Requisition ID 155028 – Posted 22/12/2021 – Fixed Term- UN – Africa, Southern – Tanzania, United Republic of – Dodoma – Working Job Language (1) – PROGRAMME & POLICY
Job Description
DUTY STATION
DODOMA SUB OFFICE, IN TANZANIA COUNTRY OFFICE
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, physical or mental disability.
ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the diverse food needed for an active and healthy life.
WFP Tanzania has been connecting smallholder farmers to markets since the launch of the Purchase for Progress (P4P) pilot in 2009. WFP has been supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to strengthen the ecosystem in which smallholder farmers access affordable inputs, services and markets. Finally, with the Government of Tanzania, WFP supports local and smallholder purchasing to meet local and regional demand for WFP food assistance.
WFP’s strategy to support smallholder farmers highlights the importance of women and youth in rural development, livelihoods, strengthening value chains, and improving food systems. The strategy is committed to empower over 405,000 farmers in the next five years (2022-2027), generating over USD 150 million of aggregated annual purchasing demand in the Country.
In support of the strategy, the upcoming “Strengthening Food Systems to Empower Smallholder Farmers and Young People” project will support MSME development and scale support to the maize, sorghum, beans and horticulture value chains, targeting smallholder farmers and youths, especially women.
Furthermore, the upcoming “Strengthening Smallholder Agriculture Value Chain, Gender Equity and Peace in Refugee Hosting Districts” project will enhance food security and nutrition amongst vulnerable groups, strengthen community-based organizations to become active contributors to social cohesion, gender equality and peace, and increase smallholder farmers agricultural and financial capacities for market engagement and resilient livelihoods
STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Education: University degree preferably with specialized certification in Accounting,Administration, Finance and /or Project Management; Bachelor Degree in Finance, Business or Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences and Social Sciences would be an asset.
- Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English and Swahili and any other official UN language would be an asset.
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
Under the guidance of the Head of Smallholder Unit, and in close collaboration with the Markets & Procurement Specialist and Gender & Youth Specialist, the incumbent will build linkages between MSMEs, financial institutions, and bank guarantee schemes to smallholder farmers, private off takers and others along the targeted value chains (especially women and youth).
JOB PURPOSE
To provide support to policy and programme activities that effectively meet the objectives needs.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)
Engage with Smallholder Farmers:
- Conduct a needs assessment for smallholder farmers finance needs, opportunities, and challenges for meeting those needs, and provide advice on adequate products from financial service providers
- Engage with Financial Institutions and Other Partners:
- Engage with commercial and development banks, MFIs, credit guarantee funds, and crop loss insurance providers as well as government regulators on discussions of affordable finance and risk management
- Adapt existing finance structures to meet needs, blending solutions both from local/national and international financial services providers, insurance companies and development or donor agencies
- Organize strategic meetings (preliminary and follow-up) and attend consultations on improvements in the bank lending environment and guarantee schemes to foster smallholder sourcing strategies
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES CONTINUED:
3. Engage with MSMEs:
Support in the identification of MSMEs (farmer groups, private off takers, aggregators) and develop appropriate risk mitigation tools for expansion
Conduct business plans appraisals and crops profitability analysis and drawing out recommendations to the supervisor for maximizing use of resources and effectiveness to inform the supply chain operations towards increasing sourcing from smallholder farmers
Prepare realistic milestones to facilitate monitoring and increase transparency of the process to all actors and ensure availability of finance solutions for all actors in the supply chains.
4. Provide support to the development and implementation of WFP’s smallholder sourcing: in line with the global WFP supply chain strategies, policies and plans, to achieve operational cost efficiency, agility, reliability, quality.
5. Perform accurate, timely recording of data (e.g., resource utilization, programme status, performance) and update budget implementation plan, the yearly and quarterly budget, reports, and program documents, as required by management
6. Draft progress reports on projects’ financial inclusion activities and contribute to the drafting of corporate reports as required
7. Contribute to the development of Concept Notes and proposals around financial inclusion for smallholder farmers as required
8. Perform other related duties as required.
4Ps CORE ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES
Purpose
- Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
- Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
- Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
- Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.
People
- Look for ways to strengthen people’s skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
- Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
- Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
- Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.
Performance
- Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
- Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
- Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
- Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.
Partnership
- Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
- Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
- Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
- Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.
FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES
Capability Name | Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level |
Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance | Displays ability to identify the main hunger problem at the national or subnational level to design and implement context-specific programmes that integrate complex analysis and the full range of food assistance tools. |
Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher) | Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development. |
Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas (i.e. Nutrition, VAM, etc.) | Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring. |
Emergency Programming | Displays ability to translate understanding of programme principles in emergencies and protracted conflict situations into relevant, effective, and context specific approaches. |
Strategic Policy Engagement w/ Government | Develops thorough recommendations using multiple inputs (e.g., government counsel, research, own experience) to strengthen national or subnational entities and government owned food and nutrition security programmes. |
OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS
- 3+ years of work experience in agri-finance, agriculture economics, market systems development activities, with experience in rural financial products preferred
- University degree in one or more of the following: Finance, economics, agriculture, business administration, or a field relevant to agricultural value chain management
- Demonstrated knowledge of MSMEs, financial inclusion and commercial agriculture modelling
- Demonstrated ability to provide consistent and timely services to meet the changing needs, demands and expectations of partners, allowing clients to actively participate in and contribute to decisions that are relevant to their needs and flexible in adjusting services as required
- Strong problem solving, negotiation skills and ability to travel extensively
- Strong analytical skills
DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE
• Has deepened technical knowledge through exposure to technical teams.
• Has taken leadership of implementing programmes.
• Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Duration of the Contract: 11 months One year renewable up to five years until end of project (subject to performance).
All applications should be submitted through e-recruitment portal.
Only qualified shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
The deadline for receiving applications is 05 January 2022.
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.