Programme Associate G6 (Home-Grown School Feeding)

The Programme Associate supports the implementation of Home-Grown School Feeding activities in Liberia, contributing to improved access to nutritious school meals, stronger links with local food systems, and increased national ownership of school feeding programmes. The role involves operational support for planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting, and coordination with various stakeholders to ensure effective delivery of school feeding activities.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical and operational support for the planning, implementation and monitoring of HGSF activities, ensuring alignment with WFP programme policies, school feeding guidance, donor requirements and national priorities.
• Support the preparation and follow-up of annual workplans, implementation plans, distribution plans, budgets, operational trackers and performance indicators related to school meals and local procurement.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain, Field Office, Finance, Monitoring and Evaluation/RAM, Communications/Partnerships and other internal units to ensure timely delivery of school feeding activities and resolution of operational bottlenecks.
• Support engagement with the Ministry of Education, relevant government ministries, county and district education authorities, schools, farmer organizations, cooperatives, Parent-Teacher Associations, cooperating partners and other stakeholders involved in HGSF implementation.
• Contribute to local procurement planning by supporting market assessments, supplier/cooperative profiling, value chain analysis, food availability reviews and follow-up on quality, delivery and supplier performance issues.
• Maintain accurate programme records and databases, including school coverage, beneficiary data, commodity utilization, delivery status, supplier performance, partner implementation updates and monitoring findings.
• Undertake and document field monitoring visits to schools, warehouses, aggregation points, distribution sites and farmer/cooperative locations to verify implementation progress, identify risks and recommend corrective actions.
• Support the management and monitoring of agreements with cooperating partners, farmer organizations, vendors and government institutions, including follow-up on deliverables, documentation, reporting and compliance requirements.
• Prepare and consolidate regular reports, briefing notes, donor updates, presentations, success stories and analytical inputs on HGSF implementation progress, challenges, risks, lessons learned and results.
• Support capacity strengthening activities for government counterparts, schools, farmers/cooperatives, implementing partners and community structures on school feeding implementation, food safety, commodity management, monitoring, accountability and reporting.
• Promote the integration of nutrition, gender, protection, disability inclusion, environmental sustainability, community engagement and accountability to affected populations into HGSF planning and implementation.
• Act as a day-to-day focal point for HGSF operational follow-up, ensuring timely escalation and resolution of implementation issues raised by schools, partners, field office and government counterparts.
• Support emergency preparedness and contingency planning to help maintain continuity of school feeding services during shocks or disruptions where applicable.
• Collect, consolidate, analyses school reports, manage School connect data and performance.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Requirements

• Completion of secondary school education.
• A post-secondary certificate or university studies in agriculture, education, economics, food security, nutrition, rural development, social sciences, sociology, project management or another related functional area is desirable.
• At least six years of progressively responsible experience in programme implementation, school feeding, food security, agriculture, education, social protection, rural development or community development programmes.
• Experience supporting implementation of school meals, local procurement, farmer organization engagement, commodity management, supply chain coordination or community-based programme delivery.
• Experience working with government institutions, schools, development partners, cooperating partners, farmer organizations, cooperatives or community structures.
• Experience conducting field monitoring, preparing reports, tracking action points and following up on programme implementation issues.
• Experience supporting donor-funded programmes, including documentation, reporting, compliance follow-up and evidence generation.
• Experience using Excel and programme management/reporting systems.
• Familiarity with WFP corporate systems such as COMET, WINGS, SCOPE, School Connect or related tools is an asset.
• Fluency in oral and written English.
• Knowledge of local Liberian languages would be an asset.

Skills

• Programme Implementation
• School Feeding Programmes
• Food Security
• Agriculture
• Education Programmes
• Social Protection Policies
• Rural Development Policy
• Community Development
• Local Procurement
• Farmer Engagement
• Commodity Management
• Supply Chain Coordination
• Community-Based Programme Delivery
• Government Relations
• Development Partner Coordination
• Field Monitoring
• Report Preparation
• Programme Tracking Tools
• Donor-Funded Programme Support
• Compliance Follow-up
• Evidence Generation
• Excel
• UN Programme Management Systems
• COMET
• WINGS
• SCOPE
• School Connect

Languages

English