SSA Consultant - Social Protection Expert

Organizational Context

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and building pathways to peace and prosperity. WFP utilizes food assistance to support people recovering from conflict, disasters, and climate change impacts. Committed to diversity and inclusion, WFP fosters a skilled, high-performing workforce that embodies its core values.

Job Purpose

The Social Protection Expert will play a crucial role in reviewing WFP India's Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for 2023-2027 and informing the next CSP (2028-2032). This involves conducting a comprehensive landscape and context analysis of the food security and nutrition sector in India, with a specific focus on food-based social protection systems. The expert will assess WFP India's contributions to government programs, analyze innovations in service delivery, and examine WFP's role in capacity strengthening for government counterparts. Through stakeholder consultations and in-depth analysis, the role aims to generate evidence, identify emerging trends, and formulate strategic recommendations for future WFP interventions in social protection and public service delivery, ensuring alignment with WFP's humanitarian mission and operational excellence.

Responsibilities

The Social Protection Expert will provide crucial analytical support for an external review of WFP India's Country Strategic Plan (CSP). Key responsibilities include assisting the Team Leader in developing the review's methodology, work plan, and analytical framework. The expert will conduct a landscape analysis with a focus on food-based social protection systems, systems strengthening, and technology-driven reforms. This involves reviewing WFP India's engagement with major government programs like TPDS and PM POSHAN, and analyzing innovations in supply chain optimization, automation, and digital platforms. A significant part of the role is examining WFP's contribution to capacity building for government counterparts, including policy dialogue and pilot design. The expert will also identify emerging trends and risks in food-based social protection and public service delivery. Stakeholder consultations with government officials, UN agencies, NGOs, funders, and academia are essential. The role requires preparing thematic inputs, case summaries, and analytical notes for the final External Review Report, and supporting the formulation of recommendations for the next CSP, focusing on partnerships, innovation, and scalability. Ensuring ethical standards and quality assurance in data handling and reporting is paramount. The expert will also support the preparation of presentations and briefing notes, and undertake other tasks as directed for the CSP review, including travel to priority states for stakeholder engagement.

Work Experience

Requires 10-12 years of relevant professional experience in food-based social protection, public distribution systems, social safety nets, or large-scale government programs. Must have strong technical understanding of India's food security and public distribution architecture, including TPDS, procurement, storage, logistics, and delivery models. Demonstrated experience in systems strengthening, policy analysis, and program design/review is essential. Familiarity with technology-enabled solutions in public service delivery and food systems is highly desirable.

Skills

Information not available.

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