Programme Policy Officer (Advocacy and Knowledge Management), Service Contract, L-8, New Delhi

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

WFP encourages female candidates and people with disabilities to apply

VACANCY DETAILS

VACANCY DETAILS
Job Title: Programme Policy Officer - Advocacy and Knowledge Management
Grade: NOA
Type of contract: Service Contract
Duration: One Year (renewable)
Duty Station: New Delhi
Vacancy Number: 171482
Date of Publication:17 August 2022
Deadline of Application: 31 August 2022
Reporting: Direct supervision of the Programme Policy Officer (Project Coordinator), and the overall guidance of the Deputy Country Director

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

•    This vacancy is open to Indian Nationals only. 
•    This vacancy is open for internal and external candidates. As per the WFP’s Recruitment & Selection Policy, the definition of “internal” is only applicable to WFP staff members holding a permanent, continuing or FT appointment.
•    Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
•    A written test will be used for screening candidates.
•    Only recommended candidates will be retained on roster for a period of two years and may be considered for similar positions from roster. 
•    The salary for this position is INR 1,469,279 per annum, plus medical benefits as per WFP's plan. All tax liability for payments from this contract are to be borne by the subscriber. 

JOB PURPOSE

WFP India CO is seeking a Programme Policy Officer – Advocacy and Knowledge Management. The incumbent to support all project efforts related to advocacy, knowledge management such as developing/documenting, reviewing and reporting, programme tracking, and supporting the evidence and learning agenda to enhance advocacy in policy coherence/shift; sustainable financing; and support visibility and communications activities for the initiative. 
The incumbent will operate under the direct supervision of the Programme Policy Officer (Project Coordinator), and the overall guidance of the Deputy Country Director. The incumbent who is expected to work closely with the country office teams working on millets, nutrition and communications as well as the HQ RF partnership project team for carrying out the following tasks and responsibilities:

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1.    Produce regular overview of outputs and activities of the WFP – Rockefeller partnerships for programme tracking, facilitate information sharing between the country office and headquarters specifically:
a.    assist accurate and timely reporting on programmes and activities to meet specific reporting requirements of Rockefeller Foundation.
b.    Contribute to maintaining and enhancing data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained.
c.    Participate in field-based project activities, as required.
2.    Contribute to the development and coordination of gender-integrated advocacy and knowledge-based products, such as lessons learned and good practices from WFP supported projects, particularly the RF partnership project.  
a.    Support in dissemination to internal and external partners to inform programme design and implementation, policy coherence.  
b.    To promote sharing and learning between India CO and the other countries and partners in consultation with the Programme Policy Officer (Project Coordinator), Programme Unit heads and the Deputy Country Director and HQ knowledge management teams. 
3.    Develop advocacy pieces and review the various study reports to ensure they are well aligned for the use by a range of stakeholders.
4.    Draft inputs for briefings, talking points or presentations to support partner engagement and inform decision-making and planning for the project work.
5.    Prepare content for use on traditional and social media platforms and networks to enhance coverage and support of WFP’s activities, ensuring gender-integration and consistency with corporate messages in close coordination with the Communication Officer.
6.    Provide necessary support to the Government partners in collaboration with the Programme team on actions related to the Year of the Millet in 2023.  In addition, develop advocacy pieces around mainstreaming millets across various components of Indian food systems. 
7.    Provide support to the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Officer as needed.  
8.    Perform other duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in English, Creative Writing, Communication, Public Administration, Development Studies, International Development, International Relations, Sociology, or other fields relevant to advocacy and knowledge management or First University Degree with additional two years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience: At least one year of professional experience relevant to advocacy and knowledge management, preferably in relation to public systems, nutrition and/or agriculture.
Experience working with the UN is an asset. 

Knowledge & Skills: 
Understanding of WFP’s mandate 
• Understanding of advocacy and policy coherence 
• Understanding of knowledge management and public policy 
• Problem solving and good analytical skills
• Collates accurate and timely information presented in required format
• Demonstrates specialised knowledge of technical communications best practice.
• Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality written outputs.
• Ability to work as part of a team, participating in open dialogues and valuing diverse opinions of others, regardless of gender, culture, background, and experience
• Proficient computer literacy.

Languages: Written and spoken fluency in English; fluency in Hindi is also preferred
 

HOW TO APPLY

•    Interested candidates are invited to apply via (https://www.wfp.org/careers/job-openings). Applications received on WFP Career page will be considered. 
•    WFP wants to ensure the recruitment process is fully accessible to people with disabilities. For accessibility requirements you may have, please write to us at email: India.hr@wfp.org with Subject line “Accessibility request for people with disabilities -  VA No……. ”. 
 

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Background
WFP is partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) for a 2.5 years programme, titled ‘Catalyzing good food through school feeding and food-based programs’. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the nutritional quality of diets, food-based safety net sustainability, equity of national food systems particularly from the gender perspective, and positive economic impact for local communities. This will be achieved by introducing nutritious foods leveraging institutional food procurement mechanisms, understanding the food landscape, strengthening supply chains, and influencing healthy eating behavior through food-based programmes. Gender is a critical cross-cutting focus, integrated in all aspects of the programme. 
The project will be implemented at global and national level (4 countries) with a combination of direct implementation to scale interventions and parallel work towards knowledge and evidence creation, testing of metrics and advocacy for changes in healthier diets. 
In India, the objective of this proposal is to improve the nutritional quality of foods in government food-based safety nets (Public Distribution System, school meals and ICDS) while also increasing awareness of and demand for more nutritious options by the beneficiaries.  
WFP India has been working for a decade in strengthening the Government’s food-based safety nets, initially working on introducing reforms to the public distribution system, including digitalization, and then expanding its work to improving the quality of food in the safety nets.  This was done by initiating a series of pilots to fortify rice in the school meals programmes, evaluating those pilots for effectiveness in addressing anaemia as well as scalability, and then presenting the results to state and national government partners.  
Building on these experiences and in line with the current work with the Government, the project will focus on three main areas: 
1.    Operations research and evaluation, including feasibility and supply chain optimization
2.    Improving nutrition content of foods in the government food-based safety nets and creating demand through gender-integrated social and behaviour change communication
3.    Advocacy for change in policy and practice of national and state governments
 

The main components of the project which are presented below: 
1)    Feasibility studies on diversifying the PDS and PM-POSHAN food baskets: 
•    An appraisal of existing State initiatives to diversify PDS food baskets, identifying good practices that could be applied in other states.  Proposed options for diversifying the food basket (fortified oil, fresh foods, pulses, etc.) including cost and expected financial return on investment with a detailed assessment of possible challenges and solutions, savings in terms of health expenditure etc. and a feasibility analysis for implementation at state level, including impact on production, minimum support prices, government procurement and supply chain optimization.  
•    For diversifying the school meals, WFP will conduct a mapping exercise, looking at the quality and diversity of meals provided to school children throughout the country to document alignment to government norms and areas for improvement including best practices in setting up kitchen gardens in schools. This analysis will drive advocacy efforts to bring in nutritional improvements in the meals.
2)    Introduce a pilot of school gardens in Jaipur district of Rajasthan, which is a hot, dry part of the country and where fresh foods are often difficult to obtain. 
3)    Undertake a detailed national level study on the feasibility of introducing locally produced fortified wheat flour into the PDS, considering its impact on the Government’s supply chain: shelf life of fortified wheat flour, incremental cost on account of fortification, documenting learnings from States which have conducted their own pilots.  
4)    Undertake a formative assessment in partnership with the Odisha Millet Mission to understand issues behind the reticence on consumption. The initial study will be conducted in Odisha and can be expanded to other states with surpluses of millets, including Rajasthan.  
5)    Mainstreaming fortified rice in the food-based safety nets
•    Piloting rice fortification in Bihar
•    Developing and implementing an SBCC campaign on the benefits of fortified rice to be implemented in two states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh)
•    Advocacy to the government for mandatory fortification and to establish fortification standards that are equivalent to international standards.  
 

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.

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All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.