Programme Policy Officer (Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus)

Details

Mission and objectives

The United Nations World Food Programme is the winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. WFP 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.

Context

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, and working in more than 80 countries. WFP is well known for its ability to deliver food assistance rapidly to people in need. In order to respond effectively in the challenging contexts in which WFP operates, staff require sound knowledge of the fundamentals of emergency and transition programming, as well as skills in specialized areas. WFP was the recipient of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize awarded for “…its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war". A middle-income country, the Philippines is the second fastest growing economy in Asia but has struggled to transpose these improvements into tangible human development gains. Poverty is at 19.8 percent in 2020 and the country ranks 4th among countries most affected by climate risks in a 20-year period. Now exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19, natural hazards and man-made conflicts contribute to food insecurity.

Task description

The World Food Programme’s engagement in the Philippines is constantly evolving. Initially commencing operations in the 1960s, WFP officially re-established its presence in 2006 to support the peace process in Mindanao, to provide life-saving food assistance in emergencies and to develop programmes that seek to improve nutrition and the overall quality of life of vulnerable people. Since 2018, WFP has been implementing a five-year Country Strategic Plan (CSP 2018-2023) to support the Government of the Philippines to address food insecurity, reduce malnutrition and build the resilience of vulnerable populations. In its strategic plan, WFP identified four outcomes and five main activities: • Strategic outcome 1: Crisis-affected people in the Philippines are able to meet their food and nutrition needs during and immediately after an emergency. • Strategic outcome 2: Women, boys and girls in provinces prioritized by the Govern-ment have adequate and healthy diets to reduce malnutrition by 2022 in line with gov-ernment targets. • Strategic outcome 3: Vulnerable communities in Mindanao have improved food secu-rity and nutrition by 2022 in line with government targets. • Strategic outcome 4: National and local government agencies have enhanced capa-bilities to reduce vulnerability to shocks by 2022. Under Strategic Outcome 3, and as part of the UN Community Stabilization Approach, WFP works closely with the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which is in a period of transition towards peace following decades of armed conflict. WFP works with the Government at the regional, provincial and local government levels, along with the local community, to promote stability towards sustainable peace and development. WFP and BARMM ministries also collaborate under the Convergence Development Model which aims to build strategic and operational synergies amongst ministries for the region’s rural de-velopment initiatives. To scale up the ongoing convergence activities with the BARMM gov-ernment, WFP has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Japan (Kennedy Round 2021) to support close to 10,000 food insecure farming and fishing households, including decommissioned combatants, indigenous peoples, and their families, in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao. Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme and in close coordination with Head of Cotabato Sub Office/Activity 3 Manager, the UN Volunteer will be provided with close mentoring and technical supervision. Performance planning and reviews, as well as learning and development discussions, will be a central part of the supervision. The UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1. Helping the Country Office (CO) to improve capacity and, overall staff aware-ness on Context Analysis and Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) as-pects: • Using cross-cutting skills, support the CO to mainstream Protection and engagement with affected populations into existing and new programmes. • Build and support partnerships to improve the engagement with affected populations to ensure inclusive targeting and protection outcomes that can reduce risks and barriers af-fected populations, especially women, face to access food and nutrition security. This will include strengthened engagement with affected populations applying WFP’s forth-coming community engagement strategy. • Ensure protection and accountability are centrally located in the next Philippines Country Strategic Plan portfolio to enable the operationalisation of the Nexus. • Help design high quality programme initiatives and related partnership proposals to se-cure transitional funding. • Assist in building capacities of CO staff to conduct context analysis, and assess protec-tion and conflict sensitivity risks. • Consolidate lessons learned and document CO experiences to contribute to knowledge management within WFP, with a particular focus on inclusive targeting, diversion and conflict related to natural resources. 2. Measuring WFP impact in reducing risks to affected populations. • Support the CO to further examine the impact of WFP activities in the Bangsamoro Au-tonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on social cohesion, peace and conflict within and between communities and issues which give rise to non-inclusivity. • Support CO to identify sources of evidence to understand and capture the CO’s contri-bution to the reduction of risks and inclusiveness. • In consultation with WFP Regional Bureau and Headquarters (HQ), design protection theories of change that create an environment conducive for peace for the Philippines CO and support its integration in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems. • Work with WFP HQ to determine how WFP can contribute to the reduction of risks to affected populations, inclusivity, and work on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). • Use, promote, test, review and contribute to corporate toolkits and documentation of good practice. 3. Conflict Sensitive Partnerships: • Support the CO to build and strengthen partnerships and relationships with affected pop-ulations, protection and peacebuilding organisations and other actors engaged in relevant thematic areas (conflict prevention, conflict sensitivity, social cohesion, conflict drivers, alternative livelihoods, etc.) to contribute to the exchange of information and lessons learned. • Coordinate with WFP Cotabato Sub Office to conduct a survey in cooperation with BARMM government counterparts to assess their understanding of Conflict Sensitivity, their existing capacities, and potential lessons learned/findings with regard to peace and social cohesion. • Support training to partners on how to do context analysis and integration of protection, accountability and Conflict Sensitivity as requirement in activity implementation. • Design plan for awareness and training sessions amongst partners including relevant government agencies. • Support in developing inclusive partnerships with cooperating partners. 4. Other: • Support inclusion of Conflict Sensitivity and peace/conflict in proposals developed by CO. • Draft analysis and products for external sharing and dissemination based on lessons learned, research and work done on Conflict Sensitivity and HDP. • Contribution the CO Gender Results Network and CO gender analysis. • Assist outreach and engagement with UN agencies and civil society on joint initiatives. • Participate in WFP’s Peace and Conflict Advisor Network (PCAN), liaise with focal points and Peace and Conflict Advisors in the Regional Bureau and HQ and take an ac-tive role in the corporate Community of Practice for Peace. • Support WFP to strengthen quality partnerships in support of WFP strategic objectives, including with the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines and the Japan International Co-operation Agency; by maintaining regular communications and by gathering, preparing and sharing relevant reports and information. Results/Expected Outputs • WFP Country Office is supported in improving capacity, and overall staff awareness, on Context Analysis and HDP aspects. • The measurement of WFP’s impact in reducing risks to affected populations in BARMM is enhanced. • Conflict-sensitive partnerships and relationships with affected populations, protection and peacebuilding organisations and other actors are enhanced. • The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counter-parts, including Implementing Partners (IPs); • Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment • A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development dur-ing the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed