Programme Policy Officer (IDM and User Experience Design)

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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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).

JOB TITLE: Programme Policy Officer (IDM and User Experience Design)
TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultancy (Level I)
UNIT/DIVISION: PRGM/PRG
DUTY STATION: Rome, Italy (or remotely)
DURATION: Until 31.12.2026

BACKGROUND:
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food and cash assistance to change lives and empower people to meet their essential needs. WFP does this both through its direct operations as well as by supporting Governments on their national pathways toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). WFP is the largest cash actor in the humanitarian community: US$ 2.1 billion of cash assistance was provided to 38 million beneficiaries in 67 countries in 2020. WFP is the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2020.
The Identity Management (IDM) Norms and Standards Unit is placed within the Programme Division (PRG) in WFP’s Headquarters (Rome, Italy) and leads the formulation of the organization’s policy and standards for managing the identities of people WFP assists. It is a dynamic and agile team that works with a range of innovative partners, in particular the Delivery System Services Unit (DSS) within the Supply Chain and Delivery (SCD) Division. User Experience (UX) Design is dedicated to quality IDM processes. It focusses on optimizing beneficiary experiences in all touchpoints with IDM processes and advising Country Offices (CYs) on these approaches when analyzing their IDM environment and making strategic decisions about how to handle people’s personal data.
The Consultant will work under the supervision of the head of the IDM Norms and Standards Unit. S/he will be based in Rome (or remotely) and will be requested to travel to support CYs, as possible and needed. The supervisor will provide clear guidance and support to the Consultant throughout the assignment and particularly during the onboarding phase, linking him/her to all the stakeholders she/he will need to work closely with to deliver on key accountabilities. It is expected and planned that this assignment will also represent a learning opportunity for the Consultant, through exposure to core areas of work on identity management, missions, temporary assignments and other opportunities. Beyond personal growth, this assignment is a unique opportunity to work in a thriving workplace environment and to contribute to truly placing beneficiaries, their preferences and needs at the centre of humanitarian action.

JOB PURPOSE:

Develop, adapt and help apply User Experience Design principles, methodologies and approaches to IDM policies and guidance to enable a frictionless and empowering user journey for WFP beneficiaries. Provide support to CYs and document learnings and best practices from different use cases.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:
1. Develop a simple and practical set of principles and standards to support the coherent application of User Experience Design throughout IDM processes. This will not be a separate set of norms but integrated into WFP’s corporate normative framework (eg IDM policy positions, existing and upcoming operational guidance and Standard Operating Procedures, among others).
2. Support WFP Country Offices in conducting beneficiary user journeys (including remotely) and validate if the corporate norms/standards for user-centred design for IDM processes are relevant, agile and adaptable to different contexts.
3. Support COs to improve beneficiary experiences for IDM across the project cycle. Use the results of user journeys to feed upwards the most common pain points for beneficiaries and inform required changes in processes or systems at global level to enable frictionless and empowering IDM processes.
4. Map different IDM processes and develop current vs ideal user journeys for the most common use cases, building on actual user journeys conducted with COs as well as best practices from the humanitarian, social protection or payments industry field (public & private sector). Produce infographics that depict these different use cases and generic journeys, touchpoints of beneficiaries with WFP operations and actions that can be taken to move closer to the ideal/empowering journey.
5. Support PRG to embed UX design and beneficiary perspectives into current/new services and products (develop a specific plan of action with them to identify detailed inputs and timelines). This will be an on-going engagement with all PRG teams, working with all in an agile manner and bringing added value and concrete contributions based on operational knowledge and the interest of the people we serve.
6. Collaborate with external partners, experts and internal stakeholders to validate assumptions and tools, adapt UX methodologies to the needs of WFP’s beneficiaries and ensure WFP is up to date on latest developments in user-centred design. Represent WFP in external fora on these topics, as required, or support senior level representation by preparing relevant presentations, talking points and examples from the practice.
7. Work closely with WFP Communications team to develop/support clear narratives and products (including multimedia material) to communicate on user-centred design, why it is important for WFP and for PRG, what does it mean in practice, what difference does it make in achieving better programmatic results as well as intrinsic value to lift and empower people. This will require careful information & knowledge management and secondary review of external evidence that supports this approach in different fields.
8. Be a source of inspiration and an agent of change within WFP, take risks and propose innovations, and consult regularly with the people we serve and field colleagues to inform all this work and keep it relevant to them.

DELIVERABLES/PRODUCTS:
Specific deliverables and products will be discussed and agreed with the Consultant at the beginning of the assignment, and will be reflected in the WFP’s performance management system/planning phase. The plan will be regularly revised with the Consultant according to priorities, preferences and feedback from main users.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
1. Three to five years of relevant professional experience, preferably but not exclusively with WFP (knowledge of WFP operations and processes is an asset for this assignment).
2. Deep field experience and knowledge of identity management processes end-to-end for both cash and in-kind operations. Experience with Government-to-People payments and social protection programmes is an asset.
3. Desirable exposure and/or experience in applying user experience/user-centred design approaches in the private or public sector; and or ability to work hand in hand with an external expert who could technically build the applicant's knowledge and soundboard his/her ideas based on industry best practices.
4. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, ability to work independently in multifunctional teams, to innovate, influence and provide practical/actionable advice to different stakeholders, including senior management. Empathy.
5. Former recipients of humanitarian assistance and direct programme participants (of WFP or others) or community leaders who have lived experiences with humanitarian cash operations are also invited to apply, women in particular. Other selection criteria can be softened or waived depending on the profile of the applicant.

STANDARD MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
Education: Graduate or post-graduate qualifications in international relations, political/economic science, social sciences or their equivalent
Language: Fluency (level C) in English. Second UN language highly desirable (level B).

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 committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.

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• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.

• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

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.