Senior Programme Associate (Gender, Protection, Accountability to Affected Populations & Diversity Inclusion), SC7

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Despite positive economic growth and progress in poverty reduction, Tajikistan is still facing a challenging food security and nutrition situation. Recent economic challenges compounded by population growth have contributed to the reclassification of the country as low-income in 2018 and have increased household vulnerability. Malnutrition rates remain the highest in Central Asia, and the number of undernourished has remained stagnant. Tajikistan faces different environmental challenges, including environmental and soil degradation and poor natural resource management. Additionally, Tajikistan is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has further exacerbated food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. Given the above, the government has identified food security and access to quality nutrition as one of its development priorities.

In order for WFP to advance the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) WFP Tajikistan must ensure that gender, protection, accountability to affected populations, and diversity inclusion remains a key priority across the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of its interventions including its support to national social protection and safety nets; nutrition; climate change adaptation, resilience-building and disaster risk reduction; and aligning WFP’s support to national priorities and in synergy with the action of other partners.

WFP is currently operating under a Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2019-2024, the duration for which will be shortened to end in 2022 whereby a new CSP 2023 – 2026 will commence in tandem with the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) covering the same period. In preparation for the new CSP and to ensure all activities are aligned with appropriate gender sensitive and do no harm approaches, WFP Tajikistan recently commissioned a Gender and Diversity Inclusion Analysis to inform strategic and programmatic planning. In this regard, WFP Tajikistan is seeking to recruit a Senior Programme Associate, Gender, and Protection, Accountability to Affected Populations, and Diversity Inclusion (GPAAP/DI) to ensure the diverse needs of men, women, boys and girls of diverse groups relating to food security and nutrition are met and addressed.

The Senior Programme Associate, (GPAAP/DI), with technical support from the topic-specific Regional Advisors at the Regional Bureau Bangkok, will provide support for strengthening gender equality and women’s empowerment, protection, accountability to affected populations, and diversity inclusion efforts across all WFP Tajikistan programmes and policies, in compliance with WFP’s Gender Policy 2022-2026, WFP’s Protection and Accountability Policy (2020), WFP Gender-Based Violence Manual (2016), WFP’s Guide to Personal Data Protection and Privacy (2016), WFP Disability Inclusion Roadmap (2020-2021), as well as the Executive Director’s Circular on Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (2014) amongst others.

1 Diversity is the range of differences in attributes including, but not limited to, sex, age, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, life experience and value systems. Some aspects of diversity are visible, while others are not.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director, the Senior Programme Associate (GPAAP/DI) will work in coordination with all operational and support units and in conjunction with topic-specific focal points within the country office to carry out the following tasks:

I. Technical Support

• Advocate and ensure integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment, diversity, protection and accountability to affected populations across the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of WFP Tajikistan programmes and processes, in compliance with WFP corporate frameworks, guidelines and policies;
• Conduct gender and/or protection analysis including development of methodologies and tools across various activities and operations to understand challenges related to food insecurity dynamics at the household and community level, as well to analyze specific needs and interests of men, women, boys and girls of diverse groups under various CSP activities (e.g., national social protection; nutrition; climate change adaptation, resilience-building and disaster risk reduction; capacity strengthening; emergency preparedness and response, etc.) as required, including development of key recommendations for programmatic directives;
• Provide guidance to staff on the piloting, implementation and scale up of the community feedback mechanism (CFM), including development of a standard operating procedure to respond to sensitive protection cases, in alignment with corporate WFP policies and guidelines and/or safe and comprehensive referrals as required;
• Provide technical support to the implementation of the Executive Director’s Circular on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse;
• Support development of a Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) framework, in coordination with the SBCC specialists at the country office and Regional Bureau, to ensure all messages and information educational communication (IEC) materials are gender-responsive and consider specific needs;

II. Capacity Strengthening and Awareness Raising

• Support capacity building of WFP staffs, partners, government stakeholders and local civil society organisation members on gender and protection as related to food and nutrition security (including on key humanitarian principles, gender-based violence (GBV), child protection and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse);
• Liaise with the Communications, Advocacy, and Marketing unit to lead awareness raising activities amongst staff at the country and field office levels for international and national events focused on GPAAP/DI, including, but not limited to International Women’s Day and 16 Days of Activism Campaign to End Gender-Based Violence;

III. Monitoring and Reporting

• Contribute to inputs on GPAAP/DI activities for talking points, presentations, country briefs, briefing points, the Annual Country Report, other reports, etc.;
• Provide guidance to support staff in undertaking the Gender and Age Marker Monitoring exercise, in coordination with Activity Managers, including conducting relevant briefings and/ or providing additional guidance to staffs as required;
• Conduct periodic field monitoring visits to contribute to identifying key GPAAP/DI risks and/or issues across various activities, in order to develop risk mitigation strategies to improve the programme based on the field findings;
• Provide guidance and support to ensure GPAAP/DI considerations are integrated into all monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools and frameworks including data collection, assessments, reviews, evaluations, targeting processes, process monitoring and outcome and post-distribution monitoring tools;
• Provide guidance to ensure GPAAP/DI initiatives including sufficient resources are reflected in all new funding proposals and donor reports to reflect WFP Tajikistan’s engagement and commitment to the aforementioned thematic areas;

IV. Networking and Coordination

• Contribute towards revitalization of GPAAP/DI network at the country office level, detailing the roles, responsibilities and resources required across all areas of WFP to achieve measurable protection and gender mainstreaming and integration, track implementation of GPAAP/DI action plan, including budget expenditures under CSP, as well as update action plan on annual basis, as required;
• Liaise with and represent WFP to internal and external stakeholders on GPAAP/DI including representing WFP Tajikistan to participate in relevant coordination platforms, interagency fora and meetings on GPAAP/DI (and subcluster working groups: GBV, child protection) in advocating for stronger coverage of food and nutrition needs in cross-cutting working groups and clusters.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the field of gender, human rights, international humanitarian law, international development or social sciences, or other relevant fields.

Experience:

• At least seven years of relevant experience in the field of gender and protection is required, including demonstrated skills in key GPAAP/DI mainstreaming and/or conducting gender and protection analysis. Experience in developing and rolling out capacity development initiatives is strongly desirable.
• Excellent analytical skills, resourcefulness, advocacy and initiative is required. Strong interpersonal skills including ability to work in a team and to establish effective working relations with people of diverse backgrounds.
• Experience working in international organisation and/or nongovernmental organization is strongly desirable.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English and Tajik required. Working knowledge in Russian is required.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Knowledge of working on GPAAP/DI (including child protection and gender-based violence) in development and humanitarian settings.
• In-depth knowledge of key gender and protection issues in Tajikistan is required.
• Knowledge on international standards, policies and frameworks relating to GPAAP/DI in the context of food security and nutrition is strongly desirable.
• Excellent advocacy and interpersonal skills including ability to build strategic relationships and influence wide range of internal and external stakeholders on GPAAP/DI including with government, UN agencies, donors, international and national nongovernmental organisations and local civil society organizations is desirable.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Type of Contract: Service Contract (SC)

Duration of Contract: 12 months

Duty Station: Dushanbe, Tajikistan

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

10 May 2022

Female Candidates and Individuals with Disabilities are Especially Encouraged to Apply

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational 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, Joint 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.