Programme Policy Officer NOB - School Feeding
Fifteen out of seventeen countries in the MENA and CIS regions have on-going school
feeding programmes. In 2018, WFP directly reached 5.8 million children and their families
in the region, which accounted for nearly 30 percent of all WFP school feeding
beneficiaries’ caseload globally. In the past years, governments have started to recognize the multifaceted benefits of school feeding and what the programmes could achieve, beyond feeding children. Especially in crisis situations, emergency school feeding programmes had proven to be a critical safety net, directly supporting poor families during hardship. However, in most countries, the programmes have not yet been fully integrated into national social protection systems supporting the most vulnerable families and children. Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Regional Programme Advisor, the successful incumbent will provide support to policy and programme activities of the School Feeding programmes in the region that effectively contribute to food security, nutrition, and education. This will be done in line with the corporate school feeding strategy and regional implementation plan/regional strategic priorities. The role will specifically focus on defining and amplifying WFP’s contribution to SDG4 (as well as SDG 2 and 17) in the region.
Programme Policy Advisor - Social Protection and Safety Nets (Short-Term Professional/ P4)
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is well known for its ability to deliver food assistance rapidly to people in need. To continue responding effectively to challenging contexts while also contributing to longer-term efforts to end hunger, WFP is in the process of its support to strengthening national safety nets and social protection systems, to support governments with their hunger-fighting strategies. In recent years, WFP has experienced a paradigm shift in response to an evolving operating environment that requires the UN agency’s technical expertise not only in the delivery of food assistance, but also in the development of sustainable hunger-smart and nutrition-sensitive solutions that will support progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Two: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. This paradigm shift means that WFP Middle East, North Africa, East Europe and the Central Asia region needs to focus on providing technical advice and operational services aligned with national social protection strategies (when available) and frameworks. Efforts from WFP towards 2030 Agenda need to influence the design of these programmes and these efforts need to yield high and significant impact on nutrition status and contribute to improved food security outcomes. WFP’s Regional Bureau for Middle East, North Africa, East Europe and the Central Asia region (RBC) is looking to expand its support to national social protection systems in the areas of nutrition, food security and emergency
response, and to strengthen its support to WFP Country Offices (COs) in the region in this thematic area. RBC provides strategic guidance, policy/technical support and direction to WFP operations and activities in 17 countries: Algeria, Armenia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen. This position is intended to ensure dedicated expertise in the Regional Bureau on safety nets and social protection, with a view to strengthen support on this thematic to WFP Country Offices in the region, in the context of Country Strategic Plans and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks.
