Programme Policy Officer (Nutrition) SB4

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

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.

Type of Contract: Service Contract Grade: SB-4 Location: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Duration of Employment: 1 Year (Renewable, depending on availability of funds) Reporting to: Head of the Nutrition and School Feeding Unit in the Country office and State Programme Coordinator in Uttar Pradesh

The World Food Programme (WFP), operating in India since 1963, aims to provide technical support to strengthening the government’s food safety-nets programmes in order to improve access to food for millions of vulnerable households throughout the country. Through its Country Strategic Plan (2019-2023), WFP India aims to support India in achieving their targets under Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. Strategic Outcome (SO) 2 of WFP’s current CSP (2019-2023) is aimed at reducing all forms of malnutrition in India. To facilitate India’s progress on the SGDs and in sustainably reducing malnutrition, WFP will focus on “People at high risk of malnutrition in India, especially women, children and adolescent girls, have improved nutrition by 2025” as laid down in Strategic outcome 2 of its CSP. This primarily translates into WFP working with National and State governments to improve the nutritional status of the population through introduction of nutritionally viable solutions and best practices in existing systems and enhancing the nutritional effectiveness of the three food based safety nets namely the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Mid-day meal (MDM) scheme and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.  Social behaviour change communications (SBCC) accompanies all activities to help target audiences to know more about the benefits of good nutrition, appropriate child feeding practices and appropriate health and hygiene practices. WFP In Uttar Pradesh Aligned to this overarching vision around improved nutrition, WFP has been working in Uttar Pradesh across several Departments and with various stakeholders for: •    Introduction and scale up of distribution and consumption of fortified staples in TPDS, MDM and ICDS; •    Improvement in the nutritional value, quality and consumption of age appropriate take home rations (THR) for young children and pregnant/lactating women through the ICDS; •    Setting up and scaling up Nutri-gardens in the schools to bring in diversity to the Mid-day meals consumed; •    Social behaviour change communication aimed at improving nutritional practices amongst all sections of the society; •    Capacity building of the cook cum helpers and Anganwadi workers on food safety through innovative approaches. WFP support to the Government of Uttar Pradesh in the area of nutrition is not limited to the above but expanding. WFP support will also include provision of technical advice on translating the best practices listed above into statewide actionable implementation strategies, provision of analytical support and facilitation of cross learning and sharing of information.  As a part of this partnership, WFP intends to recruit a staff member to be based in Lucknow, who is well aware of the government systems, processes, and the nutrition landscape/ situation in Uttar Pradesh.

The Programme Policy Officer (Nutrition), under the overall guidance of the Head of the Nutrition and School Feeding and supervision of the State Programme Coordinator in Uttar Pradesh will be responsible for the following: Technical assistance and policy advocacy: • Analyse UP state level nutrition and school feeding policies/ guidelines/ programmes/ food-based safety net schemes including operational issues therein to identify gaps and solutions to address the same; • Engage with State level government stakeholders on a regular basis for scale up of WFP interventions and pilot projects; • Support the development of State level policy briefs, presentations and need-based research on aspects of the food based safety nets; • Represent WFP at various fora at the State level and make technical interventions and presentations as required; Support to implementation of the Nutrition and school feeding projects in the district: • Provide monitoring, technical and coordination support to the WFP supported pilots in coordination with the country office, field staff and other cross-functional units to ensure that the various project activities are performed within the established targets, adhering to project timelines and in line with WFP’s policies and procedures; • Contribute towards the development of project proposals/concept notes, implementation plans, terms of reference for procuring services of various vendors, monitoring formats and check-lists for the various nutrition and school feeding projects in Uttar Pradesh as appropriate; • Provide timely feedback to the tools & reports and facilitate approvals for undertaking project baseline and end line; • Review and contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reports on the nutrition and school feeding projects and activities in UP for their effective delivery; • Support in the capacity building of cooperating partners and state/district government counterparts as need be for the various projects; • Assist in the development of information, education and communication material and strategies relevant to the larger nutrition projects; • Liaise with project stakeholders for timely implementation, rigorous monitoring and speedy resolution of issues identified in the projects. Coordination: • Coordinate with government counterparts at both State and district level across the three food-based safety nets as need be to facilitate implementation of the nutrition and school feeding projects as well as further provision of technical assistance; • Ensure necessary coordination between WFP CO and field staff and other relevant units of the organization for quality implementation of the projects in the district as well as the larger nutrition portfolio in the State. Partnerships: • Identify potential partners, foster relationships and support partnership-building with local partners, agencies, NGOs and relevant government institutions in support of WFP technical assistance to government of UP. Staff management: • Provide guidance to field staff responsible for implementing the projects in consultation with your supervisor and assist them with analysis, queries etc; • Support the WFP State Programme Coordinator in his coordination efforts of other WFP activities, fulfil the State Programme Coordinator’s role during his absence; Perform other related duties as required.

Purpose Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Coaches team in the most effective ways to communicate WFP’s Strategic Objectives to WFP team and partners in the field. Be a force for positive change: Implements new methods or tools to improve team’s work processes and productivity. Make the mission inspiring to our team: Maps team’s activities and tasks to specific successes in beneficiary communities to showcase positive impact. Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Explains to teammates how each unit contributes to the overall WFP mission. People Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Identifies skill development opportunities such as training modules or on-the-job experiences for self, colleagues and direct reports. Create an inclusive culture: Facilitates team building activities to build rapport in own unit. Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Facilitates the pairing of junior colleagues with coaches within own team. Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Proactively anticipates potential challenges and develops mitigation plans to ensure that team meets goals and targets. Performance Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Identifies opportunities to be creative in own work and to help team be more innovative and accurate in their respective tasks and areas of work. Focus on getting results: Monitors team’s deliverables and provides feedback to ensure outcomes are delivered consistently and accurately. Make commitments and make good on commitments: Provides accurate guidance to team on expected responsibilities and tasks, whilst also upholding own commitment to the team. Be Decisive: Sets an example and provides guidance to junior team members on when to escalate issues when faced with challenging issues in the workplace or in the field. Partnership Connect and share across WFP units: Facilitates partnerships with other WFP units to accomplish missions in the field. Build strong external partnerships: Sets an example and provides guidance to team on how to build relationships with external partners. Be politically agile & adaptable: Articulates to colleagues or direct reports the value of contributing to other WFP teams and agency partnerships in fulfilling WFP’s goals and objectives. Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Organizes, monitors, and prioritizes own and team’s efforts to ensure that they will fulfil the needs of internal and external partners.

Education: Advanced University degree in Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition, Food Technology, Medicine or other relevant field. Experience: Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible work experience preferably on nutrition in the development sector. Previous experience of working in partnership with the government/UN agency/INGO or on projects targeted at addressing malnutrition at the community level is desirable. • Has gained experience in implementing technical programs (i.e. nutrition, etc.); • Has implemented programmes and provided input into designing operations; • Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions. Knowledge & Skills: • Excellent interpersonal skills required, including strong professionally communication ability; • Advocacy and networking skills with a broad range of stakeholders including government, private sector, civil society, academia, NGO and international cooperation; • Knowledge of research methods with familiarity in quantitative and qualitative methods; • Advanced computer skills with proficiency in Windows, Microsoft office; • Knowledge of UN system would be an asset; • Knowledge of WFP programmes is an advantage; • Ability to work collaboratively with a diverse team of nutrition and food security experts across fourteen countries; • Tact and diplomacy. Languages: Fluency in spoken and written English and Hindi; ability to speak in other Indian languages is a plus.

• Ability to engage effectively with a wide range of actors from government, private sector and civil society; • Very strong communications skills, both in writing and speaking; • Solid planning and problem-solving skills and action oriented; • Ability to work under tight deadlines and simultaneously manage multiple tasks in an autonomous manner; • Maturity, initiative, courtesy, tact and ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds; • Ability to handle any other additional tasks as requested by the supervisor; • Ability to undertake travel within the country.

Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted. A written test will be used as a form of screening. In the event your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide in advance a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/ certificate(s) required for this position. This is a national position therefore candidates who are non-indian nationals will not be considered. Mode of Engagement: The salary for this position is INR. 14,69,279/- per annum (depending upon the last drawn remuneration of the candidate and other compensation criteria's), plus medical benefits as per WFP's plan. All tax liability for payments from this contract are to be borne by the subscriber. WFP is committed to promoting diversity and gender balance. WFP adheres to “zero tolerance policies” in the workplace. Applications for the positions are to be submitted online on the E-recruitment links as mentioned below: https://www1.wfp.org/careers/job-openingsNote: Candidates are requested to Create an account in the system before applying. Candidates curriculum and applications will be registered and allows them to update their profile and apply for a job through wfp careers website.

VACANCY CLOSING DATE : 31 July 2020

Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status. 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.