Programme Policy Officer (Poverty Graduation Technical Specialist / Team Leader), SC9 based in the Department of Rural Development and Poverty Reduction (DRD-PR) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

25 November 2026-23:59-GMT+07:00 Indochina Time (Vientiane)

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• 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

The Building Resilience and Reducing Rural Poverty Project (BRRRP) is an initiative by the Government of Lao PDR, particularly the Department of Rural Development and Poverty Reduction (DRD-PR) Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE), in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), aimed at addressing food insecurity, rural poverty, and reduce vulnerabilities exacerbated by climate change. It aims to improve the health, resilience, and socioeconomic profile of poor households, particularly women, through a combination of adaptive and shock-responsive social protection measures.

The project targets districts in four provinces: Khammouan, Louangphabang, Savannahkhet, and Xaiyabuly, which are characterized by high poverty rates, malnutrition, and climate risks. It combines nutrition-sensitive conditional cash transfers (CCT) with an innovative poverty graduation program, aimed to support the most vulnerable populations, particularly poor pregnant women and mothers of young children.

Key components of the project include:

• Output 1: Coverage of shock-responsive and nutrition-sensitive conditional cash transfer program expanded.
• Output 2: Gender-responsive and climate-resilient poverty graduation program piloted.
• Output 3: Social protection delivery systems and CCT implementation enhanced.
• Output 4: Institutional capacity for gender-smart and climate-responsive monitoring and evaluation strengthened.

Under Output 2 WFP will provide technical support to MAE in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the climate-resilient and gender-responsive poverty graduation program specifically for rural women. The pilot will benefit at least 4,500 rural women as beneficiaries of conditional cash transfer, across four districts in four provinces. Recognizing the multidimensional nature of poverty and climate vulnerability, the program will offer a holistic set of sequenced, climate-smart, and time-bound interventions tailored for poor women, combining targeted cash transfers with: (i) livelihood grants to pursue climate-resilient and sustainable livelihoods, (ii) technical skills training, (iii) support for financial inclusion, and (iv) social empowerment through psychosocial support, including dedicated coaching and life skills training to promote social inclusion and positive behavior change.

The pilot graduation program under Output 2 consists of activities across five poverty graduation pillars (social protection, livelihoods promotion, financial inclusion, social empowerment, coaching & mentorship), in a strategic sequence within 24 months to empower poor women with skills, knowledge, tools, access to resources, livelihoods, and self-confidence to build long-term resilience, particularly to climate shocks. The pilot combines support for immediate needs (with conditional cash transfer) with longer-term investments in training and income generation to build long-term resilience.

The position of Poverty Graduation Technical Specialist (national position) is based at the Department of Rural Development and Poverty Reduction (DRD-PR) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and will be required to periodically report and collaborate with WFP on the progress of implementation.

1. Responsibilities

• Act as Team Leader of the WFP supported activities under Output 2, support the strengthening of institutional and technical capacities of government counterparts by providing overall strategic and technical advisory support to DRD-PR and MAE related to poverty graduation by strengthening the resilience of women to climate change;
• Program preparation, implementation oversight and management, support in training, and input on monitoring, documentation and knowledge management for the pilot;
• Oversee administrative aspects and support day-to-day management of activities within Output 2;
• Apply climate and disaster risk considerations throughout the pilot activities such as livelihood selection, technical training, life skills training and others;
• Provide technical guidance to ensure that the design and implementation of the graduation pilot comply with the required climate and disaster risk screening and assessment of the project, incorporates climate and disaster risk considerations throughout the programme cycle and is aligned with the climate and district-level Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (CRVA) recommendations;
• Ensure that livelihood choices are informed by appropriate climate and disaster-risk screening and that climate risks and resilience considerations are systematically integrated across pilot design and implementation;
• Ensure that assessments of potential risks associated with climate variability are considered for the recommended livelihood options;
• Provide oversight and guidance of the development of key knowledge products and disseminate pilot experiences to the government of Lao PDR, ADB, civil society organizations, development partners, and external audiences;
• Support and provide guidance to the DRD-PR on designing and monitoring partner-level agreements, and monitoring their implementation through the establishment of constructive relationships with those partners;
• Work closely with the Gender and Social Development Specialist to ensure that training, monitoring, coaching, livelihoods support, and other graduation activities are designed and implemented in ways that respond to the specific vulnerabilities and constraints faced by rural women in the target districts, and ultimately support their longer-term well-being, resilience, agency, livelihoods, and economic empowerment;
• Take overall responsibility for preparing reports and overseeing the team’s development of technical documents such as operations manual, work plan, training modules, and monitoring tools and systems;
• Coordinate capacity building activities including training, and development of training materials for DRD-PR and pilot implementation staff;
• Any other duties, as required.

2. Qualifications and Required Experience

• Advanced university degree in international or community development, anthropology, sociology, gender studies, public policy, natural resources management, economics, political science, business management, disaster risk management, or another related field. Degree or professional qualifications in management desired.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in community development and poverty reduction programmes, including climate change, disaster risk management, natural resource management, and rural development, of which at least three years were in a management role. Candidates should also have a minimum of three years of experience designing, implementing, and monitoring livelihood activities and economic inclusion interventions, including cash-plus and/or poverty graduation approaches, with a strong focus on household-based approaches, women’s empowerment, and climate resilience. Solid understanding of the government structure after the restructuring, national and agriculture sector plans and priorities.
• Excellent analytical, strategic thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and leadership skills.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, particularly with government institutions and development partners.
• Experience working on climate resilience in Lao PDR is highly desirable.
• Experience working with international organizations (e.g., UN agencies, IFIs such as IFAD, ADB, and World Bank) is highly desirable.
• Fluency in Lao and excellent writing, speaking and understanding of English required.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

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