International Consultant - Programme Policy Officer (Accountability to Affected Population) - Maputo

Grade                   :              Consultant

Reference            :              014/2019

Duty Station        :              Maputo, Mozambique

The screening of applications is done on an ongoing basis, so we recommend you to apply as soon as possible.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

For the first time in recorded history, two strong tropical cyclones made landfall in Mozambique in the same season. On 14 March 2019 Cyclone Idai hit the city of Beira and during the weekend of 16-17 March the weather system carried torrential rains in Sofala, Zambezia, Tete and Manica provinces. On 25 April 2019, Cyclone Kenneth, the strongest cyclone to ever hit the African continent, with wind gusts over 220 km/h, struck Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces. Combined, the two cyclones killed at least 648 people; injured nearly 1,700 people and led to the full or partial destruction of more than 277,000 homes. In addition to the cyclones, an ongoing insurgency movement in Northern Mozambique since 2017 has displaced an estimated 60,000 people.
The cyclones brought about significant displacement and protection concerns while exacerbating existing protection risks to already highly vulnerable populations, such as women, children, older persons, persons living with HIV/AIDS and people with disabilities, including albinism.  More than half of the people affected are children and protection concerns, including violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse of children, sexual and gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, loss of personal documentation, and issues related to land, and property rights have been reported. High levels of poverty compound the situation and the ongoing crises are expected to worsen poverty, inequality and access to services in Mozambique. 
Endorsed by the Humanitarian Cluster Team (HCT) and in coordination with the Protection Cluster, WFP established Linha Verde, an inter-agency complaints and feedback mechanism (CFM), as part of the humanitarian response’s accountability to affected populations (AAP) for Cyclones Idai and Kenneth as well as the armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province. Linha Verde is an inter-agency complaints and feedback mechanism (CFM) currently composed of three primary platforms: a 24/7 cross-network toll-free call center; a network of complaints boxes at food distributions; and community-based complaints mechanisms (CBCM). A two-way communication channel, the CFM is designed to promote informed decision making and improve the quality of programming.
WFP is seeking an AAP specialist to lead the operations of the inter-agency mechanism, which includes continuous liaison with government and humanitarian partner counterparts to ensure the effective referral and closure of the feedback loop, while supporting action to improve humanitarian interventions based on feedback from affected populations.

WFP Mozambique is seeking expressions of interest from professional humanitarian Social Protection consultants wishing to be considered for emergency response consultancies. Deployment will be to Maputo and Field locations within the Country whenever necessary.

For more on WFP and what we do, please go to http://www.wfp.org/videos/zero-hunger

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive):

1.    Management of a common Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM)

• Attend meetings of and work closely with the Protection Cluster, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection sub-clusters to ensure coordinated referral mechanisms for victim services; Liaise closely with focal points of other relevant clusters to ensure clarity of actions and up to date information is available for the CFM mechanism; 
• Support ongoing training of call centre CFM staff on their respective roles and responsibilities;
• Work closely with WFP CFM assistants to maintain oversight of case management of complaints or feedback coming from complaints boxes at food distribution sites, from IOM led DTMs, child friendly spaces, safe spaces for women or other community based complaints mechanisms;  
• Liaise with Linha Fala Crianca (Mozambique’s children’s hotline) on child protection issues raised regarding the humanitarian response;
• Work with WFP protection advisors to establish action plans for strengthening awareness of Linha Verde and centralised coordination of issues raised through different Community-based Complaints Mechanisms (CBCMs);
• Support the Protection Cluster at the provincial level to mainstreaming during planning, policy development and programming within the GBV, child protection and PSEA network, clusters and individual agencies;
• Advocate with PSEA Network focal points to ensure that their human resources personnel include update lists of GBV and PSEA contact lists and referral. Where required, support implementing partners to ensure Sexual, Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) procedures and capacity are in place;
• Ensure that Gender and Protection Officer in WFP and heads of Sub-offices are updated on a regular basis on activities and measures taken on CFM;
• Ensure that feedback is provided to any complainant or victim in a timely manner, ideally no later than two weeks;
• In the case of staff misconduct refer cases to relevant institutional or NGO focal points tasked with addressing such issues for immediate action and follow up to ensure that issues have been addressed and actions taken to inform the complainant;
• Take appropriate measures to ensure safety and confidentiality of allegations received through all entry points;
• Support analysis on continued relevance of the inter-agency mechanism and as relevant support the transition of the mechanism to  more sustainable setup. 
   

2.    Call centre management: 

• Ensure call centre staff are aware of the existing multiple entry points for reporting complaints based on their nature (e.g. gender-based violence, protection against sexual exploitation and abuse);
• Train call centre staff on their roles and responsibilities on complaint handling. Ensure that once a complaint/feedback is received, all materials pertaining to the complaint/feedback are handled strictly in line with the SOPs for that CFM;
• Oversee staff in receiving and assessing incoming complaints and feedback, maintain a database to store relevant information on incoming information, monitor and track the status of each case in the database to ensure that all necessary steps are taken;
• Immediately refer complainants or survivors (in cooperation with GBV Sub-Cluster/ Child Protection Sub-Cluster) to the victim/survivor assistance mechanisms so that they can receive medical, psychosocial, legal and/or material support. If a victim assistance mechanism is not yet in place, ensure that the Focal Points should facilitate access to such support outside the area of operation.
   

3.    Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

• Ensure data on reported incidents is stored in a secure database for general reporting and for further development of efforts to address CFM cases more effectively;
• Share anonymized data analysis on CFM trends with relevant humanitarian actors, e.g. the inter-cluster, HC; 
• Track all Complaints and feedback related activities for the network and ensure that information on CFM-related activities is shared with relevant persons in and outside of the CFM network.
• Collect lessons learnt and good practices and facilitate knowledge sharing among the WFP and cluster network;
• Liaise with WFP field and country offices and share regular updates on PSEA implementation in the response.
• Perform any other duties as may be assigned.
   

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:

• Work experience in a humanitarian setting with relevant professional experience in the field of CFM, protection, gender-based violence, staff misconduct and discipline, gender mainstreaming and/or humanitarian affairs;
• Proven knowledge of the subject area and experience working on CFM, particularly good practices in inter-agency initiatives;
• Experience working in other inter-agency coordination mechanisms or processes;
• Experience working in humanitarian emergencies;
• Background in AAP and/or complaint and feedback mechanisms is an advantage;
• Experience working in the region that is recruiting is an advantage.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Sound knowledge of programme/project cycle, resource management, humanitarian principles and tools, and transfer modalities;
• Ability to explain projects and operations to counterparts and to communicate with Government and partners clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing;
• Ability to translate understanding of programme principles and policies into relevant, effective, and context specific approaches;
• Good networking skills and capacity to build and maintain professional contacts;
• In-depth understanding of WFP program, objectives and strategic priorities;
• General knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures;
• Ability to establish priorities, plan, coordinate and organise own work plan;
• Understanding of political dynamics and policy decision making procedures; 
• Solid organizational skills including attention to detail and multitasking skills.

STANDARD MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Education: Master’s degree in Law, International Relations, Political Science, Development Studies and Planning, or a related field from an accredited academic institution with four years of relevant professional experience; or university degree in the above fields with six years of relevant professional experience.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish. Fluency (level C) in Portuguese, WFP’s working language, will be an asset.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

Qualified applicants will be placed in a pool and may be contacted as the needs arise for consultancy positions in Mozambique. Remuneration levels will be based on the specific terms of reference offered.  Please note that consultants would most likely be placed in the heart of the response which may involve difficult living and working conditions. Consultants are independent hires and cannot be simultaneously employed by WFP and receive income or honorarium from other organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or other. Consultants will be required to undertake a full medical clearance prior to being contracted and to undertake the UN related Security Clearances, training and WFP mandatory training on Standards of Conduct.  This pool will remain active for 6 months.

Interested individuals meeting the above requirements are requested to apply on the WFP Career Website.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:  29 September 2019

Ref.: VA No. 107367