Programme Policy Officer NOA, South Area, Qamishly and Deir Ezzor Field Offices

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

All applications should be received no later than 13 October, 2020.

CONTRACT AND DURATION

This position is open to Syrian or Syrian/Palestinian nationals only.

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract (FT – NOA)
Duration: 12 months
Duty Station: if multiple: 1 post in South Area (Damascus), 1 post in Qamishly and 1 post Deir Ezzor Field Offices
Number of required employees: 3

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.
In Syria, WFP provides food assistance to more than 4.6 million people each month. This includes families who require emergency assistance when affected by conflict and displacement and also those who need help to improve their nutrition and food security. WFP supports children across Syria with healthy meals and snacks at school, mothers with nutritious diets, and families and communities with sustainable livelihood projects.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The National Programme Policy Officer (NO-A) will work under the supervision of the Head of Area/Field Office, and in daily collaboration with the Area/Field Offices programme team.
Supervision received: This post is based in Damascus (South Area Field Office)/ Qamishly/Deir Ezzor and fall under the direct supervision of the Head of Field Office.

JOB PURPOSE

To ensure the timely implementation of quality programmes in the area of Field Office responsibility.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Contribute towards the development of projects, plans and processes.
2. Ensure alignment with wider programme policies and guidance.
3. Provide project management support to the programmes being implemented in the field office of assignment, ensuring a coordinated approach and complying with standards and procedures.
4. Follow data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained.
5. Research and analyse policy and operational issues to support senior colleagues in the development of policies, programmes and activities.
6. Contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on programmes and activities that enable informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.
7. Liaise with internal counterparts to ensure effective collaboration.
8. Monitor ongoing projects.
9. Support the identification, development and management of potential partnerships to collaborative working leading to improved food assistance packages.
   10.Lead on the coordination of the cooperating partner (CP) evaluation process for programmes implemented at the FO. These could include: general food assistance, livelihood, school feeding, nutrition, VAM, partnership management, cash based transfers.

11.Lead on the coordination of the Field-Level Agreement (FLA) review process.
12.Support Head of Office in consultations with CPs, including negotiations ahead of FLAs.
13.First point of contact for SARC branches in the FO areas. This includes regular follow-up with the SARC branches on various tasks and issues.
14.With the support of the programme team, ensure CPDRs and corporate reporting requirements are completed and met on time.
15.Follow up on findings reported by the Monitoring team to ensure the programmes in FO follows WFP standards and in line with WFP Syria strategy.
16.Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to prepare for and respond to food assistance needs, e.g. through project management support of learning initiatives.
17.Provide guidance to support staff, acting as a point of referral and assisting them with analysis and queries.
18.Main focal point for coordinating high-level visits to any project site, which entails coordinating with CPs and the local authorities.
19.Support the Head of Office in briefing visitors and providing Arabic-English/English-Arabic interpretation during such high-level missions.
20.Act as deputy Head of Office if and when required.
21.Other as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced University degree in International Affairs, Economics, Nutrition/Health, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Social Sciences or other field relevant to international development assistance, or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience: One year post graduate relevant professional experience with Master’s Degree, or three years post graduate relevant professional experience with a first University Degree

Language: Fluency (level C) in oral and written communication in Arabic and in English.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

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.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

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.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
• 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.
• Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

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.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability NameDescription of the behaviour expected for the proficiency levelProgramme Lifecycle & Food AssistanceDemonstrates ability to identify key variables and contextual factors that affect food assistance problems and programmes throughout the lifecycle to inform quality programme design or re-design.Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher)Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development.Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas (i.e. Nutrition, VAM, etc.)Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring.Emergency ProgrammingDisplays capacity to provide inputs into the development, implementation and realignment of high quality emergency programmes.Strategic Policy Engagement w/ GovernmentDevelops thorough recommendations using multiple inputs (e.g., government counsel, research, own experience) to strengthen national or subnational entities and government owned food and nutrition security programmes.