Programme Policy Officer (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise & Financial Inclusion)

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, physical or mental disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the diverse food needed for an active and healthy life.

WFP Tanzania has been connecting smallholder farmers to markets since 2009. WFP has been supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to strengthen the ecosystem in which smallholder farmers access affordable inputs, services, and markets. Finally, with the Government of Tanzania, WFP supports local pro-smallholder purchasing to meet local and regional demand for WFP food assistance.

WFP’s strategy to support smallholder farmers highlights the importance of women and youth in rural development, livelihoods, strengthening value chains, and improving food systems. The strategy is committed to empower over 405,000 farmers in the next five years (2022-2027), generating over USD 150 million of aggregated annual purchasing demand in the Country.

In support of the strategy, the upcoming “Strengthening Food Systems to Empower Smallholder Farmers and Young People” project will support MSME development and scale support to the maize, sorghum, beans, sunflower and horticulture value chains, targeting smallholder farmers and youth, especially young women.

Furthermore, the upcoming “Strengthening Smallholder Agriculture Value Chain, Gender Equity and Peace in Refugee Hosting Districts” project in Kigoma will enhance food security and nutrition amongst vulnerable groups, strengthen community-based organizations to become active contributors to social cohesion, gender equality and peace, and increase smallholder farmers agricultural and financial capacities for market engagement and resilient livelihoods.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: University degree in Agribusiness, economics, business administration, Finance, Project Management or a related field.

Language: Fluency in both oral and written English and Swahili. The ability to communicate in any other official UN language would be an asset.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Under the guidance of the Head of Smallholder Unit, and in close collaboration with the Markets & Procurement Specialist and Gender & Youth Specialist, the incumbent will build linkages between MSMEs, financial institutions, and bank guarantee schemes to smallholder farmers, private off-takers and others along the targeted value chains (especially women and youth).

JOB PURPOSE

Under the guidance of the Head of Smallholder Farmer (SHF) Support Unit, and in close collaboration with relevant staff, units and sub-offices, the incumbent will strengthen the existing financial access initiatives though connecting MSMEs, private off-takers and farmer organizations to financial institutions, support development of training materials and rollout of trainings on financial literacy for smallholder farmers, strengthen the capacity of existing village saving and loan associations (VSLAs) and act as the focal point for the SHF support unit’s engagements with local and international financial institutions in the spirit of creating affordable financial packages for smallholder farmers. The incumbent will also establish financial mechanisms to attract youth, especially young women to engage in Agriculture.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Conduct a needs assessment for smallholder farmers financial needs, opportunities, and challenges for meeting those needs, and provide advice on adequate products from financial service providers
2. Facilitate trainings on financial literacy for smallholder farmers with relevant partners, with particular attention to the needs of women and youth in agriculture
3. Strengthen the savings culture among supported farmer organizations though establishment of new or strengthened existing saving groups
4. Conduct due diligence to determine capacity of individual smallholder farmers for possible micro/individual loans
5. Engage with commercial and development banks, MFIs, credit guarantee funds, and crop loss insurance providers as well as government regulators on discussions of affordable finance for smallholder farmers and risk management
6. Conduct a mapping of existing financing structures, and explore avenues for blended finance, matching grants, and startup funds through consultations with local/national and international financial services providers, insurance companies and development or donor agencies
7. Organize strategic meetings (preliminary and follow-up) and attend consultations on improvements in the bank lending environment and guarantee schemes to foster smallholder sourcing strategies
8. Liaise on a regular basis with potential financial institutions ready to finance smallholder farmers, monitor loan applications, disbursements, and repayments. 
9. Support in the identification of MSMEs (farmer groups, private off takers, aggregators, improved seeds producers, providers of financial services, transportation companies, cleaning, shelling and threshing services providers to farmers, small millers, etc..) with potential for financial access and develop appropriate risk mitigation tools for expansion.
10. Conduct business plans appraisals and crops profitability analysis for MSMEs to link these with financial needs, and support through endorsement of these business plans for potential financing.
11. Monitor the evolution of MSMEs’ capital and provide on areas that needs attention for consideration.
12. Draft progress reports on projects’ financial inclusion activities and contribute to the drafting of corporate reports as required.
13. Contribute to the development of Concept Notes and proposals around financial inclusion for smallholder farmers as required.
14. Perform other related duties as required.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
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•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
•  Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
•  Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Lifecycle & Food Assistance

Displays ability to identify the main hunger problem at the national or subnational level to design and implement context-specific programmes that integrate complex analysis and the full range of food assistance tools.

Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Voucher)

Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development.

Broad Knowledge of Specialized areas (i.e. Nutrition, VAM, etc.)

Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring.

Emergency Programming

Displays ability to translate understanding of programme principles in emergencies and protracted conflict situations into relevant, effective, and context specific approaches.

Strategic Policy Engagement w/ Government

Develops thorough recommendations using multiple inputs (e.g., government counsel, research, own experience) to strengthen national or subnational entities and government owned food and nutrition security programmes.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Experience: 5 years of experience in MSMEs and/or smallholder financial inclusion, preferably with microfinance institutions, microfinance banks or banks.
• Demonstrated knowledge of MSMEs, financial inclusion and commercial agriculture modelling
• Demonstrated ability to provide consistent and timely services to meet the changing needs, demands and expectations of partners, allowing clients to actively participate in and contribute to decisions that are relevant to their needs and flexible in adjusting services as required
• Strong problem solving, negotiation skills and ability to travel extensively
• Strong analytical skills
•  Deepened technical knowledge through exposure to technical teams
• Experience in leadership for implementation of similar programmes
• Experience in policy formulation and revision discussions

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Has deepened technical knowledge through exposure to technical teams.
• Has taken leadership of implementing programmes.
• Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• This position is open to nationals of Tanzania only
• Duration of Contract: One year renewable up to five years until end of project (subject to performance).
• All applications should be submitted through e-recruitment portal
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline for receiving applications is 22 July 2022.

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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.