The United Nations World Food Programme: Programme Policy Officer (School Meals), FT-NOB, Lilongwe

It is the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes, which is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. As part of its mission, World Food Programme ensures that no child goes hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable can access nutritious food every day.

The United Nations World Food Programme: Programme Policy Officer (School Meals), FT-NOB, Lilongwe

Organizational Context

WFP Malawi Country Office is located in Lilongwe. In this role, job holders typically report to the Strategic Outcome Manager, and are under the supervision of the Head of Programme.

An individual in this position is independent and manages more junior staff in order to achieve program and policy objectives. At this level, job holders are expected to contribute to performance improvement by participating in a wide range of program and policy activities and analytical work that may be quite complex.

Job Purpose

• The WFP Malawi Country Strategic Plan is a five-year strategy aimed at supporting national efforts on hunger and nutrition, reducing vulnerability to food insecurity and malnutrition by taking into account gender and age, so that resilience agendas can be advanced in preparation for recurrent shocks.
• Under one of the Strategic Outcomes: “Vulnerable populations in food-insecure communities benefit from shock-responsible social protection systems and efficient supply chains that ensure access to safe, nutritious food all year round”, WFP supports the Malawi government in implementing the School Meals programme.  The School Meals Programme is currently reaching about half of all primary schools in the seven most food insecure districts. WFP supports an estimated 600,000 children in 450 primary schools.
• In line with the Country Strategic Plan, the purpose of the assignment is to support the government’s efforts by leading WFP Malawi’s School Meals programme.
• The Malawi National Social Support Programme (MNSSP) recognizes the school meals programme as a critical safety net, as well as a component of the school health and nutrition package, as outlined in the School Health and Nutrition Policy; WFP WFPworks with.
• A national best practice guidelines for school meals are being developed with the aim of gradually expanding Home-Grown School Meals (HGSM) models across the country and developing a more sustainable national school meals program.
• It is also in line with WFP’s integrated approach to CSP in Malawi, as linkages with activities supporting livelihoods and smallholder and local farmer organizations are established to supply nutritious, locally produced, diversified food commodities to schools.

Closing Date:11 May 2023