Program Manager - Protection & AAP

EXCLUSIVE

International Deadline: 19 Feb 2019 2026

• 0 comments PAM recruits a Programme Officer - Protection & AAP Job Title: Programme Officer - Protection & AAP

Location

Submission Date: 02/19/2026 Job description The World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian organization in the world. It saves lives in emergencies and uses food aid to build a path to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the consequences of climate change.

Job overview

East of the République Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – including Ituri, the North‑Kivu, the South‑Kivu and the Tanganyika – remains mired in a protracted crisis characterized by persistent armed conflict, massive displacement of populations, increasing food insecurity and limited access to essential services. This structural fragility continues to worsen: according to the IPC analysis of 4 November 2025, 26.6 million people (22% of the population) are expected to be in Phase 3 CPI or more between January and June 2026, including six territories likely to switch to Phase 4. Despite initial planning for 2.3 million people in IPC Phase 4, financial constraints have gradually reduced the operational reach of the country office, depending on the environment. 700,000 people in October 2025.

Responsibilities

In the face of this multidimensional crisis, the protection of affected populations has become a strategic imperative. Since the adoption of its first humanitarian protection policy in 2012, WFP has committed to integrating protection into its response to conflict and disaster, with a view to enhancing the impact of food assistance on people whose rights are at risk. The update of this policy in 2020 has broadened this responsibility: WFP now recognizes its responsibility to prevent and respond to protection risks related to hunger and its programmes in all contexts, while ensuring tangible results for the affected populations. Placing population protection and accountability (PAA) at the heart of WFP’s operations is not only a normative requirement, but also a condition for programmatic quality and effectiveness. This improves contextual analysis, strengthens the capacity of partners and staff on centrality of protection, and consolidates community engagement. The Protection Officer and PAA will report directly to the Head of Office, and under the technical supervision of the country office’s protection officer for the implementation of central programming on people.

Candidate profile

Ensure systematic integration of protection considerations into WFP activities Identify and mitigate protection risks in a highly volatile environment; Strengthen the coherence and relevance of human rights and humanitarian principles interventions; Ensure increased accountability to affected communities and maintain confidence in humanitarian action. Promote central programming about people in programmatic activities. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES (non-exhaustive list, within the limits of the delegated authority): Draft and oversee the implementation of the Protection and PAA work/action plan for the sub-office in alignment with the country office’s strategy on protection, gender, PAA and conflict sensitivity. Conduct protection risk assessments to inform WFP interventions, contextual analysis of the DRC and better understand the barriers faced by affected populations in accessing WFP assistance, their preferences, security perceptions, as well as the links between food insecurity and protection risks.

Main duties

Conduct regular missions to response sites (emergency, livelihoods and resilience, nutrition and school curricula) in close cooperation with the programme unit and other units, to integrate mitigation measures to address protection risks, including AMAP and gender, into the project management cycle (design, implementation and monitoring).

Education / Qualifications

Organising and facilitating capacity-building initiatives and training opportunities for WFP staff, cooperating partners, financial service providers and other parties translate into humanitarian principles, centrality of protection, obligations related to protection against sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as safe and confidential referencing procedures for protection cases. Organise and facilitate awareness-raising activities on WFP’s Protection Policy and Accountability Policy, the Strategy for Protection and Accountability to Affected Populations (2020), the Gender Policy, as well as WFP’s Protection and PAA Action Plan in DRC and related guidelines, such as standard operating procedures for protection and accountability to affected populations (PAA). Provide ongoing advice to cooperating partners on the implementation of mitigation measures in operations, propose appropriate adjustments and work with partners’ Protection Assistants and PAAs.

Other information

Represent WFP in the VBG sub-group, the Child Protection sub-group, the Protection cluster, the Housing, Land and Property Working Group, as well as other protection-related forums. Encourage WFP colleagues to integrate protection into evaluation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting tools, in line with WFP’s food security and nutrition monitoring and assessment tools in DRC. Support the implementation of MAP’s Community Feedback Mechanism (CFM) at the office level, including support for training partner CFM officers, the deployment of an online complaint form and the preparation of monthly reports on cases received from community complaints committees, partner help desks and suggestion boxes Act as a PSEA focal point and support the design and implementation of outreach sessions for affected populations, WFP partners and WFP staff Liaise with protection partners on analysis, capacity development, referencing procedures and support mechanisms Support community engagement, the implementation of WFP DRC’s action plan on accountability to affected populations, and the development and dissemination of appropriate messages for affected populations. And any other task deemed relevant. Description of capabilities Program Lifecycle & Food Assistance: Ability to identify key factors influencing the design and delivery of food programs.

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