DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS12 September 2025-23:59-GMT+05:30 India Standard Time (Colombo)
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 worldโs 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).
ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT:
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger (SDG 2). Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need. WFP has been present in Sri Lanka since 1968 and helped the country in emergency response and protracted recovery interventions in the aftermath of man-made disasters such as the 27-year conflict and recurrent natural disasters (droughts and floods/landslides).
The scope remains for progress in strengthening food security and nutrition given Sri Lankaโs continued status on nutrition, especially high wasting levels, addressing micronutrient deficiencies realizing gender equality, and eliminating geographic and socio-economic disparities.
The WFP country strategic plan for 2023โ2027 seeks to provide protective food assistance and other support as required in the short term and to restore and improve food security and nutrition by developing in-country capacity and reducing vulnerability through an integrated social protection and nutrition-specific and sensitive approach that layers and sequences programming. This aims to improve food security and nutrition by empowering vulnerable communities and individuals to cope with shocks, diversify livelihood and strengthen government capacity through technical support to ensure that gender-informed risk- sensitive planning is integrated into public investment policies and local development initiatives, redressing structural and socio-cultural inequalities.
Also, WFP aims to support and facilitate multi-sector approaches to nutrition and food security through both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programming, including supporting the government to scale up its rice fortification effort, promoting positive nutrition practices, as well integrating nutrition lens within the WFP assisted School Meal Programme and sustainable livelihood support.
The World Food Programme implementing the Home-Grown School Feeding programme (HGSF) which is designed to stimulate local production: by purchasing the food required for the School meal programme from local smallholder farmers and processors they create a stable demand for quality and safe food, stimulate local production, support the development of local skills, and combat malnutrition.JOB PURPOSE:
WFP is looking for skilled Programme Assistants based in the districts to coordinate and support the implementation of the HGSF programme and other assigned WFP work in the area assigned. The Porgramme Assistants will facilitate activities planning, implementation, coordinate between stakeholders and beneficiaries and perform monitoring of the project activities through a nutrition-sensitive and gender-transformative approach.
The Programme Assistants, under the direct supervision of the Program Policy Officer and the overall supervision of the Head of Nutrition and School Based Programs, is responsible for the following.KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive, nor exhaustive):
1. Work closely with the WFP Nutrition & School Based Programme Team in Country Office as well as relevant stakeholders in the province, district and Divisional/ Education Zonal levels to provide support implementation of the HGSF and other programmatic activities according to the guidelines
2. Assist the Programme Policy officer in providing project management support planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the project activities in the district by closely interact with the project beneficiaries and government staff of the respective areas to mobilize their participation and support in the project activities.
3. Facilitate the selection of the schools and beneficiaries and other beneficiaries based on the requirements for the project activities and visit project locations, schools, beneficiaries.
4. Organize training, workshops and awareness programmes for the beneficiaries/communities in the assigned districts in collaboration with the local government and other partners.
5. Work closely with the beneficiaries and the schools to identify issues (technical, managerial & financial) and needs to progress with the activities and discuss with relevant officers to guide them to find suitable solutions.
6. Follow up strictly and ensure the successful implementation of activities according to the guidelines provided, recording & compile data and support analysis and preparation of reports according to the guidelines in order to support operational decision-making.
7. Assist the country office and government partners for the expenses reconciliation process in the timely preparation and delivery of documents with required authentication.
8. Facilitate and organize meetings regular/as-needed basis convening of the Provincial, District, and Divisional Project coordination team and support organizing workshops, trainings and exposure visits for the government staff and beneficiaries as needed including support in arranging the donors visits as requested by the country office along with the other stakeholders.
9. Collect data and maintain updated qualitative and quantitative information to assist the Programme officer for regular monitoring of the project activities and preparation of reports to WFP CO.
10. Act as a point of contact for resolution of general operational queries requesting assistance where necessary.
11. Follow standard emergency preparedness practices to ensure WFP is able to quickly respond and deploy needed resources to affected areas at the onset of the crisis.
12. Perform any other duties as instructed by the Programme Policy Officer.
DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:
Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience, including at least one (1) year at a lower grade level, with relevant working experience in the fields of nutrition, agriculture, health promotion, food science, social science, or the education sector.
Has facilitated and worked with technical teams such as nutrition, school-based programmes, Research assessments and monitoring work
Working experience in development projects and contributed to the implementation of programmes/projects in the target areas
Familiar with rural development, participatory approaches, and environmental issues.
Ability to conduct surveys and assessments among the community
Work experience with the Government and observed or assisted in policy and programmatic level decisions
Basic understanding and work experience in UN Agencies would be an advantage
STANDARD MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
Education:
Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in agriculture / Nutrition, food science, Social Science, Health Promotion or any other related functional area is desirable.
Computer literate
Language:
Fluency in both oral and written communication in English
Strong written and oral communication skills in Sinhala and Tamil preferred
Position Title: Programme Assistant
Contract Type: Service Contract (SC)
Contract Duration: 01 Year (with possible extension)
Duty Station: Nuwara Eliya and oversee both Nuwara Eliya and Matale districts
Nationality: Sri Lankans only
Date of Publication: 29.08.2025
Deadline of Application: 12.09.2025
This vacancy announcement is for Sri Lankan Nationals only.
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: global.inclusion@wfp.org
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
We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
Please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
Only shortlisted candidates will be notified
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.