Consultant, Advocating and supporting partnerships for school health and nutrition activities in the region

Job Title: Consultant, Advocating and supporting partnerships for school health and nutrition activities in the region
Vacancy Number: 160934
Contract type: Regular Consultant (CST Level II)
Duration: 11 Months
Duty Station: Bangkok, Thailand (Home Based)

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is a leading organization delivering food assistance and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. We also support governments of developing countries in their efforts to eliminate hunger and malnutrition by addressing the underlying causes and disparities in access to food and good nutrition to ensure that no one is left behind in line with the Agenda 2030, Sustaining Peace and Agenda for Humanity. WFP is particularly focused on Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and Goal 17 (Partnerships).
The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to WFP is recognition that ending hunger is a critical first step towards global peace. WFP recognizes that one of the greatest contributions it can make to humanity is to provide a voice to the 690 million hungry people in the world. The Nobel Peace Prize gives us a platform to make their needs heard and to mobilize support for the assistance they need.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Under the overall guidance of the Regional School Feeding Officer and in close collaboration with Regional Bureau’s programme and partnership teams, the consultant will support promotion of the school health and nutrition agenda within existing and new partnerships in line with the RBB’s RBIP with specific focus on Advocating for increased investment in school health and nutrition.Specifically, the incumbent will:

1. Support RBB’s advocacy on school health and nutrition (SHN) with key partners, disseminate among Regional Bureaus and country offices and position SHN within the Regional Bureau’s strategies and plans.
2. Contribute to the knowledge and evidence generation, as well as knowledge and best practice sharing around SHN. This may include regional evidence generation and exchange through regional SF community, regional entities (ASEAN, SAARC) and South-South collaboration, including potential interaction with from Centres of Excellence.
3. Identify and engage in regional opportunities/events that could support regional and global advocacy on SHN, including by supporting identification and engagement of champions and engage with sub-national levels of governments.
4. Coordinate RBB’s engagement in global events (in collaboration with HQ) where participation of the regions/COs from the region (in close collaboration with other RBB’s teams).
5. Build on the global Interagency Group work to further engage at regional level with the local governments and UNCT/RC/Clusters teams to promote school health and nutrition agenda through establishing/fostering regional partnerships with agencies in the areas advocacy for safe-reopening school after COVID-19, shock-responsive and adaptive social protection, nutrition and health, food safety and quality, nutrition-sensitive food value chains and other areas.
6. Leverage on global agreements to work towards developing/ strengthening the partnerships at regional level with a wide range of partners at global level (UN agencies, multilateral funding, Regional Bodies and WB), including
   1. Support country offices with their efforts to include school feeding/school health and nutrition in National Education Plans by providing narrative and/or feedback.
   2. Engage stakeholders that implement elements of the integrated package to ensure a cohesive and comprehensive effort to build school-based health and nutrition services including representing WFP in the UN joint initiatives and platform, and advocate for integration of SF/SHN into education and health related regional policy framework.
   3. Explore partnerships with non-governmental organisations as well as private sector partnerships, especially with school based nutrition.

7. Support the efforts of the global School Meals Coalition by using partnerships with regional partners to form alliances, support country offices with national engagement.

8. Contribute to knowledge management, evidence generation, and programme design related activities linked to advocacy and partnership in collaboration with RBB’s SF team and other technical units.

9. Other activities as required.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

**
Education:**

Master’s degree in nutrition, public health, social science or other related field.

Experience:

• No less than 8 years of work experience in the area of public health, education, school feeding or related field with increasing level of responsibility.
• Previous experience in partnership development and strengthening activities.
• Experience in undertaking policy discussion and dialogue with senior level stakeholders within Government and non-governmental agencies.
• Previous experience working at the regional level to provide support to COs

**
Knowledge & Skills **

Essential:

• Strong thematic knowledge in school feeding, or broader in school health and nutrition.
• Programme design, support and implementation experience.
• Strong organizational and project management skills and ability to work with high degree of autonomy.
• Strong analytical skills with demonstrated ability to transform analytical products into presentable visual pieces with key messages.
• Strong communication and knowledge management skills with good facilitation, interpersonal skills, and ability to produce professional level written outputs and present in English.
• Ability to engage with various stakeholders in open dialogue and value diverse opinions with maturity and tact, proven diplomacy and cultural sensitivity.

Desirable:

• Willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
• Ability to work independently in a timely and organised manner.
• Ability to work in a team and multi-task as needed.
• Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English language.