Programme Policy Officer (Home grown School Feeding), SC8, Jijiga Ethiopia
Organizational Context
WFP Ethiopia's CSP 2026-2030 aims for universal school meal coverage by 2030. This role supports scaling up home-grown school feeding in the Somali region by strengthening institutional capacity and coordination with the Ministry of Education, regional government, and communities. The officer will work closely with the regional education bureau to enhance planning, resource mobilization, and monitoring.
Job Purpose
The Programme Policy Officer (Home Grown School Feeding) will provide crucial support to WFP's school feeding program in the Jijiga area, focusing on establishing and scaling up the Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) initiative in the Somali region. This role involves leading project planning, implementation, monitoring, and adaptive management to achieve strategic objectives, ensuring effective delivery of programs that create sustainable results. The officer will manage programme risks, identify opportunities, and drive accountability through data-driven decision-making. A key aspect of this position is fostering multi-sector coordination with regional bodies like agriculture and social protection, and facilitating essential meetings to ensure smooth program execution. The role requires close collaboration with zonal and woreda education offices, developing comprehensive reports, and promoting the integration of protection and gender perspectives to ensure equitable participation of all children.
Responsibilities
The Programme and Policy Officer (Home Grown School Feeding) is a dynamic leader responsible for steering regional programme portfolios, forging strategic partnerships, and delivering high-impact development outcomes. This role involves strong project leadership, stakeholder engagement, and operational excellence to coordinate complex multi-partner initiatives. Key responsibilities include influencing policy discussions, mobilizing resources, and ensuring the effective delivery of programmes that create sustainable results for communities and government partners. The officer will lead the planning, implementation, monitoring, and adaptive management of the HGSF project, manage programme risks, identify opportunities, and ensure timely resolution of implementation bottlenecks. A crucial aspect is driving accountability, results-based management, and continuous improvement through data-driven decision-making. The role requires representing the organization at regional leadership forums and acting as a liaison between field operations and the Somali Area office management, with an expected time split of 50% at the WFP office and 50% at the regional education bureau. This includes ensuring multi-sector coordination, exploring integration opportunities with other regional sectors like agriculture and health to enhance the homegrown school feeding program. The officer will facilitate coordination meetings, support the regional bureau of education in holding steering committee and technical meetings, draft minutes, document action points, and follow up on their delivery. Support will also be provided to zonal and woreda education offices in programme implementation, alongside developing periodic and ad-hoc reports on program activities and outcomes, and supporting the education bureau in progress and expenditure report submissions. Promoting the integration of protection and gender perspectives to ensure equal participation of girls and boys across all program areas is also a key responsibility.
Work Experience
Requires at least one year of professional experience in a relevant field, with a background and interest in international humanitarian development. Familiarity with Nutrition, Education, and Social Protection/Social Assistance is necessary. Experience in an agro-pastoral setting is considered an asset.
Skills
Project Planning, Implementation, Monitoring, Risk Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Resource Mobilization, Data Analysis, Reporting, Coordination, Policy Influence, Capacity Building, Gender Integration, Protection Mainstreaming, Agro-economics, Community Development, Livelihoods, Nutrition, Education, Social Protection, English Proficiency, Somali Proficiency, Microsoft Office Suite