WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourage qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity, and disability.

JOB DETAILS

Job Title: Budget and Programming Officer Grade: NOB Type of contract: Fixed Term Duration: 12 Months (Extendable) Duty Station: Kabul Vacancy Number: 828947 Date of Publication: 10 Aug 2023 Deadline of Application: 24 August 2023

This vacancy announcement is for Afghan nationals only and WFP encourages especially Afghan females and Afghans with disabilities to apply.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The hunger crisis in Afghanistan is unfolding at a rapidly, with over half the country’s population of 15 million now facing acute food insecurity—the highest number the humanitarian community has ever seen in Afghanistan. Work opportunities are shrinking, with most households now reporting just one day of work per week. This comes on top of the worst drought in years, which is especially concerning for the 85 percent of the population who rely on agriculture for livelihoods.

Preventing and mitigating a drastic increase in hunger and malnutrition is the aim of WFP in Afghanistan which can only be achieved through the scaled up and sustained complementary food security and nutrition interventions, combined with a scale-up of resilience interventions to safeguard gains. WFP has embarked on a significant month on month scale-up of its crisis response and resilience programmes across the country, ensuring that the programme is delivered at the right scale and time, targeted to the right areas. WFP is also actively following up on evolving trends to pre-empt hotspots, while guaranteeing quality and maximum impact of the programme through the monitoring of these hotspots to be able to support continued donor advocacy.

JOB PURPOSE

To deliver budget and resource analysis and programming activities, typically with a lower level of complexity, and/or provide support to HQ/RBx , partnering with and supporting managers in the application of best practice approaches for the efficient, effective and compliant utilisation of funds.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Budget Planning and Management

•  Contribute to the implementation of plans and policies by setting clear goals; coordinate processes for budget and programming activities in compliance with WFP and functional strategies.
•  Review budgets for accuracy, appropriateness, cost containment/effectiveness and completeness in line with available guidelines, flagging any shortcomings and providing comprehensive feedback to the main stakeholders as needed.
•  Review and release budgets in WFP’s corporate systems ensuring that all budget-supporting documents are available, and address received comments and recommendations before relevant resource data is recorded in internal systems for reference.
•  Support the preparation of funding proposals through donor trend analysis against operational shortfalls, proposing fund prioritisation options by activity and modality as necessary.
•  Analyze CSPs/RBPs closure activities, ensuring actions are taken for the receiving of resources transfers and the timely start and closures of activities.

Pipeline Management

•  Review and analyze commodity pipeline requirements including Advance Financing requests in collaboration with stakeholders at the operational level to ensure timely shortfall coverage and efficient utilization of contributions.
•  Review monthly pipelines, participate in meetings and provide feedback to the CO/RB teams on resource allocations and corporate stock replenishments to maximise operational effectiveness, escalating based on severity of pipeline shortfalls and using relevant pipeline management tools.
•  Coordinate and consolidate information for the monthly, cross-functional, pipeline working group, (across Area Offices, Sub Offices and Field Offices as needed), that proactively discusses resource availability and upcoming shortfalls, while recommending timely mitigation measures.
•  Participate in meetings with internal stakeholders to discuss the utilization of foreseen contributions and support the process of developing funding proposals.

Funds and Performance Management, and Reporting

•  Advise spending units on the timely and appropriate programming and utilization of funds, to align with funding proposals and donor conditions, proposing timely recommendations and possible corrective actions that enable reporting in close collaboration with the Partnerships teams.
•  Monitor fund sub allotments as per available procedures and guidelines, to avail funds to spending units for timely commitment.
•  Coordinate and consolidate inputs for the CO/RB Resource Management Committee (RMC) which reviews and prioritizes resources against the Country Portfolio Budget (CPB) implementation plans, as per agreed timelines.
•  Contribute to the preparation of interim, progress and final reports as stipulated in various contribution agreements between WFP and specific donors, particularly for those locally negotiated contributions, in close collaboration with CO, RB and HQ counterparts as required.

Other

•  Where needed, contribute to the activation/deactivation and management of Global Commodity Management Facility (GCMF) supply lines, participate in knowledge transfer activities in support of the facility and facilitate decision-making for the allocation of corporate stocks.
•  Supervise, guide a small-sized team, coaching and providing/delivering training to build capacity and increase expected level of operational support, acting as a first escalation point on more complex analysis and queries.
•  Collate and analyse data and contribute to preparation of accurate and timely reports, to enable informed decision-making and consistency of information presented to senior management and external stakeholders.
•  Implement proposed developments and improvements of systems, techniques, tools, processes and procedures to better monitor, manage and report on WFP budgets and resources.
•  Represent the unit at internal meetings/committees/working groups as required, in order to obtain and provide information from a budget and resource programming perspective.
•  Follow standard emergency preparedness practices and contribute to monitoring the management of financial risks.
•  Perform other relevant duties as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

•  Advanced university degree in Business Administration, Statistics, Finance, Economics or other relevant field.
•  Additional professional trainings in project management, statistical analysis and/or operational planning and management is desirable.

Experience:

•  At least three (3) years of postgraduate professional experience.
•  Experience performing analytics of medium complexity and presenting the information to meet various audience needs.
•  Experience preparing, managing and reporting on operational budgets.
•  Experience in working with large datasets, extracting information from them in an easy to interpret manner.

Required Knowledge and Skills:

•  A demonstrated and adequate understanding of information and financial systems and how those support the implementation of operations.
•  Thorough understanding of operational planning and business processes, rules and procedures and applying them consistently in the implementation and support of programme interventions.
•  Adequate knowledge of programme operational requirements and how these translate into resource management requirements, enabling the proposition of recommendations for improvement in a proactive rather than reactive manner.
•  Experience coordinating operational planning and fostering discussions around resource projections and implications on a programme-wide level, integrating trend analyses and ongoing discussions to drive the way forward.
•  Ability to consolidate and share resource management information in a way that supports decision making and emphasizes accuracy and consistency in numbers across teams.
•  Ability to coach, train and mentor a team of staff to deliver at expected levels.

Language:

•  Working knowledge in written and oral English is required. Fluency in Dari or Pashtu is required.

HOW TO APPLY

To be considered, interested candidates are invited to apply via (https://www.wfp.org/careers/job-openings). Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. We want to ensure the recruitment process is fully accessible. Please contact us at afg.hrrecruitment@wfp.org to advise us of any accessibility needs you may have.

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.