Programme Policy Officer (Markets, Economic recovery and Resilience)- CST II- Gaza

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

4 October 2026-23:59-GMT+02:00 Israel Time (Jerusalem)

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).

📌 Type of Contract: Consultant, CST II

➡️ Unit / Division: Programme / WFP Palestine

📍 Duty Station: Gaza

➡️ Duration: 11 months (renewable)

❗You are required to fill in all mandatory fields on Workday in English and upload your English CV as an attachment. Your application would be otherwise disqualified.

What will you do in this position? 

The situation in Gaza has improved compared to the war, but needs remain high. The entire Gaza strip is classified in IPC phase 3 (crisis) or above, with 1.4 million people expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity through December 2026. Humanitarian assistance thus remains a critical lifeline in Gaza. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, large-scale assistance has driven improvements in food security and nutrition conditions across the territory, but recent gains remain fragile. Declining funding for the Gaza operation could quickly reverse progress, as livelihoods have collapsed and coping capacities are exhausted.

In 2026, WFP’s operation in the Gaza Strip is scaling-up market-based and recovery interventions, aimed at improving people’s livelihoods alongside the emergency response. This shift, facilitated by improved access and market conditions since the October 2025 ceasefire, represents a central element of the 2026-2027 programme direction for Gaza, whereby WFP is increasingly looking to adopt market-based approaches to support economic recovery across the food system, and in support of achieving a variety of programmatic objectives. Doing so successfully requires careful analysis and planning to link together value chain and supply side interventions, with demand generation tools in the form of various Cash-based Transfers (CBT) modalities and mechanisms, to craft programming that meets the urgent humanitarian and recovery needs of affected populations whilst contributing to efforts at the level of food and economic market systems. WFP currently implements several activities within this portfolio, including support to bakeries and mills, local producers, cash-for-work interventions, and the Retail Back to Business programme.

The post-holder will lead these efforts from the programme side in Gaza, working closely with Supply Chain, Retail colleagues at Gaza and CO Palestine levels, to ensure coherent and impactful programming. The role will require a detailed understanding of market and food systems, resilience, value chain analysis; with an emphasis on food production, processing and commercial relationships, as well as the capacity to coordinate with a variety of focal points to identify and act on programme entry points and objectives. A sound understanding of contracting processes will also be an asset.

 

Why work with WFP Palestine? 

For decades, Palestine has been facing a protracted and complex protection and humanitarian crisis. The humanitarian situation worsened alarmingly after an upsurge in violence from October 2023.

WFP, through our dual mandate in humanitarian and development, provides life-saving food assistance to the most vulnerable and food insecure non-refugee Palestinians.

WFP provides logistics support to humanitarian and development partners, allowing them to reach more people faster, and at a lower cost to donors and the environment. By offering our cash-based transfer platform to the wider humanitarian and development community, coordinating logistics, and developing an inter-agency common feedback mechanism, WFP contributes to wider humanitarian efforts.

How can you make a difference?

The Programme Policy Officer (Markets, Economic Recovery and Resilience) will ensure operational planning, design, delivery, and field level assurance of market, food systems and economic recovery activities in Gaza, in close coordination with other Gaza field teams as well as technical focal points in the Palestine Country Office. This position is based in Gaza and will report to the Deputy Head of Programme, under the overall supervision of the Gaza Head of Programme.

• Lead the design, development and implementation of market-based programming, food systems recovery and value chain strengthening initiatives, ensuring alignment with WFP wider policies and guidance.
• Manage a national staff team, including day-to-day management and capacity-building for the longer term.
• Provide technical leadership for the analysis and recovery of key food value chains, including bakeries and bread production systems, agricultural production, dairy and other critical food supply chains, identifying constraints, opportunities and appropriate intervention models to improve food availability, accessibility and resilience.
• Develop strategies, operational frameworks and implementation plans that strengthen local market functionality, enhance food systems resilience and promote sustainable economic recovery.
• Lead WFP engagement at Gaza level with private sector actors, including producers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, unions, to identify opportunities for collaboration and programme delivery.
• Develop and manage partnerships that leverage private sector capacities to improve access to food, restore market functionality and strengthen local economic systems.
• Lead the design and implementation of resilience and economic recovery interventions, including cash-for-work ensuring alignment with local needs and market conditions.
• Lead WFP's technical engagement and programme development efforts related to bread production and bakery support systems, working with private sector actors and relevant stakeholders to strengthen availability, production capacity, distribution efficiency and resilience across the bread value chain.
• Develop and support innovative partnership and programming models that connect humanitarian assistance with livelihoods, market recovery and resilience-building objectives, enhancing food security, restoring economic opportunities and strengthening local systems and service delivery.
• Coordinate closely with Programme, Supply Chain, and RAM functions to integrate market and supply chain insights into market-based programme design and operations. This involves collaborating on data collection methodologies, sharing findings, and jointly identifying key market dynamics and supply chain vulnerabilities that could impact the feasibility and success of cash interventions.
• Support the integration of market systems approaches across relevant WFP programme portfolios and contribute to strategic planning processes.
• Represent WFP in relevant technical working groups, coordination forums and inter-agency platforms related to food systems, markets, livelihoods and economic recovery and strengthen collaboration with UN agencies and humanitarian counterparts to enhance programme coherence, knowledge sharing and collective impact.
• Facilitate dialogue with market actors and sector stakeholders to identify emerging challenges, opportunities and priorities for market and food systems recovery.
• Provide technical guidance, coaching and capacity strengthening to WFP staff and partners on market-based programming, value chain development, private sector engagement and resilience approaches.
• Document lessons learned, good practices and innovative programme models to support organizational learning and continuous improvement.
• Other duties as required.

 

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

 

EDUCATION:

Advanced University degree in Project Management, Economics, Business Management, Development Studies, International Relations, or a related field.

EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience related to CBT, market-based interventions, resilience, value chains, economic recovery, and/or food systems.

• Field level experience with operations in hardship contexts.
• Strong background in operations, delivery, and/or assurance.
• Experience working with suppliers, market-actors, government counterparts, and others. 

• Has provided input into policy discussions and decisions

• Exposure to contracting and logistics is considered an asset.
• Experience in the MENA region is considered an asset.

 

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Strong organizational skills, time-management and ability to carry out multiple tasks successfully.
• Solid interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to communicate easily with operational and technical teams (e.g. contacting, retail, nutrition, monitoring and evaluation, etc.).

• Stakeholder and relationship management experience and excellent analytical and negotiation skills.

• Ability to lead the implementation of programmes.
• Good knowledge and practical experience in data record keeping, reporting, and data analysis.

 

LANGUAGES:

Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of Arabic will be considered a strong asset.

 

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

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.

• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at [email protected]. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.

• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

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.