JOB DESCRIPTION

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger
worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger (SDG 2) 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. WFP has been present in Sri Lanka since 1968 and provided assistance to the country in emergency response and protracted recovery interventions in the aftermath of man-made disasters such as the 27-year conflict and recurrent natural disasters (droughts and floods/landslides). Following the end of nearly three decades of armed conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka attained lower-middle-income-country status in January 2010, and then was elevated to upper-middle-income status in 2019. Exactly one year after (2020), the World Bank has reclassified again the country in the low-income category. Along with the post-impact of COVID-19, Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis that has been steadily worsening since 2021, Given the massive lags in socio-economic progress, the need for progress in strengthening food security and nutrition, particularly nutrition, particularly in terms of food wastage, realizing gender equality and eliminating geographical and socio-economic disparities is critical in Sri Lanka.

A 2nd five-year Country Strategic Plan (CSP 2023-2027) developed in consultation with the Government and other stakeholders and informed by contextual, gender and gap analyses, and recommendations from the 2017 National Strategic Review of Food Security and Nutrition towards saving life and changing life, frames WFP’s engagement in supporting Sri Lanka’s national development vision.

The CSP has four major Strategic Outcomes:
• Strategic outcome 1: People are better able to meet their urgent food and nutrition needs;
• Strategic outcome 2: People have better nutrition, health and education outcomes;
• Strategic outcome 3: People have improved and sustainable livelihoods; and
• Strategic outcome 4: National programmes and systems are strengthened.

Due to the problem of health indicators in Sri Lanka due to the impact of COVID 19 and the aftermath of Covid 19 – in comparison to its South Asian neighbors – malnutrition continue to pose a major challenge for the country, characterized by a high level of undernutrition, emerging problem of wasting, overweight and obesity and micronutrient deficiencies.

The WFP Sri Lanka Country Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 aims to support and facilitate vulnerable communities able to meet better nutrition and health and strengthen their sustainable livelihoods. This aims to improve food security and nutrition by empowering vulnerable communities, improve education outcomes and individuals to cope with urgent food and nutrition needs. It also assists with durable solutions for food assistance and livelihood support and strengthens national systems through technical support to ensure that gender-informed risk-sensitive planning is integrated into public investment policies and local development initiatives, redressing structural and socio-cultural inequalities.
Also, WFP aims to support and facilitate multi-sector approaches to nutrition and food security through both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programming, including supporting the government to scale up its rice fortification effort, promoting positive nutrition practices, as well integrating nutrition lens within the WFP assisted School Meal Programme and sustainable livelihood support.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The National School Meals Programme (SMP), originally launched by the Government of Sri Lanka in 1931, is considered as an educational as well as a social protection intervention to support equal access to education and learning opportunities. Currently, about 67% of primary school children benefit from this initiative. The programme is a part of the national budget.
The World Food Programme launched the Home-Grown School Feeding programme (HGSF) which is designed to stimulate local production: by purchasing the food required for the SMP from local smallholder farmers and processors they create a stable demand for quality and safe food, stimulate local production, support the development of local skills, and combat malnutrition. Whilst assisting the local smallholder farmers to develop their capacity for providing a reliable food supply, HGSF programmes are also expected to expand opportunities for smallholder farmers to gain access to markets and contribute to rural transformation. The focus of HGSF therefore is two-fold; creating a structured demand for and strategic procurement of locally produced food and building synergies with complementary interventions in order to enable smallholder farmers to participate in school feeding programmes.

Two pilot projects have been completed with a country specific HGSF model to assess the operational feasibility of implementing the model through NSMP. With the successful implementation and lessons learned from the two pilot projects, the project has been expanded as phase 1 in 2021 to the new geographical areas of 04 districts of Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa with the funding of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Later in 2022 the activities under this were improved further with the Government of the Russian Federation in the same phase 1 districts. In 2023 as per the National Technical Advisory Group (TAG-HGSF) guidance the geographical locations further expanded for two new districts of Nuwaraeliya and Kilinochchi. Also, the Korea Financial Industry Foundation (KFIF) has provided some funds to expand the pilot success from 2023 onwards to other areas of Monaragala and Matale districts, where the pilot project has been implemented.

Outcomes of the Project
There are four expected outcomes:

• Link the school meal programme with local agriculture sector to boost the local economy and

enhance the financial sustainability of the NSMP

• Children to get nutritious school meals and support positive behavioral changes towards nutrition wellbeing.

• Strengthen local food system linked to school meal programme.

• Economic and social empowerment for women involved with SMP through gender transformative approaches

Implementation Oversight

Project implementation is guided by a National Technical Advisory Group (TAG) appointed by the Partnership Secretariat for WFP Cooperation with the necessary technical assistance. At the Provincial and the District level implementation is overseen by a committee appointed by the Chief Secretary and the District Secretary with the members of relevant provincial ministries, District Director (Planning), Provincial Director for the department of Education, Provincial Director for the department of Agriculture, Provincial Director for the department of Animal Health & Production, District Agriculture Director, Provincial Director for Health, Regional Director Health, District Samurdhi Director, District Director for Livestockand District officer for Women Development and WFP Field Assistant for SMP.

JOB PURPOSE:

WFP is looking for skilled Field Assistants (FASMP) based in the Batticaloa Field Office to coordinate the HGSF Phase 1 program in Eastern Province. The FASMP will facilitate project implementation, coordinate between stakeholders and beneficiaries and perform monitoring of the project activities through a nutrition-sensitive and gender-transformative approach. The FASMP, under the direct supervision of the Program Officer SMP and the overall supervision of the Head of Nutrition and School Based Programs, is responsible for the following.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Work closely with the WFP Nutrition & School Based Programme Team in Country Office as well as relevant stakeholders in the province, district and Divisional/ Education Zonal levels to provide support on the HGSF project activities under activity 2 in the current WFP Country Strategic Plan 2023-2027

Assist the Programme officer (SMP) in planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the project activities in the district of Batticaloa

Closely interact with the project beneficiaries and government staff of the respective Province, District and Divisions to mobilize their participation and support in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the project activities

Facilitate the selection of the schools and beneficiaries for the project activities.

Visit project locations, schools and beneficiaries and coordinate the provision of the inputs.

Organize training, workshops and awareness programmes for the beneficiaries/communities in the assigned districts in collaboration with the local government partners

Work closely with the beneficiaries and the schools to identify issues (technical, managerial & financial) and needs to progress with the activities and guide them to find suitable solutions

Follow up strictly and ensure the successful implementation of activities according to the guidelines provided.

Reconciliation support – assist the government partners in the timely preparation and delivery of documents with required authentication.

Facilitate regular/as-needed basis convening of the Provincial, District, and Divisional Project coordination team.

Facilitate to organize workshops, trainings and exposure visits for the government staff and beneficiaries as needed.

Collect data and maintain updated qualitative and quantitative information to assist the
Programme officer for regular monitoring of the project activities and preparation of reports to WFP CO

The Field assistant will perform the said tasks through extensive fieldwork with selected communities and other key stakeholders of the project area

Perform any other duties as instructed by the Programme Officer

DUTY STATION

The Field Assistant will be based in Batticaloa district will be supervised as mentioned above. To work closely with the WFP filed office and provincial, district and divisional officials and relevant technical agencies and undertake frequent field trips to sites where project activities take place.

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT
The Field Assistant is a Service Contract (SC4) post for a duration of 1 Year (with possibility of extension subject to operational needs).

Deliverables
• Maintain and update the list of schools and all key information pertaining to the schools during the project period for the given province, districts and divisions.
• Maintain and update the list of beneficiaries and all key information pertaining to them
• Timely cash transfer request and reconciliation report submission.
• Monthly progress reports of the districts.
• Detailed report on Implementation Plan vs achievement for every project activity assigned for the districts.
• Report monitoring in the format prescribed.
• Monthly monitoring schedule for HGSF project activities in the districts.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Qualifications:
• Completion of secondary school education. NVQ level 4 or a post-secondary certificate in agriculture / Nutrition, food science or Health Promotion related functional area is desirable. In addition, the following competencies are required:
• Interpersonal and collaboration skills and proven ability to be flexible in a team oriented approach with diverse groups of people
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills
• Planning, organizational and time management skills
• Demonstrated ability to handle multiple tasks efficiently and effectively at the same time

Strong written and oral communication skills in Sinhala and Tamil preferred
• Fluency in both oral and written communication in English
• Working knowledge of any other foreign languages would also be an added advantage (eg: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc)
• Computer literate

Experience:
• Minimum four years relevant working experience in the fields of Nutrition, agriculture, Health Promotion, food science or education sector, livelihood development in the dry zone districts or equitant.
• Working experience/knowledge to guide the beneficiaries to implement poultry farming and home gardens
• Working experience in development projects in the target areas
• Familiar with rural development, participatory approaches, and environmental issues
• Ability to conduct surveys and assessment among the community
• Basic understanding on UN Agencies would be an advantage

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements