Refugee Response: Programme Policy Officer

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:

The World Food Programme is providing food assistance to refugees in 30 camps and sites in Ethiopia, in collaboration Government of Ethiopia, UN Agencies and in partnership with various non-governmental organization (NGOs). Through a coordinated approach, nearly 850,000 refugees are receiving monthly assistance from WFP and its partners, through in-kind food distributions or cash transfers. This support has ensured that the most vulnerable people are provided with emergency assistance, including through nutrition, school feeding, general food assistance and resilience activities. The response is supported by WFP Area and Sub offices; that are strategically located in the country, close to the refugee camps. The Country office, which is in Addis Ababa, provides overall oversight of the refugee response; and coordinate with various organizations and national authorities, to ensure smooth provision of food assistance to vulnerable populations.

JOB PURPOSE:

To provide support to policy and programme activities that effectively meet food assistance needs of refugees in Ethiopia.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):

• Coordinate with relevant national authorities; cooperating partners and UN agencies for a smooth refugee response in Ethiopia, including through monthly coordination meetings.

• Provide technical support to the Area and Sub offices, that are implementing refugee activities (general food assistance, nutrition, school feeding and resilience activities).

• Liaise with technical units that provide technical support to the refugee response, including budget and programming (BPU), Supply Chain, Procurement, Monitoring and Evaluation, Resilience, Nutrition and School feeding.

• Prepare and timely share the food and cash distribution plans, which are required on quarterly basis; and update the monthly plans if there any changes.

• Support in preparing funding proposals; and project documents including country strategic plan (CSP) and budget revisions; ensuring alignment with wider programme policies and guidance.

• Contribute to various internal and external reports that are prepared to update on implementation of refugee activities, including donor reporting (weekly, bi-annual and final reports), Annual Country Reports.

• In collaboration with relevant units, prepare monthly plans to allocate available resources, based on analysis of the best before use dates; terminal distribution date (TDD) of the resources.

• Liaise with partners on observations from WFP field mission findings; findings from WFP monitoring and evaluation observations and any issues that require attention of partners.

• Assist the programme management on matters related to delivery of assistance to refugee and bring to their attention any constraints arising from rapidly evolving emergency/ refugee response.

• Assist in preparation/update of the early warning, risk and contingency planning to order to response to any refugee crisis.

• Support on capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to prepare for and respond to food assistance needs of refugees.

• Provide guidance to support staff, acting as a point of referral and assisting them with analysis and queries.

• Perform other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

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:

• At least one year of experience in emergency humanitarian response in a refugee context, coordinating with national and international partners, working with national authorities.

• Experience supervising a team with the ability to establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds.

• Extensive experience in funding proposal writing, donor reporting, and monitoring of resource allocation.

• Has gained experience in implementing technical programs (i.e. nutrition, school feeding, and resilience etc.).

Knowledge and Skills

• Knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations, and procedures governing administration.

• Ability to negotiate and maintain strong partnerships with field-focused approaches.

• Demonstrated skills in managing complex portfolios.

• Strong analytical skills; resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, negotiating skills.

• Ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing.

• Knowledge of using MS Office suite package (Word, Excel, Teams)

Language:

Fluency in English language and the local language.

Skills Required:

• Agricultural / Studies
• Economics / Statistics
• Environmental / Natural / Resource
• Health / Medical
• Political / Science / Ir
• Social / Science / Project / Management / Development