DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

30 January 2025-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

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 world’s 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 WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

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 Nutrition and Food Quality Service leads WFP’s efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal target 2.2: ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030. This is an ambitious goal as malnutrition remains a universal and enormous global challenge, with significant health and economic consequences to individuals, communities, and entire countries. WFP is therefore advancing its efforts to both prevent and treat malnutrition and has developed a situational assessment to support decision-making for the prevention of all forms of malnutrition: Fill the Nutrient Gap (FNG).

Improved nutrition situation analysis can increase the understanding of the likely magnitude and main causes of the nutrient gap among a particular target group, e.g.



children aged 6-23 months or pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and adolescent girls, in a specific context. It can also inform where transformative change needs to happen in the food system to improve diets. The FNG analysis is based on a better and more in-depth analysis of existing nutrition, dietary intake, food security, food prices, household food expenditure and socio-economic data. Starting in 2015, WFP, with technical input from key research institutes (University of California Davis, IFPRI, Epicentre, Mahidol, Harvard) and Save the Children and UNICEF, developed the FNG assessment, which aims to strengthen analysis, build consensus and support decision-making for improving nutrient intake and preventing malnutrition, including during the critical period of the first 1,000 days.

The FNG uses nutrition modelling (enhanced Cost of Diet analysis) combined with a review of secondary data on food systems,



local dietary practices and malnutrition to identify options that enable people to access and choose a more nutritious diet. The analysis is designed to contribute to national policy and programming planning cycles by highlighting potential entry points for nutrition-related action by different sectors and actors. Key stakeholders are engaged throughout the processed as needed, particularly in analysis and utilization of the findings, to facilitate multi-stakeholder discussions on the identification of context-specific policy and programme options and prioritisation of actions.

The FNG process and the data analysis are facilitated, and in parts led, by the Systems Analysis for Nutrition team (SAN) at WFP Headquarters, in collaboration with WFP Country Offices and Regional Bureaux.

By 2022, the FNG assessment’s concept and methods are well established, and the analysis has been conducted in more than 50 countries, including in fragile settings. WFP is working closely with the World Bank, IFPRI, UC Davis,



Johns Hopkins Centre for a Livable Future, Tilburg University, Capgemini and others on further development and application of analytical tools and approaches for Systems Analysis for Nutrition, that have evolved from and are also being applied in FNG analysis, including capacity strengthening around stakeholder engagement for policy and program design, costing of options and aligning FNG with other initiatives such as estimating the cost of a healthy diet, assessing environmental impact of diets as well as impact of climate change on diets, and characterizing sub-national food environments using market-based food price data collection.

The consultant will join a multidisciplinary team and providing technical assistance WFP Country Offices on the FNG analysis and stakeholder engagement process. The consultant will lead and support on selected FNG processes and optimized diet analyses as well as specific topic analyses upon demand. Lastly,



scientific writing to seize publication opportunities and disseminate the FNG analysis and analytics associated with nutrition division objectives on food assistance and prevention activities will be provided upon demand.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

FNG and nutrition analytics

Review and analyse data related to nutrition, dietary intake, food security, food prices, household food expenditure and socio-economic indicators. Support Governments and WFP Country Offices to prepare for and conduct the FNG systems-focused nutrition situational analysis, including modelling such Cost of the Diet (CotD) and ENHANCE analyses and secondary data analysis, summarizing and presenting findings for discussion, facilitating in-country and virtual stakeholder workshops for formulating Coordinate FNG processes with WFP Country Offices and with Regional Bureaux. Support the continuous improvement of the analytical concepts and tools, e.g., by





integrating measures of environmental impact of different diets and of climate change on food production and quality;

tailoring analyses to nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food value chains;

interfacing with software developers to adjust environmental outputs in ENHANCE, as needed.

Coordination of analyses and provide technical guidance to junior team members, including WFP colleagues at Country Offices and Regional bureaux. Collaborate with other teams in the Nutrition and Food Quality Service to support regional bureaux and country offices through analysis on malnutrition prevention and treatment programming and healthy diets. Liaise and collaborate with other divisions and services in the WFP (e.g. Analysis Planning and Performance (APP), Social Protection, School Based Programming (SBP), Supply Chain, Climate Change, Resilience) to improve the understanding and use of the SAN analytical toolbox and engagement approach,



and support integration of nutrition relevant considerations in their analytical and programming toolboxes. Take actions that will lead towards strategic positioning of the analysis and insights gained, both among external stakeholders and internally in the organisation, including through writing of topic briefs, scientific papers and other publications, and presenting in meetings, webinars and other convenings. Any other duties as required.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

Related to FNG analyses and diet optimization

- Full dissemination slide deck, report, executive summary, and extended report or annotated slide deck, for each FNG analysis the consultant worked on.
- If required, ad hoc thematic papers or other publications on FNG results.
- Draft advocacy material summarizing the key messages derived from the FNG analysis, to be used by WFP Country Offices and Regional Bureaux to inform their programming and for further policy discussions with their government counterparts.
- Reviews and comments for improvement to junior team members’ analyses and deliverables.
- Additional nutrition analysis, reporting and guidance supported upon demand.

Related to thought leadership on systems analysis for nutrition

- Relevant input to the development and strengthening of analytical tools as needed.
- Guidance on the methodology to analyse the impact of climate change on food production and quality
- Peer reviewed articles, reports and contributions submitted for publication as applicable.
- Presentations in international conferences, fora, technical meetings as needed.
- Collaboration with WFP colleagues on nutrition integration, particularly by providing analytical inputs and identifying entry points across sectors and programming platforms.
- Strengthened collaboration with key partner organisations

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Graduate level (Masters or above) in Public Health (Epidemiology or biostatistics), Nutrition, Economics (or Econometrics), Sustainable food systems, Agronomy, Statistics or other socio-economic disciplines with a strong quantitative data analysis component.

Experience:

Between 6-8 years of relevant professional experience.

- Of which at least 3 years of experience in food and nutrition data analysis.
- Solid knowledge of nutrition and food systems required.
- Experience with dietary assessment, linear programming-based (CotD, Optifood) or other Nutrition Modelling tools, GIS and/or mapping software.
- Previous experience cleaning, processing and analysing large datasets and in database management appreciated.
- Previous experience of working in low-middle income countries, experience in fragile contexts considered an asset.
- Presenting detailed analysis findings or evidence to diverse audiences in a digestible and context-relevant format.
- Proven ability to engage with stakeholders from different sectors (agriculture, health, finance, education) and constituencies (government, private sector, civil society, academia) towards nutrition integration in strategies, polices and/or programs through design of analytical approaches and discussion of the findings.

Knowledge and Skills:

- Proficient and very comfortable to conduct quantitative data analysis using Stata or R.
- Advanced expertise in Excel.
- Demonstrated ability to conduct literature reviews and identify key themes, preferably related to food systems or nutrition.
- Knowledge about and experience applying qualitative research methods.
- Proven ability to structure and manage projects required.
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in multicultural settings.
- Flexibility in thinking, ability to adapt to different situations quickly and with ease.
- Ability to work independently in a timely and organised manner and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Capacity building and facilitation skills appreciated.
- Knowledge of different types of programmes such as social protection, health, school feeding, livelihoods and resilience and emergency programmes a strong asset.

Languages:

- Professional level of written and spoken English, and aptitude to writing different types of communications.
- Professional knowledge of a second UN language an asset, preferably French, Spanish or Arabic.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our recruitment process is inclusively crafted to welcome candidates of all backgrounds, celebrating diversity and ensuring a respectful environment for all. We aim for an accessible and fair recruitment journey. Should you need any reasonable accommodations or have accessibility concerns, please reach out to us confidentially at (email hidden). Our DEI team is here to ensure your full participation in our recruitment process.

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

- We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

- Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

- Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language

- Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

- Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

- Please contact us at (email hidden) in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

- Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.