Overview
Provide strategic technical leadership and advisory support on the design, piloting, institutionalization, and scaling of a government-led Home-Grown School Feeding model. Lead capacity strengthening of the national school feeding and nutrition team.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and technical leadership for WFP Iraq’s school feeding portfolio.
- Guide the technical design and implementation of the healthy kitchen Home-Grown School Feeding pilot model.
- Support the development of operational modalities for integration within national systems.
- Advise on nutrition-sensitive menu design, food quality standards, and food safety.
- Facilitate cross-government coordination and partnerships.
- Support the development of governance, coordination, implementation, and accountability arrangements.
- Provide technical guidance on local procurement and home-grown school feeding approaches.
- Support integration of healthy eating and nutrition-sensitive SBCC.
- Support the development of implementation guidelines, operational manuals, SOPs, and technical tools.
- Provide technical and progress inputs for donor reporting.
- Support the development of the evidence base for school feeding in Iraq.
- Provide technical support to the Value for Money (VfM) study.
- Support the development of an investment case for school feeding.
- Identify opportunities for innovative domestic financing mechanisms.
- Support the finalization, government endorsement, publication, and dissemination of the SABER.
- Provide technical and strategic support for advocacy around the endorsement and launch of the National School Feeding Policy.
- Develop advocacy materials, presentations, policy briefs, and evidence products.
- Support engagement with donors, IFIs, UN agencies, and development partners.
- Identify relevant regional and international examples of successful Home-Grown School Feeding programmes.
- Design and organize South-South knowledge exchange initiatives.
- Identify funding opportunities for South-South knowledge exchanges.
- Support the identification of government counterparts and technical institutions for exchanges.
- Ensure lessons learned and global experiences are contextualized for Iraq.
- Support preparations for Iraq to participate in global school feeding forums.
- Assess the technical and operational capacity development needs of the national school feeding team.
- Develop structured individual and team capacity strengthening plans.
- Provide day-to-day coaching, mentoring, and on-the-job technical support to national staff.
- Design and deliver dedicated technical workshops, trainings, and learning sessions.
- Support staff in strengthening strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, analytical, and programme management capacities.
- Foster knowledge transfer and institutional learning.
Required Experience
- Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible professional experience in school feeding and social protection is required.
- Demonstrated experience designing or supporting government-led school feeding programmes, preferably including Home-Grown School Feeding models.
- Strong experience working with government institutions and supporting systems strengthening and policy development, particularly with Ministries of Education.
- Demonstrated experience supporting evidence generation, investment cases, cost-benefit/value for money analyses, or public financing advocacy for social protection programmes, specifically school feeding.
- Experience facilitating multi-sectoral coordination and partnerships across government entities.
- Proven experience in capacity building, coaching, mentoring, and technical advisory support.
- Familiarity with school meals global platforms including the School Meals Coalition and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation.
- Experience in fragile or complex operating contexts is highly desirable.
Qualifications
Advanced university degree in Nutrition, Public Health, Education, Food Systems, Social Protection, International Development, Public Policy, Economics, or related field.
