Roving Operational Access Officer (Gulf of Guinea Countries), International Consultant Level 1, Togo

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

Humanitarian access is critical to enable effective response to food security and nutrition crises in complex and conflict affected environments. Due to its mandate, operational presence, and size, WFP is more regularly operating in complex contexts where humanitarian access poses a challenge to operating efficiently. Thus, the demand on WFP to strengthen its corporate and field level capacities to negotiate, maintain and improve access is increasing.

Rising armed conflict in the Central Sahel has led to massive population displacement, catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity in some of the Countries of the region. Over the past years, significant spill-over into the Gulf of Guinea countries has become highly challenging with increasing insecurity and shrinking of the humanitarian space.

The Roving Operational Access Officer will provide support to the Gulf of Guinea Country Offices (COs) with internal and external coordination, integrate multi-dimensional approach to implement access strategies and work plans. This position aims to ensure that there is a coordinated, coherent, and predictable humanitarian approach to access that enables the implementation of WFP programmes, with the aim of maximising access to humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable populations in the respective COs.

The position will also manage the analysis of the prevailing humanitarian situation with a view to alerting and anticipating their implications on WFP operations. The Roving Operational Access Officer will be responsible to support WFP’s role in humanitarian access engagement with humanitarian and non-humanitarian actors, and other stakeholders in the country.

While the position is based in Lome-Togo, the Roving Operational Access Officer shall deploy to support other COs in the Gulf of Guinea

MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
Under the direct supervision of the Regional EPR Access Advisor, the incumbent will undertake the following activities:

Knowledge management – Humanitarian and Access Context analysis

1. Support the COs to undertake contextual analysis and assess access related risks to alert and anticipate their implications on humanitarian operations and propose mitigation measures as well as opportunities to adjust and design WFP’s programmes.
2. Provide inputs to the CO management and RBD on access issues and positioning for WFP’s field level operations.
3. Support COs to develop and maintain an overview of the state-of-play of conflicts and insecurity, including WFP’s efforts to engage with communities and other actors with a view to supporting operational decision-making. This includes the implementation of Operational Access Map, to understand where and why WFP may be unable to reach beneficiaries.
4. In collaboration with Security and other functional units, develop and maintain an updated actor mapping across the Gulf of Guinea countries.
5. Document good practices and learning from the operation and ensure that it is systematically disseminated to feed the corporate development of guidance and tools.
6. Ensure that COs are aware in a timely manner of any new opportunities to enhance engagement on access and engagement issues.

Technical Support

1. Work with functional Units in the COs to develop long-term institutional arrangements necessary to implement access strategies.
2. Support and advise technical units in the COs on components, good practices, key actors and concerns to be considered in the formulation of strategies to reach beneficiaries and facilitate their access to essential goods and services.
3. Provide guidance and assistance on considerations pertaining to engaging humanitarian and non-humanitarian actors, civil and public entities for the development of implementation plans to improve WFP’s access.
4. Support identifying programmatic and operational access-related risks and proposing mitigation measures, as well as opportunities to adjust and design WFP’s interventions to efficiently deliver WFP programmes in a timely manner.
5. Assist the development of context-specific guidance on administrative and legal regulations.
6. Support strengthening and establishing sustainable multi-functional operational access coordination in the COs.
7. Initiate and support efforts to build the capacity of WFP staff to undertake operational access and engagement work.

Coordination

1. Ensure that WFP is actively participating in relevant inter-agency discussions concerning access. This includes forging partnerships with traditional and non-traditional partners and other experts to improve performance in this area.
2. Support the COs efforts to advocate for establishing and maintaining principled and sustained humanitarian access.
3. Support COs to strengthen and maintain sustainable coordination and partnerships with stakeholders in the Gulf of Guinea countries.

Education:

You have

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree equivalent, BAC+4/5), recognized by https://www.whed.net/home.php in International Relations, International Law, Development Studies, Conflict Studies, or related fields OR a first university degree (Bachelor’s degree equivalent, BAC +3) in the same disciplines with additional years of experience.

Experience:

You have:

• At least three (3) years of progressively responsible professional post-graduate (advanced degree) experience related to humanitarian, development, civil work with experience in humanitarian access negotiations. A good understanding of the political, social, security context in the Gulf of Guinea or and Sahel and experience in humanitarian access negotiations and demonstrated conflict and security analytical competency are essential.

Other required experiences:

• Experience in researching, analysing, evaluating, and synthesizing information.
• Experience with the UN or comparable international organization
• Experience in design and completion of conflict analysis
• Experience in capacity building (training, accompaniment)

Languages:

Fluency (level C in reading, writing and speaking) in English and French.

Deadline for application: 20 Nov 2023

WFP Value Proposition

• Meaningful and impactful careers – Our day-to-day work makes a difference in the lives of the people we serve.
• Continuous learning and training – We provide learning tools for our staff to continually develop their careers.
• Multicultural and stimulating working environment – We encourage gender and cultural diversity to make our teams stronger.

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU APPLY

• All employment decisions are made based on organisational needs, job requirements, merit and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
• No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Join Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
• Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply. WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.
• Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance
• WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.
• WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.
• All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment.

Special recommendation

Before you apply, please confirm that.

• You have the experience we are looking for.
• You possess the academic requirements.
• Your on-line profile and CV are correct, accurate and up to date, (your CV should include your employment history, academic qualifications, and language skills.