Economic Empowerment Pathways policy and programming (SSTA) - International CST II- WAE
Posted July 19, 2026
About this opportunity
Opportunity Overview
The World Food Programme is hiring a Senior Strategic Technical Advisor on social protection, gender, and economic empowerment pathways to support the Government of Iraq in co-designing, modelling, and piloting Economic Empowerment Pathways interventions. This role is part of WFP's social protection system reform agenda in Iraq, which aims to establish evidence-based prioritisation criteria to guide the delivery of services and assistance. The advisor will work remotely with targeted missions to Iraq for 11 months, with a maximum of 20 working days per month. The World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian organisation globally, dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and supporting sustainable futures for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impacts of climate change. WFP assists vulnerable populations by providing essential food, skills development, and enhanced social protection, thus bolstering the Government of Iraq's efforts to enhance food security and resilience. The Senior Strategic Technical Advisor will support two main areas of work: co-designing, modelling, and piloting Economic Empowerment Pathways interventions, and capacity building of the national Economic Empowerment Officer. The advisor will work in close collaboration with government counterparts, UN partners, and technical experts to ensure Iraq's social protection system is equitable, responsive, and capable of addressing layered vulnerabilities.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and technical advice to WFP and government counterparts on economic empowerment pathways, inclusive and transformative social protection
- Lead and contribute to research, evaluation, policy development, programme design, and capacity strengthening
- Support the institutionalisation of inclusive practices and the development of knowledge products
- Ensure quality assurance and coherence across WFP's social protection portfolio in Iraq
- Review Project Documents Package for Economic Empowerment Pathways Pilot in Iraq and advise on improvements for final project endorsement
- Lead on capacity strengthening of the national Economic Empowerment officer with the aim of equipping national staff to fully take over leadership of economic empowerment programmes in Iraq country office in the next 2 years
- Prepare a technical professional development plan
- Provide on-the-job training and mentorship
- Provide a structured training and knowledge transfer
- Embed a learning-by-doing approach
- Contribute to documentation and institutionalization of knowledge
Benefits
- Attractive compensation package
- Opportunity to work with a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment
- Personal and professional development opportunities through training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and internal mobility opportunities
Requirements & Qualifications
- The World Food Programme 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
- No specific requirements are mentioned in the source
How to Apply
- Review the terms and conditions of the vacancy announcement
- Prepare your application, including any required documents
- Click the Apply button below to submit your application
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