Wasting Transition Plan Project Manager
Wasting Transition Plan Project Manager
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Job Description
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
21 September 2025-23:59-GMT01:00 Central European Time (Rome)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 or disability.
ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the worlds largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict disasters and the impact of climate change.
At WFP people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse committed skilled and high performing teams selected on merit operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment living WFPs values (Integrity Collaboration Commitment Humanity and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
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WHY JOIN WFP
WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
WFP offers a highly inclusive diverse and multicultural working environment.
WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training accreditation coaching mentorship and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
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:
Nutrition Consultant (Wasting Transition Plan Project Manager)
TYPE OF CONTRACT:
CST II
DIVISION:
Nutrition and Food Quality Service
DUTY STATION (City Country):
Rome Italy
DURATION:
3.5 months (23 Sep to 31 Dec 2025)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
In 2022 the world faced a historic food and nutrition crisis. Continuing in 2024 an estimated 29 million children will suffer from wasting in 15 of the worst-affected the same countries 156 million people are estimated to face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity which is an 83 per cent increase from 2019 (before the global pandemic). The number of people living in emergency and catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity also saw a significant increase and represents a deterioration of the situation since 2019.
In these humanitarian contexts continued efforts for the early detection of children with wasting and their management remain critical; likewise essential are actions to reduce the incidence of children whose nutrition situation may deteriorate into wasting.
As a United Nations (UN) agency reaching an estimated 150 million nutritionally vulnerable and food-insecure people each year WFP plays a critical role in multi-stakeholder efforts to address 2023 over 27 million children under the age of 5 and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls were assisted through WFP supported nutrition-specific programmes that aim to prevent undernutrition and manage moderate wasting across 52 countries.
The 2023 WHO Guideline on the Prevention and Management of Wasting and Nutritional Oedema together with the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting (GAP) provide an opportunity to foster new program approaches to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from coordinated efforts to prevent and address wasting. WFP with its partner UNICEF has developed a joint strategic approach to accelerate programmatic shifts in humanitarian and fragile contexts based on this new WHO Guideline. WFP and UNICEF will work together to provide a combined package of interventions to address child wasting. The joint approach emphasizes the importance of addressing maternal nutrition elevates attention given to preventive actions as part of every program response and to increasing convergence and coverage to reach those populations most vulnerable and hardest to reach.
This approach will be implemented through a phased three-year transition plan (2024-2026) in 15 priority countries (Haiti Burkina Faso Chad Mali Niger Nigeria Ethiopia Kenya Somalia South Sudan Democratic Republic of Congo Madagascar Afghanistan Yemen); supporting governments and partners incorporate evidence-based programmatic shifts in alignment with the WHO Guideline.
WFP in these countries will implement shifts in programs to address child wasting and maternal malnutrition in collaboration with its key collaborators supported through the respective Regional Bureaus and joint actions taken at global level. The global actions include evidence generation through strong monitoring and evaluation or operations research nutrition vulnerability analysis documentation and sharing of success and lessons learnt from new program approaches joint advocacy and supply chain optimisation of specialised nutritious foods.
The overall purpose of this assignment is to steer the WFP contribution of the joint transition plan of child wasting towards its intended outcomes by engaging proactively and supporting constructively the various stakeholders involved.
The consultant will work in the Program Policy Support Unit of WFPs Nutrition and Food Quality Service in headquarters in Rome. S/he will report directly to the lead of the Child Wasting and Maternal Nutrition team lead.
The consultant will work in close collaboration with a variety of stakeholders such as colleagues across the Nutrition and Food Quality Service with WFPs Regional Bureaux and selected country offices and with counterparts in UNICEF at global level.
He/she will be required to travel periodically to support Regional Bureaux or high priority countries that are part of the transition plan on child wasting.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES
The consultant will coordinate and manage the joint transition plan on child wasting to ensure that respective country offices are effectively supported and expected results across agreed areas of collaboration are achieved. This includes:
1. Stakeholder engagement
A) Establish clear coordination structure and streamline internal communication between Headquarter Regional Bureau and Country Office nutrition teams including:
- Regularly bringing stakeholders together from the Headquarters Regional Bureaus and Country Offices to exchange experiences share information and troubleshoot challenges. This will entail development of clear TOR of different coordination structures setting of meeting agendas preparation of meeting minutes and communication across different internal stakeholders.
B) Support coordination structure and external communication between WFP UNICEF and other stakeholders as required. including:
- Lead and support co-facilitation of monthly coordination meetings thematic ad hoc meetings or workshops and face-to-face meetings with key stakeholders across organizations and at different levels within WFP. This will entail collaboration on development of agendas input to presentations content creation taking of meetings minutes and bringing together teams to maximize diverse contributions to the transition plan. It will also require joint engagement on establishing formal structures on roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and development of TORs and SOPs as required.
2. Change management and project coordination
This position will strongly support change management across different levels of the organization in relation to the ways of working with UNICEF on the prevention and management of wasting and maternal undernutrition. It will require the development and implementation ofa strategy to effect the agreed change and support adaptation. Further the consultant will be responsible for direct project coordination across the organization and with other stakeholders.
- Develop/refine a global project management workplan that encompasses support across the 15 countries related to transition plan initiation planning implementation monitoring and evaluation and resource mobilization. The workplan will differentiate between phase 1 2 and 3 countries and the outcomes outputs and activities across Headquarter Regional and Country levels. This workplan will need to be developed with engagement across the Nutrition and Food Quality Service in collaboration with other units and services at Headquarters and with colleagues at Regional Bureaus and Country Offices.
- Oversee implementation of the global project management workplan in a systematic and organized manner across regions and countries to facilitate consistency and coherence across the entire project.
- Monitor and ensure timely course correction in collaboration with stakeholders related to challenges in progress against the workplan. Support periodic reviews with participation to allow reflections revision to workplans and exchange of best practices.
- Identify appropriate project management tools that facilitate smooth and coherent implementation and coordination of the different work streams (technical support communication and advocacy Monitoring and evaluation research analytics etc)
- Follow document and visualize progress on the transition plan with strong focus on programmatic shifts and diversity of approaches on child wasting and maternal undernutrition at country level liaising with Regional Bureau focal points and Country Offices as needed Support the establishment of systems and processes to facilitate coherency and inputs to donor reports across Country Offices and Regional Bureaus in collaboration with the Headquarters Strategic Engagement Unit. Coordinate and lead the donor reporting at global level.
3. Strategic and overall support to Regional Bureaus and Country Offices
- In collaboration with Headquarter teams and Regional Bureaus support countries programmatic shifts ensuring alignment with WFPs strategic direction for wasting and WHO Guidelines and specific to the phase each country is in i.e. phase 1 countries require more support on programme implementation phase 2 on programme preparation and design.
- Provide strategic and any other support required to Regional Bureaus and Country Offices and coordinate support with Headquarter team
- Identify support needs additional guidance and tools that can facilitate implementation of the strategic and programmatic shifts for wasting and maternal undernutrition at country level and liaise with HQ teams to develop or provide these
- Contribute to conceptualizing and drafting guidance and tools as required
4. Visibility Communication and Advocacy
- Follow progress successes and challenges related to the different phases of the transition plan and jointly with the stakeholders at country and regional level and the M&E and knowledge management team identify content to feature in communication and knowledge products
- Provide input to communications materials and draft summaries or briefs related to the experiences with the stages of the transition plan the partnerships involved to inform management and involved stakeholders
- Deliver briefings or presentations to select stakeholders of the nutrition or food security humanitarian community to raise awareness and get buy- in for the transition plan as needed
- Support advocacy and resource mobilization efforts and input into materials as required
5. AOB
Support any other activities related to WFPs strategic objectives in nutrition and related workplans as required.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT
Coordination and communication mechanisms solidified including terms of reference and standard operating procedures for internal and external coordination structures validated amongst stakeholders to clearly demarcate roles and responsibilities and ways of working Global Project Management Plan implementation ensured with delineation across levels (global regional country) and by phase using appropriate tools or platform Knowledge management and documentation plan supported and implementation ensured including establishment of a mechanism and approaches to share experiences and progress on the wasting transition periodically in a clear and coherent manner across global regional and country levels using mixed media and visuals Country offices have access to the guidance and tools they need to progress on the programmatic shifts including through regional and country visits Donor reports funding proposals briefs overviews are ensured in relation to the Transition Plan are prepared and key information communicated (progress lessons learnt highlights) is communicated to various audiences such as donors senior management nutrition stakeholders among others to ensure accountability and visibility
Deliverables will be achieved in close collaboration with the internal and external project collaborators.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Education:
Masters degree in nutrition Public Health Food Security Food systems or other related fields or first university degree with additional years of relevant professional work experience
Experience:
-A minimum of 8 to10 years work experience in international nutrition programming with at least five (5) years related to fragile and humanitarian contexts.
-Solid experience with programs to prevent and manage wasting across multiple-sectors and with multiple stakeholders.
- Experience managing BHA funded projects is an advantage.
-Experience of working with UN agencies or key international NGO in humanitarian settings; work experience with WFP is highly desirable
-Experience with change management processes is desirable
Knowledge & Skills:
- Solid knowledge of the global nutrition and food security (humanitarian) architecture
- Strong project management skills including critical and strategic thinking and change management
- Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work in multicultural settings
- Excellent team leadership and teamwork skills
-Excellent written and oral communication skills
Languages:
Fluency in English. Working knowledge of French desirable.
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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:
NO FEE DISCLAIMER
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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
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.
Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
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
Please contact us at in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
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.
Required Experience:
IC
Employment Type
Full-Time
