Associate Professional Officer (APO) – Cash and Voucher Assistance – East and Southern Africa

Country
  • Kenya
Organization
  • US Agency for International Development
Type
  • Job
Career Category
  • Program/Project Management
Years of experience
  • 3-4 years
Themes
  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management

I. Overview

Through USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA), the United States sponsors qualified U.S. citizens for employment in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) the Associate Professional Officer (APO) Program.

These fully funded APO positions strengthen the humanitarian coordination and response capacity of UNFAO. They further encourage U.S. citizens to become active members of the international community. After completing their APO assignments, a number of APOs successfully compete for positions at UNFAO, and in other international and non-governmental organizations.

II. General Information

Title: APO- Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA)

Organization/Office: Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa, SFE

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya

Date Required: As soon as possible

Duration: 1 year (with possible extension for another year)

III. Supervision and Purpose of the job

Reporting Lines: The position is with the Resilience Team East Africa (RTEA), and reports to the Sub-Regional Resilience Team Leader, RTEA/SFE/FAO-Kenya. S/he works under the technical guidance of the Resilience Expert, coordinator of the Cash and Voucher programming team, Office of Emergencies and Resilience, OER (FAO HQ).

Technical Focus: Support to implementation of FAO’s resilience agenda at global, regional, sub-regional and/or country level, with a focus on technical and operational support, clearances and backstopping to projects and programs implemented through CVA modalities.

Key Results: Develop, implement, monitor and evaluate assigned programs/projects

IV. Duties, Responsibilities, and Output Expectations

FAO’s Subregional Office for East Africa is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for addressing subregional food, agriculture and rural development priorities. It develops and maintains relations with subregion-wide institutions including Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs). It assists the FAO Representations (FAORs) in the subregion with addressing subregional food security, agriculture and rural development issues at country level. The Subregional Office is a subsidiary of FAO’s Regional Office for Africa.

Key Functions:

  • Carries out basic research on selected aspects of programs, operations and other activities, etc., to include collecting, analyzing and presenting statistical data and other information gathered from diverse sources;
  • Provides substantive support for policy coordination and evaluation functions, including the review and analysis of emerging development issues and trends, participation in impact evaluation or equivalent studies, etc.;
  • Participates in survey initiatives; issues data collection tools, reviews, analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares preliminary conclusions;
  • Contributes to the preparation of various written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analytical notes, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.;
  • Undertakes outreach activities; participates in the development of training workshops, seminars, etc.; participates in and makes presentations on assigned topics/activities;
  • Participates in field missions, including provision of substantive and administrative support, data collection, etc.;
  • Coordinates activities related to budget funding (program/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and preparation of related documents/reports (pledging, work program, program budget, etc.

Specific Functions:

  • Provides support to Decentralized Offices (upon request) in East and Southern Africa related to the programming, design, implementation and monitoring-evaluation of field programs and projects by means of CVA modalities, at any steps of the Project Cycle, ensuring high operational standards and compliance with FAO rules and regulations;
  • Undertakes frequent missions to provide support for the design, implementation and monitoring-evaluation of interventions using CVA modalities, including market assessment, CVA feasibility assessment and preparedness missions;
  • Contributes to the provision of required clearances and backstopping to decentralized offices at all steps of the project cycle for relevant field projects and programs;
  • Supports knowledge management and capacity development initiatives on CVA at sub-regional and country level to benefit FAO personnel and partners including the identification of CVA good practices, innovations and lessons learnt from FAO decentralized offices for dissemination and communication, aiming at enhancing the quality of FAO’s interventions.

V. Qualifications and Experience

Education: Advanced university degree in business administration or public administration, social science, political science or other field related to the work of the Organization;

Experience: At least three years of relevant experience in project or program management, administration or related areas.

Languages: Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish)

UN Competencies:

  • Results Focus
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Building Effective Relationships
  • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

  • Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable;
  • Extent and relevance of experience in the field of administration, human resources, finance and management;
  • Extent and relevance of experience in program/project formulation, analysis, planning and implementation;
  • Extent of knowledge of planning and budgetary processes and associated tools Familiarity with standard office, data analysis and web-publishing software;
  • Understanding of FAO policies and programs is considered a strong asset
  • Possess computer/word processing skills

Please note that UNFAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list;

Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications.

How to apply

The APO Program selection process is carried out jointly by USAID/BHA and the UNFAO. You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply. To apply please send

  1. completed UN Personal History Statement (P11) (see link below),

  2. resume (CV) and;

  3. cover letter to explain your interest in this position

to [email protected] . Please state which position you are applying for in the subject line of your email. If you wish to apply for multiple positions, please complete a Personal History Statement (P11) for each position and submit these to us in separate emails with the appropriate subject heading.

Application Details

Please complete the UN Personal History Statement (P11) thoroughly. The P11 provides the opportunity to include all required information in one document, including your professional work experience and references. Please attach a cover letter to explain your interest in the position and interest in working with the UN, along with a general resume. The P11 has instructions on how to complete the profile; however, please be sure to also follow the additional instructions below:

To help us with our recruitment effort, please indicate in your email/cover letter where (ngotenders.net) you saw this job posting.

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