Programme Policy Officer Gender & Protection (NOA) Garowe

WFP

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT: A key recommendation from the Somalia Country Portfolio Evaluation (2012 2017) was to include protection, accountability to affected populations (AAP) and gender into programming. As a result, WFP Somalia has progressively strengthened the integration of gender and protection in programming through the establishment of full time Protection & Gender and AAP technical positions, increased engagement and partnership with various protection actors, and development of guidelines to improve programme design and implementation. Efforts include the development of community-based targeting guidelines for Somalia through the Food Security Cluster (FSC), mapping of GBV referral pathways in collaboration with the GBV sub-cluster and UNICEF, engagement with various actors on disability and inclusion of marginalized/minority groups, and incorporation of organizations representing minority/marginalized groups in the FSC regional coordination hubs. In 2020, WFP also took leadership in championing collective accountability, coordinating the development of key data categories for a collective feedback mechanism that was shared with the Inter-Cluster Coordinating Group (ICCG) and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT).

With the approval of the Global Protection and Accountability Policy (2020), WFP is required to apply a protection approach to its programming. This means mainstreaming gender and disability into programming and ensuring the inclusion, participation, and meaningful engagement of the most at risk in WFP s food assistance programmes. To make the protection approach systematic, WFP needs to ground the policy to the relevant local contexts in Somalia. To this end, WFP is increasing its personnel capacity through the recruitment of one National Programme Policy Officer (Gender & Protection) in each of the Area Offices in Somalia to deliver on its commitments.

The incumbents would work closely under the overall guidance and support of the Programme Policy Officers on Gender & Protection and AAP at the Country Office and report to the Area Office Head of Programme - Garowe. Overall, the Gender and Protection Officer will also liaise closely with other teams to ensure cross-functional synergies and provide technical support to improve the integration of protection, gender and accountability across WFP programmes and operations in Puntland and Dhusamareeb in Somalia. This includes supporting the operationalization of relevant WFP policy and strategic frameworks, such as the Gender Policy (2022), the Protection and Accountability Policy (2020), the Disability Inclusion Road Map (2020 -2022), and the Community Engagement for AAP Strategy (2022 -2026) at the Area Office level.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority)

Programme support to integrate/mainstream inclusion, gender, and protection:

• Support the Area Office with continuous context-specific protection and gender analysis aimed at providing solid evidence to inform vulnerability-based and inclusive response across the programmatic cycle;
• Analyze documents to identify entry points for advancing protection and inclusion of the most vulnerable populations in the WFP programmes and delivery modalities
• Support participatory implementation and analysis of WFPs programme related to food support and nutrition through field visits and engagement with key local stakeholders;
• Support the M&E team to strengthen the Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) to appropriately respond and refer all cases relating to protection including child protection, fraud, and corruption, GBV and SEA, in alignment with corporate WFP policies and guidelines;
• Support programme staff and cooperating partners to integrate and mainstream inclusion across the operation, including both programmes and support functions;
• In collaboration with the CO Gender & Protection Officers, support programme staff to integrate gender and protection throughout the programme management cycle (design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation), and in needs assessment frameworks as appropriate, including the adaptation of tools, collection, analysis and reporting processes to ensure that different beneficiary needs are identified and met;
• In collaboration with the CO Gender & Protection Officers, provide technical support to Programme staff and Cooperating Partners on the monitoring of the Gender and Age Marker (GAM) exercise including the provision of guidance and training, development of key tools to facilitate data collection, as well as development of narratives relating to gender equality and women's empowerment and protection under the Annual Country Reporting for the Country Office;
• Support WFP s existing commitments to gender transformative practices and protection, and efforts to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) workplan, together with local PSEA focal points and the PSEA Taskforce;
• Working with the Gender & Protection and Diversity & Inclusion Officers, support the Communications and Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) colleagues to develop participatory initiatives for internal and external dissemination regarding the commemoration of international and national events focused on gender equality such as International Women's Day and the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence

Foster partnerships and collaborations on gender, protection, and inclusion:

• Assist local counterparts in government and other partners to identify protection issues in the framework of WFPs strategies including humanitarian assistance
• Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships on GEWE, protection mainstreaming and disability inclusion with national and local actors, including organizations representing women, persons with disabilities and other particularly marginalized groups in affected communities.
• Participate in all relevant area based inter-agency gender, protection and AAP coordination mechanisms/clusters, coordinating and strengthening the link between WFP s internal work on gender, inclusion, protection and AAP and its interagency role as a partner and peer within the humanitarian system;