DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS14 November 2024-23:59-GMT+07:00 Indochina Time (Vientiane)
WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
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WHY JOIN WFP?
WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).
Background:
Social protection is a key policy tool to combat poverty, vulnerability, and inequality. Nearly every country in the world has at least one social protection scheme, covering approximately 3.5 billion people. As a global leader in fighting hunger and malnutrition worldwide the World Food Programme (WFP) is increasingly called upon by governments to support national social protection systems.
In 2023, WFP partnered with governments in 98 countries to provide technical assistance to effectively meet people’s food security and nutritional needs and to better manage risks and shocks through strengthened social protection systems. To achieve this, WFP provides technical advice to national actors, delivers elements of the system or programmes on Government’s behalf, and maximizes the complementarity of WFP’s own interventions with social protection when the context allows.
To keep pace with the growing demand for support in social protection, WFP is expanding its social protection workforce to ensure that experience and capacity in this sector are readily available.
Country context and response:
The Government of Lao PDR is committed to gradually achieving universal social protection, as underscored by the adoption of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) in 2020. The NSPS aims to provide basic social protection services to those in need, including health insurance, social security, and social welfare, in an equitable, adequate, effective, and sustainable manner. Since its adoption, considerable progress has been made in establishing legal and policy frameworks, governance structures, and developing social protection infrastructure.
WFP Lao PDR Country Office is committed to support the government’s social protection efforts through the provision of strategic and technical assistance to deliver on the objectives set in the NSPS. The Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026 emphasizes WFP’s commitment to enhancing the government’s capacity in disaster and climate risk management and social protection. This includes integrating disaster risk financing solutions into national social protection systems, supporting the design of shock-responsive social protection interventions, and strengthening the overall social protection system architecture.
As part of these efforts, WFP Lao PDR Country Office, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, is designing a Shock-Responsive Social Protection pilot in the Sekong Province aimed at enhancing the food security and resilience of vulnerable communities to climate-related shocks. The intervention will create synergies between social protection mechanisms and financial instruments to ensure timely and effective assistance to the vulnerable populations in the event of disasters.
The National Programme Policy Officer– Social Protection with technical support from the Social Protection and CBT Specialist will be responsible for supporting the implementation of the shock-responsive social protection pilot and support the WFP Lao PDR Country Office transitioning of operations to longer term national capacity strengthening support in shock responsive social protection, strengthening cash-based programming preparedness and determining programme opportunities and partnerships for national system strengthening in social protection.
JOB TITLE: National Programme Policy Officer–Social Protection
TYPE OF CONTRACT: Service Contract (SC-8)
UNIT/DIVISION: Programme
Report to: Head of Programme
DUTY STATION: Vientiane, Laos
DURATION: 12 months
Job purpose
To deliver against the above, the Country Office is seeking a National Programme Policy Officer - Social Protection to provide support to its social protection related activities. The incumbent will operate under the direct supervision of the Resilience Manager, with technical support from the Social Protection and CBT Specialist and will be responsible for carrying out the following tasks and responsibilities:
Provide project management and technical support to social protection related activities, with a focus on shock-responsive social protection, climate and disaster risk financing and cash-based transfers interventions, ensuring alignment with the Social Protection corporate strategy, policies, and guidance relevant to social protection.
Provide support to WFP Lao PDR Country Office efforts in building effective and collaborative relations with national authorities; and to assist the government in identifying fields of development or improvement where shock responsive social protection and/or cash-based transfer services can be usefully promoted and employed.
Provide support to the implementation of the shock-responsive social protection pilot and support the WFP Lao PDR Country Office transitioning of operations to longer term national capacity strengthening support in shock responsive social protection, strengthening cash-based programming preparedness, and determining programme opportunities and partnerships for national system strengthening in social protection.
Provide support to the WFP Lao PDR Country Office efforts in researching and analyzing policy and operational issues to inform the development of in-country social protection policies, strategies, programmes, and activities.
Contribute to efforts in building effective and collaborative relations with relevant national social protection authorities.
Support in the development, management and sharing of knowledge products to position and strengthen the credibility of WFP as a key partner in social protection.
Support the design of learning initiatives that enhance the capacity of WFP staff and partners to engage in social protection-relevant policy dialogues, programme design and delivery.
Capture and share knowledge, best practices, and experiences in relation to social protection initiatives.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
Advanced University degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, International Development, International Relations, Social Sciences, or other fields relevant to social protection, or a First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses in social protections.
Experience:
Five (5) or more years of relevant professional experience related to national development programmes, policies, strategies or plans and institutional structures in relation to social protection and/or revolving around food security and/or nutrition and/or emergency responses. Has experience working across the policy and programme cycle management.
Knowledge & Skills: