Risk Financing and Insurance Operations

Programme Policy Consultant - Risk Financing and Insurance Operations
TYPE OF CONTRACT: CST I
UNIT/DIVISION: PRO-C | Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Service
DUTY STATION (City, Country): Rome, Italy
DURATION: 11 months
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Climate change multiplies existing threats to food security, hunger and malnutrition. It will make natural disasters more frequent and intense, land and water scarce and difficult to access and increases in agricultural productivity even harder to achieve. It will disproportionally impact the most vulnerable people, the majority of whom live in fragile areas prone to climate hazards, ultimately putting hundreds of millions of people at risk. It is estimated that by 2050, the risk of hunger could increase by 20 percent, and child malnutrition is anticipated to be 20 percent higher than it would have been without a climate change scenario.
WFP approaches the challenge of climate change from the point of view of its impact on hunger and under nutrition. WFP’s work on climate change and climate risk management focuses on enhancing the resilience of food insecure communities and countries, helping them adapt to more frequent and intense climatic events. About 40 percent of WFP’s operations already include activities to reduce disaster risk, build resilience and help people adapt to the effects resulting from climate change. WFP is developing and testing innovative tools and approaches to help Governments and communities to manage disaster risks in a more effective manner. WFP is further developing, refining and testing these tools by incorporating approaches such as the African Risk Capacity (ARC) sovereign drought insurance to accelerate the coverage of climate risk insurance to millions of Africans, while building the capacity of national governments to respond to large-scale climate shocks.
Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Programme (PRO-C) is a service in WFP HQ (located under WFP’s Programme – Humanitarian and Development Division) that provides guidance and support to a range of activities from household-level micro insurance programmes to carrying out climate analyses to better understand the impact of climate risks on food security and nutrition, helping governments implement adaptation projects on the ground, as well as developing innovative climate risk management tools – programmatic and financing mechanisms.
Under the supervision of the Climate and Disaster Risk Financing Advisor, the consultant will be responsible for engaging with Country Offices and Regional Bureaus in the operational aspects of WFP's micro and meso insurance portfolio with the support of Regional Advisors. The role will involve providing capacity strenghtening for Country Offices to ensure the appropriate design and implementation of meso and microisurance schemes; following in-country workplans to ensure programme success; facilitate cross-country learning; support Country Offices when engaging with Technical Service Providers, local insurers and reinsurers during design and implementation of the insurance schemes; support the Country Offices and Regional Bureaus to provide capacity strenghtening to governments and other stakeholders to ensure local ownership in the mid and long term; support Country Offices to engage in strategic discussions on sustainability of the micro and meso insurance schemes; supporting integration of the micro and meso insurance portfolio with savings, loans, remittances and other financial services; supporting contractual negotiations; leading knowledge and information management and drafting donor reports. This post will require travel to country offices for workshops and capacity strengthening missions.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Provide support to Country Offices (COs) throughout the processes of design and implementation of micro and meso insurance schemes. Specifically by attending internal and external calls; providing operational and technical guidance; following in-country workplans; following work of taskforces; encouraging the participation in national platforms and community of practice on inclusive insurance, microinsurance, agricultural insurance; amongst other activities.
2. Support the technical review of index insurance products.
3. Contribute to the realisation and review of feasibility studies to design and implement micro and meso insurance and its integration with other financial services.
4. Support the organisation of strategic workshops on sustainability of micro and meso insurance in at least 3 countries.
5. Support the organisation of at least 3 internal technical cross-country webinars.
6. Support the data gathering in due time of micro and meso insurance schemes globally.
7. Support the implementation of the Sustainability Strategy of Microinsurance.
8. Support the COs to participate in national and regional platforms on agricultural insurance, climate risk insurance, disaster risk financing, etc.
9. Support contractual negotiations related to micro and meso insurance programmes, liasing with WFP's Legal Division (partnership MoUs, data sharing agreements, insurance policy signature, etc.)
10. Lead knowledge and information management for the micro and meso insurance portfolio (ensuring all key documents are saved and organized on TEAMs, including programme documents, case studies, comms materials, and programme output figures, etc).
11. Support the drafting of donor reports.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:
1. Two strategic workshops on sustainability for micro and meso insurance in two countries.
2. Two cross-regional webinars on microinsurance on pre-selected topics
3. Technical review of index insurance products of at least three countries
4. Four COs supported to launch micro or mesoinsurance schemes
5.At least 2 feasibility studies / inception assessment
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education: Advanced University degree, or University degree in one or more of the following disciplines: economics, actuarial studies, hydrometereology, insurance, finance, or related area
Experience: At least 3 years of post-graduate, progressively responsible job-related experience in risk financing, inclusive insurance, agricultural insurance, rural finance, microfinance, financial inclusion, agricultural value chain support and development.
Experience in supporting the development and implementation of index insurance schemes is a plus.
Demonstrated field experience setting up distribution, delivery, operations and management of insurance and other financial services to benefit vulnerable and food insecure populations
Knowledge & Skills:
Demonstrated knowledge of needs and particularties of vulnerable and food insecure populations.
Demonstrated strategic thinking.
Ability to conduct effective meetings, listen to others and engage in dialogue.
Ability to promote business oriented approaches that at the same time provide value to the most vulnerable and food insecure.
Ability to communicate with public and private sector, understanding their mandates and roles to reach to strategic public private partnerships.
Proficiency in Windows, MS Office. Competencies: Cognitive Capacity, Teamwork, Action Management, Innovation, Partnering, Client Orientation.
Languages: Working knowledge of English (proficiency/level C) and intermediate knowledge (intermediate/B) of another UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish). Working proficiency in Spanish and/or French would be considered an asset.