General
Description of assignment title
Climate Adaptation and Environmental Sustainability Officer
Assignment country
Zambia
Expected start date
01/02/2025
Sustainable Development Goal
2. Zero hunger
Volunteer category
International UN Youth Volunteer
Host entity
WFP ZMB
Type
Onsite
Duration
12 months (with possibility of extension)
Number of assignments
1
Duty stations
Lusaka
Details
Mission and objectives
The World Food Programme (WFP) Zambia is implementing a five- year Country Strategic Plan (CSP), which is a result of rigorous consultations with the Government, donors, and other stakeholders, and reflects their intent to support and partner with WFP in the country. The CSP is informed by, and strongly aligns 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 key strategic areas of its 8th National Development Plan (8NDP); and contributes to the joint Zambia-UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDPF). The CSP is informed by WFP’s long standing and broad experience in the country, embracing lessons from evaluations and reviews which call for greater synergy, a consolidation of pilot initiatives, and improved gender sensitive approaches to programme design. Finally, it is guided by the Zero Hunger Strategic Reviews (ZHSR). Advancing the WFP Corporate Strategic Plan (2022-2025), the CSP addresses both SDG2 and SDG17 and WFP’s strategic results 1,2,3, and 5. WFP is implementing six activities to achieve four Strategic Outcomes (SO). The SO will: respond to crises and shocks including support to refugees (SO1); address root causes of malnutrition (SO2); build the resilience, enabling environment and market access for smallholder farmers especially women (SO3) and support Government institutions to provide social protection systems (including home grown school meals), disaster preparedness and response SO4.
Context
In July 2023, the World Food Programme (WFP) Zambia 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). Advancing the global WFP Strategic Plan (2022-25), the CSP addresses SDG2 and SDG17, and WFP’s Strategic Results 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Under the CSP, WFP will implement seven activities to achieve five Strategic Outcomes (SO). These include: (SO1) responding to crises and shocks ensuring that crisis-affected people, including refugees, are able to meet their urgent food and nutrition needs; (SO2) addressing the root causes of malnutrition; (SO3) building resilience, enabling environment and market access for smallholder farmers, especially women; (SO4) supporting government institutions to provide social protection systems (including home grown school meals) and disaster preparedness and response; and (SO5) improving access to supply chain services for humanitarian and development actors. Under strategic outcome 1, 2 and 3 of the CSP, WFP works with the Government and a range of partners to provide relief support to crises affected populations, address root causes of malnutrition through nutrition-sensitive approaches and support smallholder farmers-built resilience to climate risks, improve incomes and food security. These initiatives operationalize synergies across different activities including food relief, cash based transfers, early warning and anticipatory action initiatives, disaster risk reduction approaches, sustainable regenerative agriculture, social behavior change and communication, financial inclusion and empowerment through financial literacy and access to finance services, postharvest loss re-duction, access to viable markets, enhanced access to pro-smallholder farmer’s services through digital systems and nutrition mainstreaming. Environmental sustainability is a critical part of WFP activities in Zambia. WFP programme in Zambia is implemented in 9 of the 10 provinces supported by four field offices. The Climate Adaptation and Environmental Sustain-ability Officer will be part of this exciting team.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the Programme Policy Officer, the UN Volunteer will perform the following tasks: • Assist with the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the on-going/recent WFP livelihood support activities/projects linked to climate resilience and smallholder agricultural markets support and lead the evidence generation/lessons learnt to improve sustainability of ongoing programmes; • Assist WFP to define value proposition in terms of climate action around the food security-water-climate nexus and help design sustainable action plan; • Contribute to the implementation of WFP country strategic plan by advancing sustainable management of resources to implement climate adaptation of rural and urban livelihoods and integration of innovation, economic viability and environmental sustainability programmes; • As part of the team and in liaison with the Smallholder Farmer Support manager and field teams, extension staff from the Government and other partners, provide training to smallholders in Post-Harvest Handling and Storage (PHHS) and facilitate access to appropriate hermetic storage solutions; • Participate in capacity building of agro-dealers and support to establish an efficient private sector led distribution network for PHHS equipment districts where projects will be implemented; • Support development of viable climate adaptation initiatives including use of renewable energy for rural smallholder farmers livelihoods and integration of smallholder farmer into home-grown school feeding procurement; • Participate in and support climate resilience and Markets initiatives that target women and Youth from urban and rural communities; • As part of a team, support environmental, social safeguard screening, assessment, mitigation, monitoring and reporting of WFP activities; • Assist in providing technical support to Government through appropriate line ministries and partners at field level in backstopping trainings for smallholders in production of drought tolerant value chains, post-harvest loss management, access, and appropriate use of improved storage solutions; • Contribute to resource mobilization efforts for WFP projects, including clearly articulating programme opportunities through proposals, concepts, and donor discussions; • Perform any other tasks as assigned.
Eligibility criteria
Age
18 – 80
Additional eligibility criteria
This assignment is funded by the Government of the Czech Republic and therefore specific criteria apply: • Only nationals of the Czech Republic can be considered. • Candidates must be between 18 and 29 years at the time of application. • Candidates who already served twice on a UN Youth Volunteer assignment funded by the Government of the Czech Republic are not eligible. APPLICATION – You may apply to a maximum of three assignments and indicate the order of preference in the ‘Additional remarks’ field when filling in the application form. – Application deadline: 31 October 2024 SELECTION – Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. The selection will be done by the UN Host Entity at the level of the country of assignment. Interviews will be conducted by the UN Host Entities in November 2024. +++ UN Volunteer entitlement calculator: https://app.unv.org/calculator +++
Nationality
Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.
Donor priorities
–
Requirements
Required experience
1 years of experience in or demonstrated interest in analyzing and writing reports as well as stakeholder engagement is an asset. • An understanding of food security vulnerability and ability to link analysis to Programme design, in the context of WFP programmes is an added advantage. • Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded.
Area(s) of expertise
Agriculture, Energy and environment
Driving license
–
Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required
Required education level
Bachelor degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Environment Management, Natural Resource Management, Community/Rural Development, or related field.
Competencies and values
• Accountability; • Motivation; • Commitment to Continuous Learning; • Communication; • Empowering Others; • Integrity; • Working in Teams.
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
Zambia is a land-linked, resource-rich country with sparsely populated land in the Centre of Southern Africa. It shares its border with eight countries (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) that serve as an expanded market for its goods. Lusaka is the capital of the Republic of Zambia. The climate is sunny and temperate, but it can be very cold during few months, with freezing temperature at times especially during the night. It is therefore advisable to bring warm clothing and foresee using heaters and other heating options when necessary. As the commercial and cultural Centre of Zambia, Lusaka has seen rapid development in recent decades, with reasonable transportation connections and widely spoken English making the city highly attractive to vacationers and experts alike. Unemployment and poverty are issues in the city, and beyond. Key industries for the region and Zambia as a whole, include mining, agriculture, and tourism. Like most Southern African cities, life in Lusaka will require some adjustments for a person moving from outside the region, but the potential rewards and opportunities for experiences are well worth the effort. Lusaka hosts several international organization and embassies/diplomatic missions, therefore there is a very large community of expatriates from around the world. Housing is most of the time readily available and of good standard options are available. Most foodstuffs, beverages, household goods, furniture, and clothing, mostly imported from South Africa, Europe, and China while some ranges of local brands are available at a competitive price to imports. Meat, fish, fresh fruits, and vegetables are reasonably priced and abundantly available. The basic infrastructures – roads, utilities, and telecommunications are of reasonable standard, although the city experiences power outages from time to time. Medical facilities are still largely inadequate, although several private clinics and hospitals provide reasonably good routine care. Several restaurants around the city serve local or international cuisine and there are numerous social and sports facilities (fitness, tennis, swimming, riding, golf, etc.) in the major hotels or in different establishments around the city. There are no major or special security concerns within Lusaka city limits. For more information, please visit http://zambiatourism.com.
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy
