Asociado Senior de Protección Social SC 07

The position supports the implementation of initiatives to strengthen social protection systems, improving their effectiveness, coverage, and responsiveness, aligned with national priorities and WFP's strategic plans. The role involves technical contribution to design, implementation, and monitoring of social protection projects, capacity building, coordination, and resource mobilization.

Responsibilities

• Contribute technically to the design, implementation and monitoring of social protection initiatives and projects, ensuring alignment with national policies, institutional frameworks and WFP strategies.
• Support programmatic and operational management of social protection and adaptive social protection projects, ensuring timely compliance with work plans, goals and indicators.
• Support capacity strengthening of government institutions on social protection, financial preparedness for disasters and risk financing mechanisms in coordination with technical counterparts and strategic partners.
• Contribute to technical analysis of social protection systems including responsiveness to shocks and emergencies, identifying gaps, strengthening opportunities and operational recommendations.
• Prepare technical inputs, analytical reports and presentations related to social protection program performance, resource use, programmatic progress and lessons learned, ensuring institutional quality standards.
• Support inter-institutional coordination processes among government entities, UN agencies, technical and financial partners to promote integrated approaches between social protection, disaster risk management and humanitarian response.
• Monitor implementation of activities related to cash transfers, financial preparedness and response mechanisms in coordination with existing national systems.
• Record, systematize and analyze relevant information for programmatic decision-making, ensuring data coherence and availability for involved actors.
• Contribute to capacity building activities for WFP staff, cooperating partners and government counterparts on social protection and adaptive social protection financing.
• Support application of standard emergency preparedness practices ensuring social protection components are integrated in WFP planning and response processes.
• Lead execution of WFP strategic actions on social protection including adaptive social protection and disaster risk financing according to logical framework and work plan, timely and with expected quality.
• Support synergy actions with other WFP social protection projects at national, regional and international levels.
• Plan, manage and monitor funds assigned to the social protection component of ongoing projects including fund monitoring.
• Ensure generation of financial reports as required by donors to the Country Office under supervision of Program Officer and Social Protection Unit Coordinator.
• Coordinate necessary actions for proper execution of activities and achievement of indicators under WFP responsibility focused on increasing capacity of social protection and disaster risk management systems in the Dominican Republic.
• Coordinate social protection activities in active projects, identifying specialist requirements and specific missions, relevant findings to adjust project progress and define strategies for results achievement.
• Translate corporate and regional policies and strategies related to social protection into country-level practices.
• Formulate substantial parts of the National Strategic Plan aligned with WFP institutional and regional policies and strategies on social protection and relevant Executive Board decisions and guidance.
• Design and manage a complex portfolio of social protection programs effectively meeting food security and nutrition needs.
• Ensure optimal use of financial resources assigned to achieve established social protection objectives within a significant budget.
• Identify strategic entry points for WFP to support formulation and application of appropriate policy solutions based on solid political problem analysis and evaluation of available solutions.
• Identify and advise on adjustments to ongoing WFP activities to ensure better alignment with national policies and priorities.
• Establish and maintain strategic and operational partnerships for complementary and collaborative approaches and initiatives that enhance social protection and support related advocacy work across relevant audiences.
• Increase WFP leadership in various social protection-related forums.
• Promote resource mobilization for a broad portfolio of WFP social protection activities including articulating feasibility studies for WFP contributions to social protection and exploring new potential resource channels.
• Contribute to resource mobilization efforts for WFP social protection activities including articulating arguments for WFP contributions and exploring new resource channels.
• Manage or oversee preparation and dissemination of timely analytical and critical reports, publications and various knowledge products or proposals for internal or external use that position and reinforce WFP credibility as a social protection partner.
• Advise and support design of learning initiatives that enhance capacity of WFP staff and associates to engage in relevant social protection policy dialogues and program design and implementation.
• Contribute to generation, documentation and dissemination of relevant knowledge to support national hunger solutions.
• Support implementation of WFP Country Strategic Plan.
• Other duties as required.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in environmental management, social sciences, human rights, economics or related fields relevant to WFP competencies.
• Minimum 6 years of professional experience in social protection, social policies or related areas.
• Experience supporting project management or coordination.
• Knowledge or experience in cash transfers, emergency preparedness and/or disaster risk financing is an advantage.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Knowledge of gender in emergencies and humanitarian protection.
• Ability to work in a multicultural and interdisciplinary team environment under pressure.
• Patience, tact, discretion and confidentiality in workplace relations.
• Conflict management skills in personal and professional contexts.
• Strong interpersonal and coordination skills, ability to work in a team and communicate clearly and diplomatically with diverse stakeholders.
• Proactive, independent, with planning and organizational skills, efficient in meeting commitments, deadlines and achieving results.
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations.
• Fluent spoken and written Spanish and advanced knowledge of English.

Skills

• Social Protection Policies
• Social Policy
• Project Management
• Project Coordination
• Cash Transfers
• Emergency Preparedness
• Disaster Risk Financing
• Gender in Emergencies
• Humanitarian Protection
• Conflict Management
• Interpersonal Communication
• Stakeholder Coordination
• Capacity Building
• Resource Mobilization
• Planning and Organization
• Multi-cultural Team Collaboration
• Spanish
• English

Languages

Spanish, English