JOB DESCRIPTION

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

20 August 2025-23:59-GMT+02:00 Central Africa Time (Lusaka)

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:

In July 2023, the World Food Programme (WFP) Zambia Country Office commenced a new five-year Country Strategic Plan (CSP), informed by, and aligned with national and United Nations priorities and global commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It embraces the Government’s long-term Vision 2030; aligns with 16 key strategic areas of the 8th National Development Plan (NDP8); and contributes to the joint Zambia-United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).

WFP Zambia’s integrated and pragmatic CSP shifts away from unsustainable localized and micro-level interventions, to embrace more effective advocacy and engagement with national policies, systems, and programmes to achieve national impact on SDG2. Given the Government’s commitment to budget support for nutrition, social protection, and agriculture, despite the constraints in the country’s fiscal position, WFP’s overarching strategy seeks to enable the government to meet its national priorities with better systems, expertise, and resources for implementation. This means a decisive shift of WFP’s country positioning towards the provision of innovative, sustainable, upstream technical assistance for nationally owned solutions.

Advancing the global WFP Strategic Plan (2022-2025), the CSP addresses both SDG2 and SDG17, and WFP’s Strategic Results 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. WFP will implement seven activities to achieve five Strategic Outcomes (SO).  These SOs include: responding to crises and shocks, including support to refugees (SO1); addressing the root causes of malnutrition (SO2); building the resilience, enabling environment and market access for smallholder farmers, especially women and youth (SO3); supporting government institutions to provide social protection systems (including home grown school meals) and disaster preparedness and response and anticipatory actions (SO4); and improving access to supply chain services for humanitarian and development actors (SO5).

In view of the above and with the additional multi-year funding from KfW under Strategic Outcome 3 (SO3), the Country Office is scaling up its resilience and recovery programming. The project aims to strengthen shock-responsive systems, enhance community resilience, and support sustainable recovery from climate and economic shocks.

REPORTING

Reporting to the SO3 Manager, the incumbent shall provide operational leadership for the KfW-funded resilience and recovery project, ensuring its effective integration across all SO3 thematic areas. The Project Manager will oversee day-to-day implementation, ensure compliance with donor and WFP standards, and foster strong collaboration with government, UN agencies, NGOs, and community-based organizations to build resilient systems and communities.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES 

Project Implementation and Coordination

• Lead the planning, implementation, and coordination of the KfW-funded TERNIZA project, ensuring integrated approaches and alignment with the project design and WFP CSP.
• Ensure integration of nutrition, resilience, disaster risk reduction, and recovery initiatives across relevant programmatic areas.
• Oversee day-to-day project operations, including activity planning, budgeting, procurement, and field coordination.
• Ensure timely and quality delivery of project outputs in line with the work plan and donor expectations.

• Coordinate and link across different units i.e SO3, SO2, SO4, M&E, logistics, finance and Budget and Programming for smooth implementation.
• Provide technical oversight and guidance on key project components, such as adoption of climate-smart agriculture, access to improved inputs and mechanisation, integration of livestock restocking and animal protein in school feeding, value addition and market linkages.
• Promote the integration of cross-cutting issues, such as gender equality, environmental protection, and good governance, across all project activities.

Risk Management and Compliance

• Manage project risks, including social and environmental safeguards, including reporting systems and mitigation strategies in a timely manner.
• Identify and manage project risks, including operational, financial, and reputational risks.
• Ensure compliance with KfW and WFP policies, procedures, and reporting requirements.
• Lead the preparation of donor reports, audits, and evaluations.

Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships

• Serve as the primary focal point for engagement with government ministries, UN agencies, NGOs, and community-based organizations.
• Facilitate multi-stakeholder coordination platforms to ensure alignment and synergy.

• Support capacity strengthening of local partners and government counterparts.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships within internal teams among different SOs, field offices, and with all partners to ensure shared ownership and synergy.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Reporting

• Support the M&E team to develop and implement a robust results framework.
• Ensure regular monitoring, data collection, and adaptive management.
• Document and disseminate lessons learned, innovations, and success stories.
• Ensure timely and accurate project reporting of project progress including annual, mid and endline reporting.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• Advanced university degree in Social Policy, Public Administration, Development Studies, Disaster Risk Management, Natural Resource Management, or related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in managing large-scale resilience, recovery, or DRM projects, preferably in humanitarian or development settings.
• Proven experience in project management, donor compliance, and multi-stakeholder coordination.
• Strong understanding of shock-responsive systems, climate resilience, and community-based programming.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English.

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:  [email protected]

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 protected] 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.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements