Programme Policy Officer for Social Protection and School Meals SC9

JOB PURPOSE

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 strengthening its engagement in support of national social protection systems and safety nets, including school meals. WFP seeks to support governments with technical expertise 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 includes providing technical advice and operational services aligned with national strategies (when available) and frameworks, including engagement in the School Meals Coalition. 

Fifteen countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe (MENAEE) region have on-going school meals programmes with governments recognizing the multifaceted benefits of school meals that go beyond feeding children, have proven to be a critical safety net, especially in crisis situations, supporting poor families during hardship. In most countries the programmes have not yet been fully integrated into national social protection systems supporting the most vulnerable families and children. The school meals programmes landscape varies from one country to another, in terms of institutional frameworks with some countries having a school feeding policy, strategy, and budget line in place, while others still planning to develop these. Government ownership and leadership in programme delivery and management is also increasing and, in some countries, transition planning and strategies are being developed, to prepare for handover to Governments. This includes support on strengthening the design and operation of quality programmes and related monitoring. Depending on the national context, WFP plays one or both of the following roles: Service delivery – directly managing and overseeing the implementation of school meals programmes; and Capacity Strengthening -providing technical assistance and policy support to governments.

WFP’s Regional Bureau in Cairo (RBC) for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe region is supporting Country Offices in their efforts to support national social protection systems and school-based programmes, towards their food security, nutrition and emergency preparedness and response objectives. RBC provides strategic guidance, policy/technical support and direction, and oversight to WFP operations and activities in 15 countries: Algeria, Armenia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and Yemen. 

In this context, WFP is seeking to enhance its capacities to support regional and country level efforts through the

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1-Support Country Offices (COs) to define and set strategic direction school meals engagement as part of wider national social protection and safety nets schemes: 

• Support COs in their formulation of Country Strategic Plans (CSP) and programme strategy, in close coordination with relevant CO colleagues, relevant Regional Bureau thematic units, and HQ counterparts, ensuring alignment with corporate policies/strategies and regional guidance.
• Support COs in developing the strategic direction and positioning of CO engagement vis-à-vis national social protection and school meals schemes.
• Support CO efforts to engage with and take forward existing and future commitments made by host governments under the School Meals Coalition (SMC)

2-Provide technical support on social protection capacity strengthening:

• Provide technical support to CO colleagues including through field missions and Temporary Duty travel (TDYs), as relevant, fostering integration of social protection and school meals programme thinking with the work of other relevant technical teams (cash based transfers, nutrition, emergency preparedness and response planning, TEC…) liaising with relevant CO, Regional Bureau and Headquarters focal points as required.
• Contribute to the school meals "digital innovation" workstream, including (but not limited to) joint EMIS systems development with UNESCO/UNICEF and governments. 
• Support capacity building of Country Office staff and government counterparts in efforts to strengthen social protection and school meals programming. 

3-Support CO and RBC efforts at research and knowledge management in the area of school meals:

• Support efforts to research and analyze policy and operational challenges of social protection and school meals programmes across the region and in support of RBC and Country Office colleagues, to inform policies, programmes and related activities.
• Contribute to the development and coordination of case studies, research, operational information, advocacy documents and other knowledge management products, support the organization of external presentations and events showcasing WFP experience and learning, and promote effective information-sharing and exchange.
• Provide comments and contribute to the content of various CO and regional reports, including to strategically position school meals operations along with their multidimensional benefits;
• Support knowledge exchange efforts on school meals and social protection practices across the region and globally.

4-Support COs with their partnership development with government, UN, International Financial Institutions, and other development partners:

• Support the identification, development and management of potential collaborative partnerships including with other UN agencies (e.g. UNICEF and UNESCO, linking to the Education cluster), International Financial Institutions, government and regional entities, and academia;
• Specifically on private sector (PS) partnerships, work with the RB focal point to ensure that PS prospects interested in school meals have up to date information on the school based programmes in the region and latest innovative projects which can appeal to the private sector - this can take the form of regular updates and/or the development of sector specific value propositions.
• Support relevant COs in their policy dialogue on social protection and school meals with host governments and development partners, including their efforts to develop their stakeholder engagement plans, positioning and advocacy messages;
• Support COs to strengthen the integration of school meals in the different Education Cluster/Local Education Group strategies/plans and education-related funds, Initiatives and Programmes such as SDG4 Arab Region, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), Global Partnership for Education (GPE), No Lost Generation (NLG), Life Skills and Citizenship Education (LSCE), etc;
• Contribute to the preparation of proposals, progress and analytical reports, presentations, briefs, visibility material and information products corporately and for donors.
• Liaise with other functional sections and units to ensure effective internal collaboration.
• Support RBC and CO participation in relevant regional events in collaboration with other UN agencies and regional actors, through presentations, case studies, talking points, etc;.

5-Oversight: Undertake oversight of programmatic activities as required. 

6-Perform other duties as required.