Job Opportunity for Programme Associate (Monitoring Staff) at World Food Programme in Lucknow

VACANCY DETAILS

Type of Contract: Service Contract – SB3 – L6 
No. of positions: 6 
Duty Station: Lucknow/ Other districts of Uttar Pradesh (initial start in Lucknow, further job location will be assigned in districts of Uttar Pradesh)
Duration of assignment: 1 year (renewable)
Reporting to: Project Team lead in the State Rural Livelihood Mission, Uttar Pradesh and Programme Policy Officer (Nutrition) in the WFP Country Office in Delhi

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

VACANCY CLOSING DATE : 3 July 2022

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The World Food Programme (WFP), operating in India since 1963, aims to provide technical support to strengthening the government’s food safety-nets programmes in order to improve access to nutritious food for millions of vulnerable households throughout the country. Through its Country Strategic Plan (2019-2023), WFP India aims to support India in achieving their targets under Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. Strategic Outcome (SO) 2 of WFP’s current and forthcoming CSP is aimed at reducing all forms of malnutrition in India, 
To facilitate India’s progress on the SDGs and in sustainably reducing malnutrition, WFP will focus on “People at high risk of malnutrition in India, especially women, children and adolescent girls, have improved nutrition by 2025” as laid down in Strategic outcome 2 of its CSP. This primarily translates into WFP working with National and State governments to improve the nutritional status of the population through introduction of nutritionally viable solutions and best practices in existing systems and enhancing the nutritional effectiveness of the three food-based safety nets namely the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Mid-day meal (MDM) scheme and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.  Social behaviour change communications (SBCC) accompanies all activities to help target audiences to know more about the benefits of good nutrition, appropriate child feeding practices and appropriate health and hygiene practices. 

JOB PURPOSE

WFP Collaboration with the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) and the Department of Women & Child Development (DWCD) in Uttar Pradesh
Aligned to this overarching vision around improved nutrition, WFP has been working in Uttar Pradesh across several Departments and with various stakeholders including the State Rural Livelihood Mission and the Department of Women & Child Development to ensure the availability and consumption of nutritious, quality assured and safe Supplementary nutrition through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. Under this project, a total of 204 Supplementary nutrition production units are in process of being set up across the State to cater to ICDS requirements in 43 districts; these units will be run by women led microenterprises. Each unit will produce a variety of different food products for different ICDS beneficiary groups such as children between 6 months to 6 years of age, adolescent girls and pregnant/ lactating women. This model will then be expanded across the State in a phased manner to cover all the districts.
WFP works closely with both SRLM and DWCD for the roll-out of the supplementary nutrition production through a combination of technical assistance and direct support to set up the supplementary nutrition production units.
WFP will provide technical assistance at the State level and also to the various units being set up across the State, in tandem with the officials of SRLM. WFP technical assistance will be focussed primarily on the processes around the production of the supplementary nutrition. Post set-up, WFP will provide technical assistance for monitoring the implementation and production across the units; identifying gaps/ areas for improvement and helping to fill the gaps through proven solutions. 
WFP has already set up block level production units in Bighapur, Unnao and Malwa, Fatehpur districts-these fully automated production plants function as Centres of Excellence are used for training workers from other districts for the scale up of the production units in the remaining districts in the State. 
To support the roll out of this alternative model for production of supplementary nutrition, WFP in close collaboration with UPSRLM will set up a Project Management Unit in UPSRLM to efficiently support the implementation of the project. Under the PMU, staff with different skill sets will be positioned at various levels, including the placement of Senior Programme Assistants (Monitoring) at the State level within UPSRLM.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The Regional Coordinator, under the direct guidance of the Project lead, SRLM and Programme Policy Officer (Nutrition) based at the WFP CO and the overall guidance of the Head of the Nutrition and School Feeding will be responsible for the following: 

Project management:

•    Assist in the planning, developing and implementation of various activities and processes in the Supplementary nutrition production units aligned with guidance from WFP and UPSRLM;

•    Act as a point of contact for resolution of a range of operational queries and problems within the production units;

•    Oversee and/or review the work of the unit, providing practical advice and guidance, to contribute to delivering objectives to agreed standards and deadlines;

•    Support in organizing and conducting capacity building of the women led microenterprises on various project related aspects.

Monitoring of the project:

•    Regularly visit the Supplementary nutrition production units in the districts assigned to monitor the implementation of the project, identify gaps in implementation at the Unit level and suggest mid-course correction to the unit staff in coordination with SRLM and WFP;

•    Attend the monthly meetings of the units in the districts under responsibility assigned;

•    Review the budgetary estimates and expenditure undertaken by each unit.

Documentation and knowledge management;

•    Support in compilation and identify best practices in the implementation of the project in the different production units for wider dissemination;

•    Prepare monthly reports on the progress of the project at the district level and at unit level for the units/districts under responsibility for sharing with all project stakeholders.

Coordination

•    Coordinate with government counterparts at the district level across DWCD and SRLM as need be to facilitate implementation of the project;

•    Liaise with project stakeholders for timely implementation and speedy resolution of issues identified in the projects.

Perform other related duties as required

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:     

•    Completion of secondary school education. A university degree in Food Sciences, Nutrition, Public health, Management or Social sciences is preferable.

Experience:    

•    Minimum 6 years of progressively responsible work experience preferably in the development sector in partnership with the government/UN agency/INGO. Experience on supporting the implementation of projects or working on projects targeted at addressing malnutrition at the community level is desirable.

Knowledge & Skills:    

•    Excellent interpersonal skills required, including strong professionally communication ability;

•    Advocacy and networking skills with a broad range of stakeholders including government, private sector, civil society, academia, NGO and international cooperation 

•    Knowledge of research methods with familiarity in quantitative and qualitative methods;

•    Advanced computer skills with proficiency in Windows, Microsoft office;

•    Knowledge of UN system would be an asset

•    Knowledge of WFP programmes is an advantage

•    Ability to work collaboratively with a diverse team of nutrition and food security experts across fourteen countries

•    Tact and diplomacy 

Languages:    

Fluency in spoken and written English and Hindi; ability to speak in other Indian languages is a plus. 

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

•    Ability to engage effectively with a wide range of actors from government, private sector and civil society.

•    Very strong communications skills, both in writing and speaking

•    Solid planning and problem-solving skills and action oriented

•    Ability to work under tight deadlines and simultaneously manage multiple tasks in an autonomous manner; 

•    Maturity, initiative, courtesy, tact and ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds

•    Ability to handle any other additional tasks as requested by the supervisor.

•    Ability to undertake travel within the country. 

This section is optional to describe additional responsibilities & knowledge required for the specific job.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Coaches team in the most effective ways to communicate WFP’s Strategic Objectives to WFP team and partners in the field.
• Be a force for positive change: Implements new methods or tools to improve team’s work processes and productivity.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Maps team’s activities and tasks to specific successes in beneficiary communities to showcase positive impact.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Explains to teammates how each unit contributes to the overall WFP mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people’s skills: Identifies skill development opportunities such as training modules or on-the-job experiences for self, colleagues and direct reports.
• Create an inclusive culture: Facilitates team building activities to build rapport in own unit.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Facilitates the pairing of junior colleagues with coaches within own team.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Proactively anticipates potential challenges and develops mitigation plans to ensure that team meets goals and targets.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Identifies opportunities to be creative in own work and to help team be more innovative and accurate in their respective tasks and areas of work.
• Focus on getting results: Monitors team’s deliverables and provides feedback to ensure outcomes are delivered consistently and accurately.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Provides accurate guidance to team on expected responsibilities and tasks, whilst also upholding own commitment to the team.
• Be Decisive: Sets an example and provides guidance to junior team members on when to escalate issues when faced with challenging issues in the workplace or in the field.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Facilitates partnerships with other WFP units to accomplish missions in the field.
• Build strong external partnerships: Sets an example and provides guidance to team on how to build relationships with external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Articulates to colleagues or direct reports the value of contributing to other WFP teams and agency partnerships in fulfilling WFP’s goals and objectives.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Organizes, monitors, and prioritizes own and team’s efforts to ensure that they will fulfil the needs of internal and external partners.