Programme Policy Officer (School Feeding), NOB, Juba, South Sudan.

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• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

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• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Programme Policy officer (School Feeding)

UNIT/DIVISION: Human Capital Development, Programme

Type of Contract: Fixed Term - National Officer level B (NO-B)

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Juba, South Sudan

DURATION: One year, annually renewable based on performance and budget availability

Country Context:  

South Sudan has been in protracted crises since 2013. Independence in 2011 gave hope for national unity, peace, oil revenue and socio-economic development. Yet, by the end of 2013, the country descended into war. After numerous violent incidents, ceasefires and peace attempts, the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed in 2018. It has brought renewed hope, and there has not been a national-level violent incident. However, the implementation of R-ARCSS chapters has been delayed; thus, South Sudan remains in a fragile situation.

Over 50 percent of 14 million people in South Sudan are projected to be facing acute levels of food insecurity in 2026 (IPC Nov 2025). The number of people in acute food insecurity has tripled since independence, particularly over recent years due to persistent communal violence, economic crises, and climate shocks. Traditionally, people in South Sudan have community safety nets and locally-adapted coping strategies for shocks. Yet, compounded effects of the years of war and conflict, deep-seated poverty, climatic events, limited investments in social and economic services, and unsustainable natural resource management have significantly depleted household and community capacities to restock and strengthen their livelihoods to withstand future stocks.

Significant efforts have been made by the government and its partners to improve access to education with promising results in terms of improved enrolments, infrastructure and more trained teachers. However, South Sudan still faces an exceptionally low gross enrolment rate (GER) for pre-primary education at 11 per cent, primary education at 74 per cent and secondary education at 7 per cent. The increasing number of out of-school children estimated at 2.8 million, significantly exceeds the number of in-school children, hence access to equitable education remains a challenge to address.

WFP supports a school feeding programme, which serves not only as as a food security SafetyNet but also as part of the intervention geared towards improving access to education and strengthening local food value chains. As WFP transitions to a enhanced technical and operational support in collaboration with strategic government, humanitarian and development partners to support sustained access to education for all, WFP seeks to recruit a dynamic National Officer to lead the school feeding programme team ensuring strategic engagement with the key stakeholders, provide technical and operational guidance and ensure a programme design that aligns with the vision of scale with cost efficiency and maximum community leadership.

Purpose of the assignment:

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Human Capital Development (HCD), the Programme Policy Officer (School Feeding) will work as the Activity Manager responsible for the management of the school feeding programme, in coordination with the other internal business support teams, government and key external stakeholders. They will also lead the execution of WFP’s technical assistance to the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme and be responsible for overseeing donor-funded school feeding projects, ensuring alignment with national priorities and coherence across different funding streams.

Responsibilities:
The selected candidate will be responsible for the following tasks:   
1)    Manage the school feeding Activity team, ensuring a common goal, coordinated and clear communication to field offices, support units and Head of HCD, and the smooth running of operations.
2)    Provide operational planning and implementation support for the School Feeding activities safeguarding consistency with WFP policies and ensuring to the extent possible the integration of Nutrition and resilience building in for better outcomes. 
3)    Contribute towards the review of the homegrown school feeding strategy, ensuring alignment with the WFP school feeding policy. 
4)    Form part of the strategic management support which manages the development, maintenance and monitoring of implementation of school feeding programme response plans.
5)    Liaise with and integrate relevant National Education sector stakeholders, to support advocacy and resource mobilization for initiatives that promote access to education.
6)    Support the design and roll out of sustainable community led school feeding programmes that promote local food systems.
7)    Support the development of a strategy to link Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) with smallholder agricultural market support (SAMS), in close collaboration with the head of HCD, Supply chain unit, Field Offices and the resilience team in charge of SAMS activities.
8)    Oversee the planning and tracking of Programme quality and progress, including the implementation of oversight and evaluation-related actions, strong Programme documentation and the identification of gaps and potential solutions.
9)    Work closely with the Partnership unit to develop new proposals to donor’s, support the report writing to donors and provide all information required. Oversee compliance with donors and corporate requirements, including regular donor reporting and communication.
10)    Analyse programme data and operational issues from monitoring reports to inform the improvements in the delivery of the school feeding programme in favour of the intended objectives. 
11)    Contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on school feeding programme activities that enable informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders. 
12)    Represent WFP during meetings with partners to contribute to technical discussions, exchange of knowledge and experiences, and identify areas for potential effective collaboration as well as potential risks to project delivery. 
13)    Support the identification, development and management of potential partnerships that not only compliment WFP assistance but also enable the delivery of WPF assistance in a more efficient and effective way. 
14)    Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to prepare for and respond to assistance needs, e.g. through providing inputs into training materials. 
  

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced university degree (master’s degree or higher) in nutrition, public health, food technology, agriculture economics, rural development, education and social sciences, or another related field. Or first university degree (bachelor’s) in the above field with additional years of related work experience.

Required Experience:

For master's degree holder or higher: Three years of progressively responsible work experience in programme or project implementation with international development organizations preferably in school feeding or education related programme operations, nutrition, food assistance, emergency response, etc., including at least one years at State or County level. For a candidate with a first university degree, at least five years of the above experience is required.

Experience in leading / managing livelihood and/or resilience programe in UN agencies or international / national NGO experience is essential.

The incumbent will also be required to occasionally travel to the deep field

Desirable experiences:

• Proven ability to collect, organize, and analyse programme data to support decision-making and reporting.
• Experience in monitoring and supervising field-level activities, including partner performance and beneficiary feedback mechanisms is considered a strong asset.
• Working experience on programme monitoring, capacity building and technical assistance to the government will be an added advantage.

Skills & Behavioural competencies:

• Ability to communicate effectively in a diverse workplace environment
• Demonstrated experience in coordination with government counterparts, NGOs, and partners in implementing field activities.
• Strong organizational and communication skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Proficiency in standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Languages:

 Fluency in English is required

Condition for Application:

This position is open ONLY for qualified South Sudanese candidates. Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply)

Remark: This recruitment / VA will also serve as a roster for positions at lower grade levels and short-term contract modalities (e.g., NOA level or Service Contract SC8) to meet potential future operational needs.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  global.inclusion@wfp.org

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs or spontaneous applications by email.

• If you experience challenges while submitting your online application, please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org for technical support only.

• Please note that applications sent to this email address cannot be considered.

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.