NOTE: WFP DOES NOT SOLICIT FOR FEES OR ANY FORM OF PAYMENT FROM JOB APPLICANTS

WFP is looking for talented people who are committed to joining our efforts to eradicate hunger. It offers unlimited opportunities to grow your professionalism,  talent and expertise. Start your journey to be a member of the world-wide effort to eradicate hunger. WFP has a policy of affirmative action for women.

ABOUT WFP

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need. In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their lives. On average, WFP reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 80 countries each year. The organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to food and contribute to lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas.

Brief description of WFP in Uganda

WFP delivers food assistance in emergencies and work with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. WFP provides life-saving food assistance and livelihood opportunities to refugees in Uganda. In addition, WFP assists the most vulnerable people in Karamoja with food and nutrition assistance. Finally, WFP works with smallholder farmers and links them to markets.

As Uganda strives to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and become a middle-income country by 2040, WFP is also assessing its relevance and repositioning its role in Uganda.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The UN World Food Programme (WFP), 2020 Noble Peace Prize winner, is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against hunger.  It is the largest and longest serving humanitarian agency in Uganda.

 

Karamoja sub-region where WFP has presence since 1964 is the poorest region in Uganda with over 80% population living under the poverty line. The region is prone to increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, especially droughts, pests, and diseases (humans, crops, and livestock) in part because of climate change.

 

WFP interventions in Karamoja involve working closely with the nine District Local Governments (DLGs) in joint design and programming, evidence gathering, knowledge sharing, strengthening sub-national capacities and establishing partnerships with other development partners.

 

WFP in Karamoja focuses on the following areas: Nutrition specific and nutrition-sensitive programmes to treat and prevent malnutrition and reduce stunting; Building resilience to shocks and climate change in anticipation of increased food insecurity and limited livelihood opportunities;  Ensuring school children receive nutritious meals to meet their basic food, nutrition and health needs and including increasing enrolment and attendance; Working with the government and partners to reduce crop losses, improve household food security and increase a marketable surplus;  Deploying targeted relief assistance to crises-affected populations or households as informed by food security and nutrition assessments; and Strengthening government’s shock-responsive systems to improve food security and nutrition in Karamoja.

 

WFP programmes in Karamoja use food and cash to build assets, spread knowledge and nurture stronger, more dynamic communities that are food secure.

 

On average, WFP aims to bring food assistance to more than 1 million people in Karamoja sub region.

JOB PURPOSE

The Programme Policy Officer (Agriculture Market Support)  will be responsible for supporting the implementation of a range of smallholder livelihood and resilience-building activities, and is expected to strengthen agriculture markets in Karamoja sub-region to increase the earnings of smallholder farmers by reducing constraints to production, strengthen private sector engagement, improve market access for farmers, and increase economic opportunities for women and youth in agricultural value chains.  Additionally the incumbet will be expected to ensure that smallholder farmers (SHF) are achieving food security at the household level, and that through improved productivity and market access, they will be guaranteed sustainable income increase, as well as availability of nutritious food in local markets.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

  • Provide technical support in designing, planning, and implementing initiatives that optimize value creation and commercialisation opportunities with a specific focus on climate-smart agriculture and post-harvest loss management along priority value chains in Karamoja sub-region.
  • Coordinate farmer organisation development in collaboration with District Local Governments (DLGs) and other relevant stakeholders through undertaking profiling exercises, identifying, and recommending capacity strengthening needs and supporting District Production & Marketing Departments (DPMD) and District Commercial Offices (DCOs) to design and implement tailored capacity strengthening initiatives.
  • Collaborate with the partners to ensure regular community dialogues and sensitisation meetings on agricultural issues including agri-nutrition, climate-smart agriculture, post-harvest management, and storage, strengthening farmer extension systems and establishing community seed banks.
  • Provide specialised support to cooperating partners to ensure that the various activities are performed within the established targets following WFP’s policies and procedures.
  • Facilitate needs assessments of target smallholder farmers, farmer groups and aggregators/lead farmers, using standardized tools and approaches.
  • Facilitate WFP supported farmer organisations and farmer-friendly aggregation entities to access agricultural services by coordinating with key value chain stakeholders e.g. aggregators, micro-finance instiutions.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES 2

  • Facilitate linkages of farmer groups to private sector entities for access to on and off farm equipment like the post-harvest handling equipment.
  • Monitor and assist cooperatives, farmer organisations and groups, and other aggregation entities to adhere to terms of produce delivery contracts facilitated by WFP.
  • Propose ways to strengthen the integration of gender, youth, nutrition, and climate action in all activities being implemented under Agriculture Market Support (AMS) programme.
  • Promote agriculture financing through establishment of Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLAs) and facilitate smallholder farmers’ financial inclusion through training and promotion of innovative digital financial services
  • Work and exchange information with internal counterparts to support effective collaboration, implementation, and monitoring of ongoing AMS activities.
  • Prepare a range of reports and data analysis (e.g., programme status, performance) and highlight trends/issues ensuring deliverables adhere to corporate standards and quality control.
  • Prepare a range of reports and data analysis, ensuring comprehensive reporting and documentation, based on data collected. This includes regular programme performance status, documentation, and communication of best practices to inform scale and bad practices for learning, highlighting of trends/issues while ensuring deliverables adhere to corporate standards and quality control.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES 3

  • Liaise with internal counterparts across functional units to support effective collaboration, implementation, and monitoring of ongoing project activities. (Process and Outcome monitoring)
  • Facilitate cross-functional engagements to ensure alignment across the Karamoja programme portfolio, and promote integration with Supply Chain, Nutrition, School Feeding, Resilience & Livelihoods, and Shock Responsive Systems Strengthening, among other programmatic areas.
  • Suppport implementation of the corporate Local and Regional Food Procurement (LRP) Policy to increase integration across WFP programmes and promote market access to SHF by leveraging public and private procurement that include programmatic considerations, developmental objectives and analysis of local food value chains.
  • Design and coordinate execution of value chain assessments (VCAs) and other complementary assessments in Karamoja sub-region taking into consideration market dynamics with neighbouring regions in Uganda and Kenya.
  • Provide support to establish strategic partnerships and collaboration.  This would include mapping of key partners to engage based on smallholder, trader, and processor needs.
  • Conduct training of trainers of partner staff, as well as ensure quality monitoring of all programme beneficiary related capacity building activities.
  • Support the capacity building of WFP staff, cooperating partners, and local government within specific AMS technical areas.
  • Perform any other duties as required.

 

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

University degree qualification from a recognised university (certified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – UNESCO) in Uganda in one of the following fields: Agriculture Economics, Agricultural Extension, Agronomy, Plant Sciences, Rural Development, Agribusiness Development, Post-Harvest Management, Agriculture & Food Systems, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Management, Livestock, Rural Development, Environment and Natural Resource Management, Watershed Management, Food Transformation or another relevant technical field.

Experience:

Responsible and relevant work experience in a humanitarian and development organisation and dealing with livelihoods, resilience building, market system development approach, nutrition, food security analysis, market linkages and etc.  Experience in working with smallholder farmers on climate- smart agriculture and post-harvest management support at scale.  Working with small and medium enterprises (SME) in development.

Particular focus on selected value chains is required, with extensive experience working with value chain actors (including financial institutions, aggregators, government institutions, processors, and many others).

Experience working in such technical areas as livelihoods, resilience building, market system development approach, nutrition, food security analysis, market linkages, etc.

Demonstrated responsibility and initiative to respond independently to various queries with only general guidance and ability to use judgment in dealing with unforeseen operational problems.

 

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK: COMMON STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR

Leads by Example with Integrity

Upholds WFP values, principles, and standards:

Demonstrates and encourages others to uphold the WFP values, principles and standards Respects others and values diversity:

Values diversity using respectful and inclusive language, and encourages others to do the same Stays focused and calm under pressure:

Stays focused and calm when under pressure and encourages others to do the same

Demonstrates humility and a willingness to learn: \

Shows humility and a willingness to learn and share knowledge, frequently seeking and acting on feedback, and taking up opportunities to develop

 

Drives Results and Delivers on Commitments

Delivers results for maximum impact:

Holds self and/or others accountable for the delivery of results Delegates appropriately:

Delivers results against delegated tasks and seeks guidance and support where needed Adapts readily to change:

Responds readily to change adjusting work as needed

 

Fosters Inclusive and Collaborative Teamwork

Is inclusive and collaborative: Promotes inclusive teamwork and psychological safety by sharing ideas and openly raising issues

Gives timely and constructive feedback:

Supports development for others by giving timely and constructive feedback

Builds and shares new perspectives:

Listens attentively to others to capture, learn, build and share new perspectives

 

Applies Strategic Thinking

Communicates and fulfils WFP’s vision:

Fulfils WFP’s vision and is able to explain how their objectives support the vision

Embraces curiosity and new ways of doing things:

Demonstrates curiosity, and proposes new ways of doing things when relevant Analyses and evaluates data:

Gathers data and shares knowledge to inform team decision making

Considers the impact of decisions:

Implements decisions and asks questions to understand the impact for wider objectives

 

Builds and Maintains Sustainable Partnerships

Builds partnerships: Builds partnerships by seeking out opportunities to work with others

Collaborates to deliver common objectives:

Collaborates with partners by sharing information and working together to deliver common goals

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance:  Ability to facilitate implementation of food assistance programmes using understanding of principles and good practices of programme design, implementation and monitoring.

Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Vouchers):  Ability to facilitate food assistance programme implementation that deploys full range of transfer modalities with an understanding of principles guiding modality selection and implementation.

Knowledge of Specialized Areas:  Ability to understand technical concepts and data and their relevance to food assistance programmes.

Emergency Programming:  Display capacity to provide inputs into the development, implementation and realignment of high quality emergency programmes.

Strategic Policy Engagement with Government:  Ability to understand and apply principles of engagement with DLG counterparts..

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

17th February 2023

.

Female and qualified applicants are especially encouraged to apply

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY >>>

PLEASE SHARE TO