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Job Title: Consultant, School Feeding and Gender, technical support

Type of Contract: International Consultant (When Actually Employed)

Division: School-based Programmes (SBP)

Duty Station (City, Country): Work remotely

Duration: 120 days

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

With over 60 years’ experience in School Feeding, WFP has a trajectory of working with more than 100 countries to set up sustainable national school feeding programmes. In the context of COVID-19 we are at the forefront of supporting governments in planning for the safe re-opening of schools and making sure that meals and health services reach the ones that need it the most. Our school feeding programmes not only provide the basics of nutritional food but serve as a powerful incentive for children to return to school.

Today, millions of children living in poor and vulnerable communities don’t have regular access to the nutritious food they need to stay healthy and thrive. This affects their physical and mental development and can keep them from finishing school and building the strong future they deserve.

WFP advocates for the universal adoption of school feeding programmes as a safety net that helps increase children’s access to education and learning opportunities and strengthens their health and nutrition status. WFP focuses increasingly on helping countries to establish and maintain nationally owned programmes. In countries still requiring WFP’s operational support, it implements school feeding programmes with clear hand over strategies.

Helping girls stay in school, especially into adolescence, is an effective way of preventing early marriage and of delaying the first pregnancy, both of which can trap women into poverty, social exclusion, violence and chronic ill health. A multitude of gender inequalities hinder the access of children, especially girls, to schools. There is growing evidence that even in conflict settings, school feeding programmes can enhance enrolment and reduce inappropriate labour, especially for girls.

In some countries, WFP has successfully operationalized approaches with partners such UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Women to address some of these barriers through integrated platforms, which need to be supported and scaled up. A gender-responsive approach is being taken to ensure girls are enrolled and stay in school. All children are provided with nutritious, fortified school meals; and integrated school health packages, including education services on nutrition and health, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV). In addition, adolescent girls receive additional targeted support to address their specific needs, priorities and barriers including the provision of micronutrients, conditional cash incentives, services and support related to SRH, and tailored support in school, including mentoring and coaching.

ACCOUNTABITLITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES:

As a consultant in the School-Based Programmes team in WFP Headquarters, you will bring your experience in the humanitarian and development sector by working and contributing to a multidisciplinary team focusing on multisectoral approaches to reach programme quality in school feeding. You will support the establishment and promote of clear pathways to identify ways to support more efficiently gender transformative school feeding programing such as building evidence, work on programme guidance, encourage and foster stronger partnerships, deliver on results, etc.

Through your “hands on” and “make it happen” attitude and by sharing your own thoughts and ideas with the team, you will contribute significantly to advancing school feeding programmes worldwide and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential and thrive. The consultancy will focus on ensuring effective gender mainstreaming across WFP’s school feeding portfolio with a view to promoting actions that transform the social norms and structural barriers that perpetuate gender inequalities in accessing and benefiting from education services.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

The consultant will work under the overall guidance and coordination of the School Feeding Programme Policy Officer for Integrated School Health and Nutrition Programmes. He/she will be expected to support the implementation of gender transformative[1] school feeding, through:

• Contribute to disseminating a multi-country learning exercise on gender-transformative approaches to Regional Bureaus (RBs) and Country Offices (COs), by organizing webinars and uploading documents on relevant knowledge platforms.
• Contribute to disseminating and rolling out guidance pieces on women economic empowerment and on gender integration in SBP, in collaboration with GEN and the RBs and other stakeholders, to COs and other cooperating partners, by providing narrative to material posted on the weLearn platform, the programme guidance manual and other avenues for reaching WFP school feeding experts.
• Contribute to designing, disseminating, and rolling out any other gender-related trainings and/or materials, in collaboration with GEN, with extracts from the existing guidance peaches and drafting of emails to support the outreach.
• Contribute to integrating gender considerations into the Regional Bureau Implementation Plans (RBIPs) and second-generation Country Strategic Plans (CSPs), utilizing the multi-country learning exercise and pieces of guidance, by recommending amendment to the text of these documents as needed..
• In collaboration with other programme team members, enhance WFP’s leadership status in different forums on school feeding/gender transformative approach through direct participation, briefings, information products, proposal development and other materials.
• Liaise with other relevant units to keep abreast of corporate guidance related to gender, equality, and inclusion through establishing and maintaining close collaboration with members of the Gender Office, the Programme & Policy Division, and other Divisions/Units.
• Any other duties in support of the Programme team and other teams in the division.

DELIVERABLES QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• Multi-country learning exercise and guidance for gender integration in SBP and for WEE disseminated at various levels.
• Gender considerations from multi-country learning exercise and pieces of guidance on gender mainstreamed in RBIPs and second-generation CSPs.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced University degree in one of the following fields: social sciences, statistics, development economics, international development, education, nutrition or other related fields, or First University degree with additional years of relevant work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:

• Possess 2-3 years’ experience in school feeding programming and gender equality related work.
• Working knowledge on UN partners in education and/or in gender equality, demonstrate good knowledge of operational constraints in humanitarian contexts and have good analytical, communication and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working with WFP is an asset.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Have prior experience in writing, editing, incorporating in relevant documents and disseminating technical pieces of guidance on gender.
• Ability to work as part of a team, participating in open dialogues and valuing diverse opinions of others, regardless of gender, culture, background, experience, or country assignment.

Languages:

International Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.

Terms and Conditions

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

Deadline for applications: 7 June 2023

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.