Fellowship, Programme (School Feeding) Amman, Jordan

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Job Description summary

The KMCO will be embedded in the Social Protection and School Feeding team. He/she will report directly to the Social Protection and School Feeding team lead and will interact with his/her supervisor on a daily basis. The Social Protection and School Feeding team is made up of 8 national team members and an international team leader who work together in a cohesive manner where creativity is encouraged in order to achieve key milestones. The KMCO will work directly with the team leader across both social protection and school feeding activities focusing on strategic priorities and coordinating closely with national team addition the KMCO will supervise and provide technical oversight to specialist WFP staff embedded within partner Ministries such as the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Education which will enable the KMCO to develop strong management skills. This position will provide a unique opportunity to work on and contribute to both policy and programmatic workstream across sectors and gain crucial field experience on large-scale government programmes.

General Information:

• Title of Post: Fellowship Programme (School Feeding) - Amman Jordan

• Supervisor: Head of Unit

• Unit: Social Protection and School Feeding team

• Country: Jordan

• Duty Station: Amman Jordan

• Duration of Sponsored Internship: until 19 December 2026

• Expected Start Date: January 2026
  

Job Description

The Social Protection and School Feeding team oversees two main activities: (i) social protection support to the Government of Jordan working on social protection policy and systems with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) social assistance with the National Aid Fund (NAF) and potentially expanding into social insurance with the Social Security Corporation (SSC); and (ii) the National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) which is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education and WFP and provides school meals and snacks to 520000 Jordanian and refugee children on a daily basis.

Within delegated authority the KMCO will be responsible for the following duties:

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
Social Protection

• Lead on the mixed methods evaluation of WFPs support to NAF covering the period 2019 to 2023. This will involve coordinating with the Research Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) team overseeing the selected service provider and coordinating with NAF and other relevant stakeholders on evaluation activities.

• Contribute to WFPs inputs on the update of the National Social Protection Strategy including the new Shock-Responsive Social Protection chapter. This will include compiling international best practices on Shock-Responsive Social Protection identifying gaps and priorities in Jordans current social protection system and ensuring that WFPs vision is documented in all comments and contributions.

• Act as WFPs focal point on TRANSFORM trainings in Jordan by leading WFPs engagement with ILO and UNICEF on the planning and delivery of TRANSFORM trainings in the country. This will include coordinating with the TRANSFORM regional hub and WFPs RBC team developing a strategy for social protection training in Jordan and identifying participants from various Government institutions among others.

• Supervise and provide technical oversight to specialised WFP staff embedded at the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD). This will involve providing day-to-day support and guidance ensuring that the embedded staff have access to the required resources and identifying strategic areas for engagement for the staff jointly with MoSD management.

• Support WFPs engagements with MoSD including workstreams on Management Information Systems (MIS) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems and livelihoods. This will include coordinating with social protection team members to deliver technical and financial assistance that meets MoSDs needs and is aligned with the vision of providing wholistic sector-level support to the social protection system in Jordan.

• Contribute to WFPs workstreams with the Social Security Corporation on nutrition-sensitive complementary interventions to social insurance. This will involve drafting concept notes and proposals engaging with sectoral partners (i.e. ILO and World Bank) to identify opportunities for synergies and designing nutrition-sensitive interventions based on identified needs and priorities of the target population(s).

• Support NAFs decentralization workstream focusing on strengthening the capacity of field offices and their staff. This will involve coordinating with NAF management and other supporting partners such as the World Bank and coordinating the development and delivery of specialized trainings to NAF field staff.

• Coordinate with the Research Analysis and Monitoring (RAM) team and social protection team members on providing support to NAFs M&E unit including the development of the NAF Theory of Change finalization of the NAF M&E framework and day-to-day support to M&E activities.

• Support the advocacy and eventual preparation of an impact evaluation of the Unified Cash Transfer (UCT) programme. This will include coordinating with WFPs evaluation team UNICEF and the World Bank engaging with NAF management on the relevance and design of an impact evaluation and finalizing a randomization methodology in line with NAFs expansion plans.

• Support the design and implementation of a nutrition-sensitive complementary intervention layered on the UCT. This will involve policy dialogue with NAFs management designing a data-driven intervention jointly with social protection and nutrition team members develop an implementation plan and support its day-to-day activities monitoring and evaluation.

• Represent WFP at the Social Protection sector related working groups. Contribute to national inter-agency processes and fora related to social protection to ensure collaboration and alignment among agencies.

• Contribute to the implementation of the Social Protection Fundraising Plan by coordinating with the Partnerships team to organize all planned activities and engagements with current and potential addition regularly update the Social Protection donor mapping tool and identify new potential donors to engage at the country or regional levels.

• Lead on internal reporting on social protection including drafting the Annual Country Report (ACR) and other required monitoring tables and reports.

• Lead on the development of project concept notes and funding proposals for social protection activities in order to secure multi-year funding.

• Perform other related duties as required.

School Feeding

• Contribute to strategic policy discussions and WFPs positioning on the gradual handover of the NSFP to the Ministry of Education. This will include engaging on the domestic financing strategy and regulatory framework to enable the Government of Jordan to increase its financial contribution towards the NSFP.

• Contribute to the development of a realistic expansion plan for the NSFP in line with the School Feeding Action Plan 2024-2027 the National School Feeding Strategy and present financing requirements.

• Working jointly with the School Feeding Activity Manager oversee the expansion of the Healthy Meal modality to refugee camps. This will include overseeing the selected implementing agency and ensuring that all milestones and deliverables are being met in a timely manner.

• Contribute to capacity building of the Ministry of Education by implementing the Capacity Building Plan agreed upon between WFP and MoE. This will involve working closely with Ministry of Education focal points on key activities strengthening programme implementation systems and developing and delivering trainings.

• Supervise and provide technical oversight to specialised WFP staff embedded at the Ministry of Education. This will involve providing day-to-day support and guidance ensuring that the embedded staff have access to the required resources and identifying strategic areas for engagement for the staff jointly with MoE management.

• Work with WFPs Research Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) team as the lead focal point on monitoring and evaluation of school feeding activities in refugee camps and communities. This will include ensuring that the School Feedings theory of change is implemented employing all school feeding monitoring tools and meeting the corporate and CO monitoring and evaluation requirements.

• Lead on internal reporting on School Feeding including drafting the Annual Country Report (ACR) and other required monitoring tables and reports.

• Coordinate with Government of Jordan stakeholders WFP HQ regional and country offices to organize school feeding study tours based on identified needs. This will include coordinating study tour agendas and identifying government counterparts among others.

• Lead coordination with WFPs Communications team on the implementation of the School Feeding Communications and Advocacy Strategy focused on increasing awareness and ownership of the NSFP among sector-level stakeholders and the general public.

• Identify opportunities to either strengthen or develop new partnerships for school feeding activities. This may include establishing and nurturing partnerships with relevant institutional stakeholders international organizations and bilateral donors academic institutions research centers private sector and civil society organizations.

• Contribute to the implementation of the School Feeding Fundraising Plan by coordinating with the Partnerships team to organize all planned activities and engagements with current and potential addition regularly update the School Feeding donor mapping tool and identify new potential donors to engage at the country or regional levels.

• Represent WFP at Education sector-related working groups. Contribute to national inter-agency processes and fora related to education and school feeding to ensure collaboration and alignment among agencies as well as the inclusion of school feeding in national education priorities.

• Lead on the development of project concept notes and funding proposals for school feeding activities in order to secure multi-year funding.

• Perform other related duties as required.

Program/Project Description
The KMCO will support WFPs Jordan Country Offices Social Protection and School Feeding Units which sit under the same team leader. Both of these activities are undergoing a shift in focus to strategically position WFP in both the social protection and education sectors.

WFP Jordans social protection support to the Jordanian government includes overall sector-level policy engagement and tailored support to key national social protection institutions.

• Sector-level Policy Engagement: At the sector-level WFP contributes to the update process of the National Social Protection Strategy and the inclusion of a new Shock-Responsive Social Protection chapter. WFP is also working with other sectoral partners to strengthen national social protection systems by for instance contributing to the development of a national social 2024 WFP has shifted its focus from tailored support to national social protection institutions towards engaging on priority areas at the sector-level. This implies an investment towards strengthening the national social protection system to become more holistic and coordinated across agencies.

• Support to National Social Protection Institutions:

a. NAF: WFP provides support to Jordans social assistance agency the National Aid Fund (NAF) on the implementation of the national Unified Cash Transfer (UCT) that benefits poor and vulnerable Jordanians. This programme provides monthly cash transfers to 232000 poor and vulnerable Jordanian households to help them meet their basic needs. WFP support various activities in the project cycle to ensure that the cash transfer is delivered in an efficient manner that is accessible to all beneficiaries such as registration payments monitoring and evaluation complaints handling mechanism and graduation.
b. MoSD: Starting in 2024 WFP has focused on strengthening its support to MoSD to build its capacity to implement the National Social Protection strategy and fulfill its mandate as the national social protection lead ministry in particular WFP is providing support on MIS systems strengthening harmonization and linkages; M&E system strengthening; support to livelihoods programming; and decentralization support to strengthen the capacity of field-level offices and staff.
c. SSC: WFP is working with SSC to incorporate nutrition-sensitive complementary interventions to social insurance targeting priority groups such as pregnant and lactating women/girls children under 5 years old and adolescent girls. While this engagement is currently in its initial stages WFP is coordinating with SSC management and sectoral stakeholders to identify possible entry points and design a data-driven intervention that best meets the needs of the target group(s).

The School Feeding team focuses on the National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) which is implemented jointly by WFP and the Ministry of Education (MoE). The NSFP provides school snacks/meals to 520000 vulnerable Jordanian and refugee children on a daily basis. The NSFP targets public schools located in poverty pockets across Jordan as well as all students in the Syrian refugee camps. It is the largest safety net supporting children in the country and the only social protection programme that is fully inclusive of beneficiaries as targeting is done based on geographical vulnerability and not nationality. After extensive piloting the NSFP has developed two feeding modalities:
The Date Bar model which provides two pieces of 40-grams biscuits or date bars fortified with Protein and vitamins to 430000 students;
The Healthy Meals model consisting of a piece of fruit vegetable and fresh pastry provided to 90000 students. These meals are packaged in community-based kitchens that employ 250 vulnerable Jordanian and refugee women. Fruits and vegetables are sourced from local small holder farmers and pastries are purchased from local bakeries thus contributing to local economic development. This model is implemented by a local NGO the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) with oversight from WFP.

In 2024 WFP has shifted its focus towards gradually handing over the NSFP to the Ministry of Education a process that will culminate in 2030. As such while WFP continues to work on the daily operations of delivering meals and always seeks ways to improve the programmes performance and efficiency the team will also work on gradually handing over the programme to the Government. This will be achieved by helping develop the structures and capacities within Government to eventually oversee the NSFPs management. Critically this involves helping the Government of Jordan to develop a framework that enables them to increase Government financing of the programme over time.

In parallel the National School Feeding Strategy also envisions the gradual expansion of the healthy meal modality to students currently receiving the date bar order to support this process WFP and MoE are working on a number of evidence products that highlight the high return on investment of the NSFP to convince the Government of Jordan to increase its financing. These include an impact evaluation conducted in partnership with the World Bank a cost benefit analysis a study on the contribution of the healthy meal model to small holder farmers and a study on how to optimize the programmes supply chain to increase efficiency.

Results/Expected Outputs
The KMCO will contribute to strategic activities under both the social protection and school feeding portfolios. He/she will lead on key workstreams including monitoring and evaluation of school feeding the school feeding communications and advocacy plan social protection TRANSFORM trainings and WFP internal addition the KMCO will directly supervise WFP specialized staff that are embedded in MoE and MoSD thus overseeing their work programme performance and supporting their professional development. The KMCO will thus contribute to multiple objectives established in the School Feeding and Social Protection Action Plans (both covering the period 2024-2027) as reflected in the task description above. It is also expected that the KMCO will be able to effectively coordinate and work with a wide range of people including WFP national social protection and school feeding staff development partners and donors and Government of Jordan stakeholders.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education: Advanced University degree (Master degree) in International Affairs Economics Nutrition/Health Agriculture Environmental Science Social Sciences or other field relevant to international development assistance or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience:

Minimum of 5 years of experience in international development programme management with familiarity with the entire programme cycle including design implementation and assessment. Experience in programme monitoring and evaluation is highly preferred.
Previous experience in social protection school feeding or education programming preferred.
Previous experience working with Government the UN or NGOs is an advantage
Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and develop/nurture partnerships with various stakeholders.
Experience supervising staff.
Knowledge of Arabic is preferred but not required.

Specific Professional Experience:

Experience in programme monitoring and evaluation with a focus on school feeding social protection or education is a plus. This should include M&E system and tool design development of log frames familiarity with data collection methods familiarity with data cleaning and analysis and the ability to synthesize and clearly communicate findings to the broader public.
Strong communication skills with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team in a multi-cultural environment.
Ability to assume independent roles as well as work effectively within a team.
Ability to communicate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.
Ability to work constructively under short deadlines.

Key Competencies of the Assignment:

Excellent English communication skills both verbal and in writing is required. Knowledge of Arabic is an advantage.
Excellent strategic and creative thinking conceptualization and analytical skills.
Ability to think outside the box and come up with innovative approaches.
Full computer literacy.

Languages:Fluency (level C) in English.

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