Programme Policy Officer School Feeding - International CST II - WAE

Organizational Context

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives and building a pathway to peace and prosperity through food assistance. WFP operates in emergencies and supports recovery from conflict, disasters, and climate change impacts. The organization values diversity, inclusion, and invests in employee development, offering a dynamic career path with passionate colleagues.

Job Purpose

The Programme Policy Officer – School Feeding will provide strategic technical leadership and advisory support to WFP Iraq and government counterparts on the design, piloting, institutionalization, and scaling of a government-led Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) model. This role is crucial for strengthening Iraq's national social protection and human capital systems, aiming to improve child nutrition, education, and local economic development. The officer will lead capacity strengthening initiatives for WFP's national school feeding team through coaching and mentoring, ensuring sustained in-country expertise. Key responsibilities include guiding the technical design of the HGSF pilot, facilitating cross-government coordination, supporting evidence generation for policy and advocacy, and fostering South-South cooperation. The objective is to ensure the successful implementation and eventual government handover of a sustainable school feeding program.

Responsibilities

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organization globally, dedicated to saving lives during emergencies and utilizing food assistance to foster peace, stability, and prosperity for individuals recovering from conflict, disasters, and climate change impacts. WFP values diversity, inclusion, and equal employment opportunities, encouraging applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background. The organization offers a multicultural work environment with opportunities for personal and professional development through training, coaching, and internal mobility. WFP is committed to building skilled, high-performing teams that embody its core values: Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion. A career with WFP provides a chance to work across global offices with passionate colleagues dedicated to delivering humanitarian aid to millions worldwide. The organization offers an attractive compensation package and is a recipient of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. WFP celebrates diversity and embraces a vision of a future workforce that is skilled, committed, and operates in an inclusive environment, working collaboratively with partners to positively impact the lives of those they serve.

Work Experience

Requires a minimum of 8 years of progressive professional experience in school feeding and social protection. Demonstrated experience is needed in designing or supporting government-led school feeding programs, ideally including Home-Grown School Feeding models. Strong experience working with government institutions, particularly Ministries of Education, for systems strengthening and policy development is essential. Additionally, experience supporting evidence generation, investment cases, cost-benefit analyses, or public financing advocacy for social protection programs, specifically school feeding, is required.

Skills

Strategic technical leadership, Program design and implementation, Capacity strengthening (coaching, mentoring, training), Policy development, Advocacy, Evidence generation, Cross-government coordination, Partnership building, Nutrition-sensitive design, Food quality and safety, Local procurement, Social and Behaviour Change Communication, Operational guideline development, Donor reporting, South-South cooperation, Knowledge exchange, Strategic planning, Stakeholder engagement, Program management

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