Nutrition Research Officer

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
The World Food Programme (WFP) operating in over 83 countries through its Country Offices (COs)/Sub-offices guided by Regional Bureaus (RB) and its Headquarters (HQ) is the leading humanitarian organisation dedicated to combating hunger. It provides emergency food assistance and works with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. WFPs Strategic Plan places addressing malnutrition and improving diets at the centre of its operations ensuring that people receive not only enough food but also the right combination of nutrients vital for survival and growth. Across various contexts from immediate humanitarian support to long-term development programming WFP collaborates with governments and partners to improve the nutrition of the most vulnerable populations.
WFPs nutrition operations focus on safeguarding the nutrition of people facing or at risk of humanitarian crises. WFP aims to ensure sustainable and equitable access to healthier diets for those most vulnerable to malnutrition maximising the organisations impact on saving lives building resilience and accelerating progress toward ending hunger and malnutrition. Through these efforts WFP supports multiple SDGs enhancing health education and poverty 2023 WFP reached 28 million people with nutrition services through its malnutrition prevention and treatment programmes across 53 countries.
The WFP PRGS Nutrition School Meals and Social Protection through its Learning and Innovation Unit established the Monitoring Evaluation Research Learning and Innovations in Nutrition (MERLIN) sub-unit to assess program performance generate evidence and support evidence-based decision-making. Within MERLIN team under the guidance of Team Lead the research staff provides technical (75%) and administrative (20%) support for evidence generation along with supporting other work of the team (5%).
In line with the Nutrition Strategy to improve diets and address malnutrition (2024-2030) the Nutrition Research Priorities (2024-2030) were developed in 2024. These priorities focus on generating evidence from food-insecure contexts within the following four broad areas: i) prevention of wasting among pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls ii) prevention of wasting among young children iii) management of children with moderate wasting and iv) food systems pathways to delivering healthy diets for vulnerable households.
The purpose of this consultancy is to support the operationalisation of the Nutrition Research Priorities. The Nutrition Research Officer will work collaboratively with the Team Lead (MERLIN) and the Chief.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Operationalising Nutrition Research Priorities
Support in operationalizing the nutrition research priorities for the Nutrition unit
Support research on food systems pathways for improving diets of vulnerable households in collaboration with Food Systems team.
Support research on nutrition in collaboration with Office of Evaluation (OEV).
Support learning priorities on complementary intervention package for prevention early detection and management of child wasting in collaboration with M&E team.
With guidance from other research staff support the HQ led research on prevention of child wasting.
With guidance from other research staff support the HQ led research on management of children with moderate wasting.
Utilizing WFP data and other relevant datasets to generate evidence conduct analysis and support the development of guidance for programmatic and policy decisions.
2. Systems Strengthening for Research
Support utilisation of Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) for Nutrition Research Services by HQ RBs and COs.
Support strengthening partnerships for research with academic universities and research institutions.
Liaise with WFPs procurement and legal team to support LTA related work.
3. Capacity building for research
Support development of guideline and tools for RBs and COs to build capacity to oversee research with academic partners and to use best available evidence for decision making.
With guidance from other research staff support other capacity building efforts for research.
4. Other research-related work
Support reviewing research concept note proposals protocols and manuscripts for HQ RBs and COs.
Act as a focal point for LTAs for Nutrition Research Services for WFP
Support the development of funding proposals and/or other related communications and advocacy materials.
Present WFPs Nutrition research in scientific conferences.
Liaise with relevant stakeholders within WFP (e.g OEV APP)
Support MERLIN team in other relevant tasks as needed.

DELIVERABLES:
Research protocol for HQ led field research developed for 3-4 countries.
Supported 3-4 countries with CO led nutrition research through LTAs.
Research guidance and tools developed for capacity building of RBs and COs.
Concept note/proposal/protocol/manuscripts reviewed for 3-4 COs.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
Advanced University degree (masters degree or higher with preference for PhD) in Nutrition Food Systems Public Health Epidemiology or related field
Experience:
More than 3 years of experience in Nutrition-related programming and/or research
Track record of working on Maternal and Child Nutrition and/or Food Systems related research preferable in an advisory role to stakeholders such as regional and/or country offices.
Experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods
Experience designing and conducting experimental studies specifically randomised controlled trials
Experience with publications in high quality peer-review journals
Knowledge & Skills:

Required:
Knowledge on Global Nutrition Landscape particularly food systems interventions
Knowledge of scientific methods and ability to critically analyse emerging global evidence for robustness quality and relevance.
Ability to design implement analyse and report on Nutrition research
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Ability to work in dynamic environment and independently attention to detail and results oriented
Languages:
Fluency in English required French or another UN language highly desired.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

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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

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• At the application stage the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport certificates recommendation letters etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

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.