work experience.

Experience: At least 7 years of post-graduate experience including 3 years of professional experience related to emergency preparedness and response, humanitarian/development programme management and capacity building.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong understanding of emergency preparedness and response

• Strong ability to think strategically.

• Experience in analysis of complex problems, synthesizing different options into decision-ready documents.

• Ability to advance project implementation under short timelines, under pressure, and managing multiple priorities simultaneously with minimum supervision.

• Demonstrated experience in liaising, collaborating, and coordinating with

• external and internal stakeholders.

• Initiative and proactiveness, creativity, “can-do” attitude, and flexibility with

• excellent interpersonal skills and team spirit.

• Experience in change management, including initiating and managing change management activities preferred

• Previous UN/NGO experience

Languages: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English & Arabic.