UN World Food Programme Assistant (Climate Action) Jobs in Kenya
UN World Food Programme Assistant (Climate Action) Jobs in Kenya
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
Targets under SDG 2 (End Hunger and Malnutrition) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) are closely linked. Eastern Africa is a region frequently and severely affected by climate change related shocks and stressors, such as degraded landscapes, increasingly scarce natural resources, increasingly erratic rainfall patterns, frequent droughts and floods, landslides, heat waves and pest and livestock disease outbreaks.
The food security sector is one of the first to suffer from these negative effects of climate change. Conflicts in the region are often aggravated by underlying tensions over increasingly scarce resources. Thus far, national governments, WFP and partners have primarily provided first-line responses to the food and nutrition crises generated by these events. WFP is increasingly looking to address the root causes of food (in)security caused by climate change.
Country Strategic Plan activities in the region have made provision for isolated responses to climate shocks, but these are not undergirded by a rigorous climate analysis, and do not systematically include considerations of climate change nor suggestions for climate adaptative activities.
Such analyses must go beyond the traditional VAM analysis or food security monitoring typically undertaken by country offices, and should include a consideration of the larger trends, the political economy and a clear strategy to address the urgent need for an acceleration of climate adaptation efforts at country level. Such analyses would benefit humanitarian, development, and resilience programming alike and build especially on successful development programming in the target countries.
Despite the best-practice models of R4 (rural resilience) and SIIPE (pastoral microinsurance) in Ethiopia and Kenya, several of the countries in the RBN region are suffering from limited capacity to accelerate climate adaptation and especially to incorporate a climate security lens. These include, inter alia: Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and others, where conflict over scarce resources contributes to political insecurity.
Given the organization’s commitment to building resilience, and the new policy frameworks that consider the needed investment to be made in climate adaptation, RBN is seeking to support priority countries to engage in the resilience and climate adaptation space as a leading, credible and responsive actor in the climate adaptation and resilience space, with an emphasis on partnerships with agencies such as UNEP, UNICEF, FAO, research institutes such as Wageningen University, the CGIAR institutes, and finally, the private sector.
The WFP Regional Bureau for East Africa in Nairobi, is therefore recruiting a Programme Assistant Climate Action, to support the development of WFP’s climate adaptation portfolio in the East Africa region.
Organizational Context
These jobs are found
in Regional Bureaux (RBs), Country Offices (COs), Area/Field Offices (AOs/FOs). The job holders typically report to a Programme Policy Officer or the designate.
At this level, job holders are responsible for the completion of a range of specialized and/or standardized processes and activities requiring some interpretation of standard guidelines and practices. Job holders are able to recommend a course of action to staff at various levels and may allocate tasks to other support staff. They work under minimum supervision, perform basic analyses and compile reports to support information consistency and smooth implementation of programmes/projects.
Key Accountabilities
Working together with various team members of the Food Systems (Climate, Resilience and Gender) unit at the Regional Bureau, the Programme Assistant will enhance the capacity of COs on WFP’s role in climate adaptation, climate risk management and climate security. This will include:
Supporting the analysis of Country Strategic Plans for (potential) contributions to mitigation of the negative effects of climate change and accelerations of adaptation efforts, including issues of climate and environmental security.
Support Country Offices in drafting concept notes and proposals to access financing that will allow for multi-year climate adaptation and resilience programming.
Support partnership building with agencies, NGOs, government and the private sector to push forward the climate adaptation agenda.
Support communications both internal and external on food systems and climate change.
Support in stakeholder mapping of partners in climate adaptation and climate security.
Support the team in providing frontline technical expertise in the following areas: linking climate adaptation and resilience efforts, climate risk management, sustainable natural resource management, including soil, energy and water access to energy, access to water, and food system strengthening.
Facilitate the organization of webinars and Communities of Practice on topics related to climate adaptation in the region.
Support in collecting and sharing best practices from within the region to promote ongoing engagement and improvement.
Standard Minimum Qualifications
Education:
University degree in climate change adaptation, sustainability or environmental studies, international relations or related disciplines.
Experience:
Atleast 1 year of relevant work experience.
Knowledge & Skills:
Excellent written and oral communications skills.
Ability to extract pertinent information from relevant sources.
Good computer skills – Excel, Powerpoint, Word
Capacity to conceptualize issues, think in abstract terms and analyse numerical data.
Good interpersonal skills with ability to work harmoniously with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Languages:
Fluency in English required; Working knowledge of French desirable.
How to Apply
For more information and job application details, see; UN World Food Programme Assistant (Climate Action) Jobs in Kenya
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