Nutrition Sensitive Social Protection and Food Systems (SSTA) - International CST II - WAE

Job Title: Nutrition Sensitive Social Protection and Food Systems - Senior Strategic Technical Advisor (SSTA)

Type of Contract: Consultant, CST II - WAE

Unit / Division: Social Protection

Duty Station: Remote with travel to Iraq on mission

Duration: 11 months (maximum of 20 working days per month)

ORGANISATIONAL AND COUNTRY CONTEXT:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organisation globally, dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and supporting sustainable futures for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impacts of climate change. WFP assists vulnerable populations by providing essential food, skills development, and enhanced social protection, thus bolstering the Government of Iraq's efforts to enhance food security and resilience. For further details, visit our webpages at wfp.org/countries/Iraq and ar.wfp.org/countries/Iraq.

BACKGROUND:

Social protection is an increasingly popular strategy for governments to reduce extreme poverty, hunger and inequality. As a global leader in fighting hunger and malnutrition worldwide, often in very difficult contexts, the World Food Programme (WFP) is increasingly called upon by governments to support national social protection systems. In 2019, WFP partnered with governments in 75 countries to support their national social protection systems, making support to social protection an integral part of WFP’s activities in most of the countries where it operates.

As the COVID-19 pandemic puts at risk not only the lives and livelihoods of many people across the globe, it also threatens to undermine decades of progress towards the SDGs. In response to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, many governments are currently adapting and/or putting in place new social protection schemes.

Through its triple role as a technical advisor, service provider and complementary actor, WFP is supporting these efforts, as it works with governments to extend the coverage, comprehensiveness, adequacy and quality of national social protection systems, with the aim to ensure that all people have access, throughout their lives, to strong national social protection systems that safeguard and foster their ability to meet their food security, nutrition and associated essential needs, and to reduce and address the risks and shocks they face.

The Iraq Country Office is at the forefront of transforming social protection delivery through cash-based transfers (CBTs) and retail integration. In partnership with the Government of Iraq, WFP is strengthening national systems for social protection and disaster risk management to promote resilience, food security, and inclusive development.

Committed to extensive reforms, the governments of federal and the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI) continue to enhance this system's capabilities. In partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), under the European Union-supported UN Joint Programme "Leveraging Effective Response and Accelerating Reform for Social Protection in Iraq," WFP is delivering technical and operational support to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Iraq’s social protection mechanisms

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Technical Advisor will support WFP Iraq’s work on nutrition-sensitive social protection and food systems including evidence generation, food security monitoring, and school meals. The Technical Advisor will work closely with the School Meals, Nutrition and Food Systems national workstream lead as well as other team members supporting this portfolio. Under the EU Joint Programme on social protection, WFP has committed to supporting the mainstreaming of food security and nutrition across the national social protection system by increasing awareness and national capacity on nutrition-sensitive social protection and identifying low-cost high-impact opportunities to embed nutrition into existing social protection systems, programs and activities. The Technical Advisor will play a critical role in achieving this work by providing technical guidance and leadership, operationalizing WFP’s nutrition-sensitive social protection approach, and identifying country-driven opportunities to strengthen nutrition-sensitive social protection.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The incumbent will be responsible for carrying out the following tasks and responsibilities:

Lead the design and implementation of WFP’s nutrition-sensitive social protection framework in Iraq:

• Lead the development of the conceptual direction, including advocacy, capacity building and knowledge management materials that convey WFP’s nutrition-sensitive social protection framework in Iraq.

• In coordination with the relevant country-based team members, design an advocacy and government capacity building plan for nutrition-sensitive social protection that engages key government counterparts and relevant sectoral partners to raise awareness of nutrition-sensitive social protection, what is involves, and opportunities to strengthen it in Iraq. This includes organizing round tables, consultations, workshops, among others.

• Conduct a mapping of Iraq’s social protection system and develop a proposal identifying ‘low hanging fruit’ opportunities to integrate nutrition-sensitive social protection, prioritizing low-cost, high-impact interventions.

• Support the implementation of the proposal by providing technical guidance, identifying opportunities for partnerships and linkages (particularly within the Joint Programme), and providing continuous monitoring and oversight to ensure high quality of activities/deliverables.
Evidence generation and policy options:

Contribute and provide technical inputs to the Fill the Nutrient Gap (FNG) and Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD) studies and modeling.

• Develop knowledge materials including policy briefs and presentations to support government decision-making

• Support capacity strengthening to the Government of Iraq (Federal and KRI) to strengthen national capacity to conduct food security and nutrition studies and assessments, including supporting the inclusion of key GoI counterparts in the finalization of the FNG and CoAHD. Includes co-facilitating FNG/CoAHD workshops and other required engagements/events.

• Lead the design and integration of food security and nutrition questions and indicators into FSMS and other relevant survey tools and data collection exercises conducted by CSGIS and KRSO with WFP support.

Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement

• Identify opportunities for partnerships, linkages and collaboration with relevant partners including government (CSGIS, KRSO, MoP, MoLSA, MoH, MoA, MoT), key steering committees, TAGs, TWGs; and partner stakeholders (UNICEF, ILO, WHO, FAO, WB).

Reporting

• Contribute to EU JP reporting as required and SP Unit weekly updates

Technical Inputs

• Provide specialized food systems and nutrition expertise, including nutrition-sensitive social protection design logic applied across specific EU JP SP Reform activities as direct outputs and cross-integration with other key activities, with detailed inputs framed according to the SP instrument (PDS, SSN, school meals)

• Provide technical design and operational advice on integration of food systems and nutrition in the social protection system

Internal team capacity building:

• Work with national staff to build food systems and nutrition knowledge towards strengthening the capacity of the Social Protection team.

• Develope a structured learning and capacity building plan, share eLearning resources, and engage in routine meetings

• Contribute to share findings and lessons learned to the Social Protection team and broader Iraq Country office such as presenting FSN findings or conducting a BBL.

- OTHER POST REQUIREMENTS (details to be determined by Post Managers)

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Advanced degree (master’s or higher) in International Development, Public and/or Social Policy, Nutrition, Economics, Public Administration, or a related field.

Experience: Minimum 10 years of experience in social protection, nutrition, or public sector systems in low- or middle-income countries, with demonstrated contributions to programme design, policy development, or research.

Technical Expertise:

• Comprehensive knowledge of food security and nutrition-sensitive social protection policy and programming, aligned with government mandates and institutional reform processes.

• Expertise in multisectoral social protection, including linkages with education, health, and food systems to support coherent, nutrition-sensitive policy design and systems change.

• In-depth understanding of intersecting inequalities, multidimensional poverty, vulnerability metrics, and transformative social protection approaches, applied within government-led assessment and planning processes.

• Demonstrated experience working at the intersection of inequality, food insecurity, and malnutrition to generate practical guidance and strengthen government awareness and ownership in ways that drive coordinated processes and system-level improvements.

• Demonstrated proficiency in research, policy analysis, and knowledge management, with a track record of producing high-quality, decision-ready analytical products for senior government counterparts and development partners.

• Expertise in institutional capacity strengthening and training, focused on enhancing ministry leadership, technical capability, and cross-ministerial coordination.

• Proven ability to build and sustain productive partnerships across government, UN agencies, civil society, and development partners, supporting government-led coordination mechanisms and technical working groups.

Languages:

• Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required.

• Knowledge of Arabic is an advantage.