Background and Purpose of the Assignment

WFP Somalia’s Strategic Outcome three (SO3) seeks to have national institutions, private sector, smallholder farmers, and food insecure and nutritionally vulnerable populations in Somalia benefit from climate-smart, productive, resilient, inclusive, and nutritious food systems by 2030. Under this outcome, WFP works towards strengthening the resilience of communities and households to shocks and their pathways to self-reliance. WFP further addresses persistent food system bottlenecks at the levels of production, transformation, and consumption to make food systems more productive, more inclusive of poor and marginalized populations, more environmentally sustainable and resilient and better able to deliver healthy and nutritious diets to all.

Position Overview

This position roving across all WFP’s Somalia Area Offices will be responsible for the provision of technical and strategic guidance in the planning, designing and writing of grounded resilience, natural resources management and food systems projects for resource mobilization and supporting the direct implementation of projects at the area office level. The position will support the overall implementation of the WFP Somalia SO3 strategy in the Area Offices. He/she will be reporting to the Resilience and Food System Lead.

What will you do?

• Support the planning, design, and implementation of context-specific and grounded food systems and resilience projects with the guidance of the country programme team and in collaboration with Area Offices, local authorities, partners and community stakeholders.
• Explore opportunities for independent and/or joint food systems projects with Government, academia, private sector including diaspora, communities, NGOs and other local actors.
• Working closely with Area Offices and key stakeholders in selected districts, develop
• communication plans (for Area Offices implementation) that will guide the prioritization of appropriate food systems projects.
• Provide overall SO3 programme and project-level strategic, technical implementation guidance, integration and management for WFP’s new and ongoing SO3-related projects in all the Area Offices.
• Working closely with the Country Office Partnerships team, support WFP Somalia fundraising efforts through the writing of sound and grounded climate smart food system funding proposals.
• Support Area Office-led stakeholder engagement and external messaging on WFP’s resilience and food systems strategy, technical cooperation approach, as well as positioning WFP as a partner of choice for resilience and food systems with stakeholders in the field.
• Contribute to the appraisal of capacity building needs of WFP Area Office staff, cooperating partners, community actors, and government staff on food system and resilience programme planning, design, and effective implementation.
• Identify and develop strategies to develop and support the capacity of key strategic and operational ministries within the State Governments.
• Support the development and implementation of research & learning agenda for food systems and resilience at the Area Office level and establish the relevant external research partnerships.
• Support evidence generation on the quality, impact and effectiveness of food system and resilience programmes by WFP, working closely with the Area Office and Country Office M&E team.
• Draft timely analytical and critical reports, for internal and external use.
• The incumbent is expected to spend a minimum of 70% of their time in the field working within the Area Offices and Sub Offices.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Do you meet the minimum qualification & experience?

• Advanced university degree in any agricultural Science (Agriculture, Horticulture, Agriculture Education and Extension, Agribusiness/ Agricultural Economics), Range Management, Natural Resource Management, International development, or other field related to food security/ food systems and resilience building or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.
• Minimum of 5 years of field experience in climate-smart food systems/food security and nutrition-sensitive resilience programme development and implementation.
• Experience working with government agencies and has successfully advised or developed resilience proposals.
• Excellent proposal writing skills with proven success in developing proposals that have been funded.

Knowledge & skills

• In-depth knowledge of food systems resilience programming in humanitarian and development settings and linkages with food security and nutrition.
• Ability to engage and collaborate with cross-functional teams including school feeding, nutrition, and supply chain.
• Excellent coordination skills, with the ability to lead effectively across multiple teams to drive multifunctional outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to effectively communicate through multiple mediums (e.g. policy, advocacy messaging, reporting, training)
• Sound knowledge and skills in adult learning.
• Team spirit and excellent interpersonal relations.
• Knowledge of the UN system, including gender-related mandates is an asset.

Languages

• Fluency (level C) in the English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language is an added advantage.