Programme Policy Officer NOA (Gender)

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

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.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, working worldwide on saving lives, changing lives. Within WFP, gender equity is identified as one of the priority, cross cutting issues to be integrated in all stages of development and humanitarian action in the interest of helping to ensure quality and accountability of humanitarian and development assistance, and for the achievement of SDG2 amongst other SDGs. At the country level, the WFP Country Office (CO) team is responsible for gender-sensitive programming and the promotion of gender equality through all its programmatic initiatives.

The objective of this position is to strengthen gender aspects of the implementation of WFP’s Sri Lanka Country Strategic Plan in order to ensure effective and resource efficient gender-responsive programming, with the ultimate goal of contributing to better development results, especially for women, men, girls and boys in the country.

As the CO Policy, Programme Gender Officer, advise, support and catalyse the implementation of the WFP Gender Policy and country gender workplan to mainstream gender into WFP strategic outcomes and activities as per the WFP Sri Lanka Country Strategic Plan (2018-2022), taking a clear leadership role in this regard and representing WFP in relevant fora.

The Gender Officer will work under the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director, in close coordination and with support to the Country Office Activity Managers, the Gender Results Network, and WFP’s Asia Regional Bureau Gender Officer.

• Manage, coordinate, implement and supervise the implementation of Country Office key projects related to women’s empowerment or gender equality
• Support the planning and coordination of the CO Gender Results Network (GRN) team, coordinating with the RBB gender focal point for support
• Manage the effective application and reporting on the Gender Marker (GM) as planned for all activities of the CSP
• Ensure robust mainstreaming of gender elements into WFP projects to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality and ensure that the projects are gender-transformative
• Provide and/or facilitate training/ orientation on gender awareness, gender analysis, GBV, PSEA and other related gender issues
• Lead context/gender analyses that identify strategic and concrete responses to fight gender inequalities within WFP activities
• Provide advice on the integration of gender in the formulation of country-level project projects/programmes
• Mainstream gender into needs assessment frameworks including adaptation of tools, collection, analysis and reporting processes to ensure that different beneficiary needs are identified and met, and equal opportunities are given

• Strengthen monitoring of gender mainstreaming as part of WFP’s Country Strategic Plan, activity design and implementation tools, ensuring measurable progress in gender mainstreaming results by using inter alia the WFP Strategic Results Framework and other gender guidance
• Advise and assist in the development of gender-sensitive training materials, adapt existing training resources to the regional/local
• Represent WFP in interagency working groups and facilitate WFP’s engagement and coordination of gender networks including inter-agency networks at the national and regional levels
• Liaise with gender advisers, gender focal points, Gender Based Violence managers and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse focal points in WFP Country Offices and other agencies and organisations (including governments, INGOs, local NGOs and women’s groups).
• Coordinate the Gender Marker Coding at the regional and country levels and manage the effective application and reporting on the Gender Marker (GM) as planned for all activities of the WFP Country Office CSP 2018-2022
• Strengthen strategic partnerships on gender and support the mobilization of resources (donor relations, funding proposals) required to effectively implement the CSP in line with the WFP global gender policy
• Advise and support Communication team to ensure visibility of work carried out by CO in relation to women’s empowerment and gender equality and HR related matters to ensure gender balance within the workplace

Education:
Advanced university degree in one or more of the following disciplines: Health, Nutrition, Agriculture, Social Sciences, Development Studies or relevant field. (Specialization in Gender or a related discipline is desirable) AND/OR Bachelors degree with additional years of related work experience

Language:

Excellent oral and written communication skills in the English language.

Fluency in local language/s.  

Three or more years of progressively responsible Job related professional work experience
eg: As a technical expert/advisor in gender equality in development programs and projects (experience in nutrition and health related issues at community level is desirable)

• Demonstrated skills in training management and experience in capacity building relating to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion.
• In-depth knowledge in gender and social inclusion, and demonstrated experience and proficiency in managing programmes that mainstream gender
• Proficiency in Windows, MS Office (Word, Excel, Power point, Outlook)
• Competencies: Cognitive Capacity, Teamwork, Action Management, Innovation, Partnering, Client Orientation
• Solid analytical, writing skills, and communication skills (including developing advocacy messages)
• Sound knowledge and skills in training and facilitation
• Team spirit and excellent interpersonal relations

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
•  Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.

21 November 2019

Qualified Female applicants are especially encouraged to apply.

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

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.