DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS 13 October 2026-23:59-GMT+02:00 Eastern European Standard Time (Cairo)

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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 extreme weather shocks.

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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).

Background: Egypt is currently facing a strained economic environment driven by regional instability and global trade disruptions. The Middle East crisis that erupted in February 2026 has intensified pressures on the economy, raising oil prices and import costs and adding further stress to Egypt’s external position. As a net importer of strategic crops such as wheat, as well as oil and natural gas — the latter being a critical input for fertilizer production — Egypt remains highly exposed to global price volatility. After notable improvements in 2025, when the Egyptian pound appreciated from EGP 50.4 in January to EGP 47.6 in December and inflation eased significantly — with overall inflation falling from 23.2 percent in January to 10.3 percent by December, and food inflation dropping from 20.2 percent to just 0.9 percent — the February 2026 crisis triggered a depreciation to EGP 53 in May 2026. This reversal reignited inflationary pressures across both food and non food items. Rising costs have strained household budgets and forced many families to adopt negative coping strategies, including reducing meal sizes, lowering dietary diversity, and shifting to cheaper, less nutritious foods. These behaviors have serious implications for food security and nutritional status, particularly among vulnerable groups such as pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and young children, the elderly, and households already living in poverty. In response, the government has sought to balance fiscal pressures with measures to protect household purchasing power and access to basic needs. Government actions have included increases in fuel, electricity, and railway ticket prices, alongside consideration of shifting food subsidies to cash transfers and selling bread at market prices. At the same time, the government has encouraged local wheat production to reduce import dependence and trade imbalances. Complementary measures have included raising the minimum wage and the rollout of a temporary expansion of Egypt’s social protection scheme. These interventions aim to cushion households against the irreversible consequences of poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition. Against this backdrop, the objective of the consultancy is to generate evidence on how recent economic shocks and policy measures affect household purchasing power, food security, and nutrition. The consultant will leverage the most recent Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIECS) and previous datasets to estimate the prevalence of food insecurity and nutrition deficiencies, analyze trends over time, and profile food insecure households by socioeconomic, geographic, and dwelling characteristics. Building on this analysis, the consultant will develop a concise nutrition synthesis using HIECS data and relevant nutrition indicators to examine underlying drivers, correlations, disparities, and trends where possible. This will strengthen the interpretation of how economic shocks, food insecurity, poverty, and policy measures translate into dietary and nutrition risks for vulnerable groups, particularly women, children, and households enrolled in social protection programmes, specifically under the ‘ First 1000 days’ programme, and also food subsidy schemes in line with updated reference food basket for Egyptians. The findings will also inform the Cost of Diet and Cost of Food and Nutrition studies, supporting evidence-based programming and policy dialogue under the national food systems agenda. The consultant will simulate different scenarios for government measures — including subsidy reforms and social assistance expansions — to assess their potential impact on household vulnerability, food insecurity, dietary patterns, and nutrition outcomes. Building on these models, the consultant will deliver strategic, programmatic, and policy insights grounded in evidence. This will enable proactive and timely interventions to mitigate the socio economic impacts on household food security and nutrition, particularly among the most vulnerable. Evidence generation will also focus on identifying the groups most at risk and their specific food security and nutrition needs, thereby informing recommendations for the Government of Egypt on the most appropriate interventions. This aligns with government priorities under the food systems approach, consistent with Egypt’s commitments to the Food Systems Summit resolutions of 2021 and national initiatives — including the National Operational Plan for Food and Nutrition Systems 2025–2030 and the Accelerated Anemia Action Plan. Furthermore, the analysis will explore the degree to which food insecurity intersects with poverty and assesses the impact of single and multi layered social protection and subsidy interventions in addressing household vulnerabilities. It will also provide evidence on how existing government targeting and data systems can be integrated to address different vulnerability dimensions, including food insecurity, poverty, and nutrition. The analysis will generate evidence to inform ongoing operational and programmatic collaboration between WFP and relevant ministries, including on economic empowerment, smallholder farmer resilience, school feeding programme, and the 1,000 Days top-up under the Takaful and Karama programme. This evidence will include analysis of the prevalence of food insecurity across activities and target groups, disaggregated by household characteristics, geography, poverty status, and participation in social protection and food assistance programmes. The analysis will draw on social assistance and support reported by surveyed households, as well as reported income sources and economic sectors. In addition, the consultant will support the strengthening of national institutions’ capacity to analyze and monitor food security and nutrition indicators. This will enhance the ability of national institutions to generate timely, policy relevant evidence and inform government decision making on food security and nutrition. The analysis will inform policy dialogue and programmatic evidence generation on food security and nutrition with the government and will be reflected in inter-agency collaboration. This includes contributions to the Country Analysis and UNSDCF, food security working groups, roundtable discussions, and engagement with partner agencies. Collaboration will be maintained with the VAM Officer in Egypt CO and senior consultants in HQ to ensure robust evidence generation and policy relevance.

Key Responsibilities of the Programme Policy Officer

1. Data, Analysis and Simulation

• Analyse Data: Utilize the latest Household Income, Expenditure, and Consumption Surveys (HIECS), ensuring comparability with earlier rounds. Manage and analyze data, incorporating additional relevant surveys and secondary sources as needed.
• Conduct Simulation Models: Develop and run simulation models to assess the impact of recent and potential economic measures such as currency devaluation, inflation, and subsidy reforms and potential future changes, on food security and nutrition status.
• Evaluate Impact: Analyse how economic changes affect purchasing power, food security and nutrition status of households based on latest WFP approach and guidelines.
• Assess overlap: Examine the degree to which food insecurity intersects with poverty, and evaluate the impact of single and multi‑layered social protection and subsidy interventions in addressing household vulnerabilities.

2. Technical Guidance and Capacity Strengthening

• Contribute to the capacity strengthening of national institutions in the analysis and monitoring of food security and nutrition related indicators, to mainstream food security and nutrition component, in alignment with government priority interventions under the food system agenda.
• Provide Technical Guidance: Offer expert advice on the surveys, context, simulation modelling techniques and methodologies.
• Formulate Strategic and Operational Advice: Deliver strategic and operational recommendations based on analytical findings.
• Support the introduction and implementation of nutrition analyses and data tools including the Cost of Diet and Cost of Food and Nutrition.

3. Report Preparation including:

• Methodology: Document methodologies used, including simulation models and data sources.
• Analysis: Present detailed findings from simulations, including poverty–food insecurity overlaps and implications for nutrition outcomes.
• Findings: Provide a comprehensive summary of results, including any potential scenarios and their impacts.
• Recommendations: Offer actionable recommendations for policymakers or relevant stakeholders based on the analysis.

Components

Three main components are required, including as applicable, raw and processed datasets, syntax files, output tables, and summary report or presentation and/or policy papers covering methodology, analysis, key findings, and recommendations, to communicate the implications of the analysis and recommend actions.

The components are:

• Analysis of Food Security and Nutrition risks and vulnerabilities of vulnerable Egyptians and Impact of economic crisis and government measures:

  • Presenting Food Security and Nutrition analysis of vulnerable Egyptians and Impact of inflation, currency devaluation, social assistance and subsidy cuts on household purchasing power, food security, nutrition status, consumption patterns, and dietary diversity.
  • The analysis will focus on the combined impact of the different economic and government measures as well as the sole impact of each measure. The analysis will follow the latest WFP corporate guidance on food security and nutrition analysis will include the consumption of macro and micronutrients (such as iron, folic acid, vitamin A) and dietary diversity across different age groups and among women of reproductive age, and pregnant lactating women.
  • The food security and nutrition analysis will be broken down by household characteristics (such as household size, the presence of children, households who have pregnant and lactating women or children under two), regional and sub-regional differences, enrollment in social assistance programmes (such as Takaful and Karama and 1000 days programme, and food subsidy schemes in line with the reference food basket for Egyptian HHs), and poverty levels to inform the vulnerability and impact of investment. It will explore the contribution of nutrition-specific interventions, such as the national flour fortification program, in enhancing dietary diversity and nutrient intake.
  • undefined
  • Cost of Diet analysis
  • undefined
  • In line with WFP programme priorities and strategic alignment with the government on the resilience portfolio, economic empowerment, and school; feeding programmes, the analysis will capture the food security status of small holder farmers and economic empowerment beneficiaries disaggregated by household characteristics, geography, social protection and food assistance programmes, and poverty.
  • Additionally, the analysis will explore the overlap between poverty and food insecurity, and assess the impact of single and multi‑layered social protection and subsidy interventions in addressing household vulnerabilities.

• Generate a short synthesis encompassing above data from HIECS, linking to nutrition indicators, showing trends, disparities, focusing on specific target groups, PBWs and children under two, including those enrolled into the national SP system and comparing to non-beneficiaries.

• undefined

• Capacity Strengthening for National Institutions to mainstream food security and nutrition component, in alignment with government priority interventions under the food system agenda.

• • Delivery of training and preparation of training materials to strengthen national institutions capacity on food security and nutrition analysis.
    • Contribute to the training on the COD tool Support data analysis and synthesis of findings aligning with the tool design and methodology Support the implementation of cascade training of the tool to relevant government counterparts

• COFAN:

• In line with the Government of Egypt’s engagement in regional food systems and nutrition investment agendas, the assignment will contribute to the methodology development and facilitation of implementation of the Cost of Food and Nutrition in Africa (COFAN) study as a deliverable under the national food systems portfolio. COFAN builds on the updated Cost of Hunger in Africa approach and broadens the analysis to estimate the social and economic impacts of multiple forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, micronutrient deficiencies . Support will include essentially technical inputs to the study design, data analysis plan, synthesis of findings, and investment case scenarios, ensuring alignment with national priorities on nutrition, food subsidy reform, social protection, nutrition-sensitive programming, and human capital development. This study will generate higher-level policy and investment evidence to inform government dialogue, programme prioritization, and financing decisions for nutrition programmes under the national food and nutrition systems operational plan.

Project timeline and payment plan

Analysis of Food Security and Nutrition of vulnerable Egyptians and Impact of economic crisis and government measures

Output 1: Estimate current and historical prevalence and trends of food security, nutrition consumption (and indicators where applicable), and dietary diversity, disaggregated by household characteristics, poverty levels, regional differences, and WFP programme interventions. Syntax files and an excel file including all results to be submitted upon finalization of output 1.

Output 2: Assess nutrition consumption patterns including those of macro‑ and micronutrients (iron, folic acid, vitamin A, zinc) and dietary diversity, Minimum acceptable diet across different age groups, with emphasis on women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, and children under two, and school age/adolescents. Emphasize trends, links with underlying drivers, and highlight geographic, age group and other relevant disparities. Explore the contribution of nutrition interventions, such as the first 1000 days programme within Takaful and Karama in contributing to reducing the impact of socioeconomic shocks and related consequences on vulnerable groups, through enhancing dietary diversity and nutrient intake, and cushioning them from falling into further poverty and food insecurity. Syntax files and an excel file including all results to be submitted upon finalization of output 2.

Output 3: Explore the degree to which food insecurity intersects with poverty and evaluate the impact of single and multi‑layered social protection and subsidy interventions in addressing household vulnerabilities. Provide evidence on how government targeting and data systems can be integrated to address multidimensional vulnerabilities (poverty, food insecurity, nutrition). Syntax files and an excel file including all results to be submitted upon finalization of output 3.

Output 4: Review and update shock impact simulation models by incorporating different government measures and their magnitudes, and assess their impact on different poverty levels (extremely poor, poor, near poor, and non poor), food security (severely food insecure, moderately food insecure, marginally food secure, and food secure) , nutrition, dietary diversity, and access to services (nutrition and health). This includes analyzing how the impact varies across different household characteristics, such as age, education, sex, and marital status of the household head; presence of children in different age groups; presence of pregnant or breastfeeding women; enrollment in one or more social assistance programs; geographical location. Include analysis of return on investment and cost of inaction. Syntax files and an excel file including all results to be submitted upon finalization of output 4.

Output 5: Cost of Diet Analysis Support the design, analysis, and roll-out of the Cost of Diet study with key deliverables including; 1. Inputs to the Cost of Diet study design and analytical framework provided, ensuring alignment with HIECS data, the Cost of Diet tool methodology, and Government priorities under the food systems, food subsidy, and social protection agendas. 2. Inputs to data analysis, synthesis of findings, and final report provided, including interpretation of dietary affordability, nutrient gaps, and implications for vulnerable groups and priority government programmes. 3. Cost of Diet tool training delivered, including preparation of relevant training materials and support to a four-day training for national counterparts; 4. Support provided to the cascade training and roll-out of the Cost of Diet tool with relevant government institutions, to strengthen national capacity to use nutrition-specific evidence in programme design, targeting, and policy dialogue. Syntax files and an excel file including all results to be submitted upon finalization of output 5.

Output 6: A consolidated summary report with methodology note and key findings, and a full-fledged PowerPoint presentation with detailed findings.

Capacity Strengthening for National Institutions to mainstream food security and nutrition analysis at national level in line with Government priorities and interventions

Output 1: Delivery of capacity strengthening workshop on food security and nutrition analysis with government counterparts, including line ministries.

Output 2: Contribute to data preparations, data analysis, and the roll out of the cost of diet training.

Output 3: Delivery of advanced technical training to Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics and National Nutrition Institute. This includes the preparation of training materials.

Cost Of Food and Nutrition (COFAN)

Output 1: Provide technical inputs to the COFAN study design, including the analytical framework, scope, priority policy questions, and alignment with Egypt’s national food systems, nutrition, social protection, and food subsidy reform priorities.

Output 2: Contribute to the COFAN data analysis plan and synthesis of findings, ensuring that food security, nutrition, dietary affordability, social protection, food subsidy, and vulnerability dimensions are reflected coherently in the analysis.

Output 3: Provide technical inputs to the development of investment case scenarios and policy recommendations, including contributions to programme prioritization, financing dialogue, and review of the final COFAN report.

Output 4: Review the final COFAN report and provide technical feedback to ensure coherence with the study design, analytical framework, and national policy priorities.

Skills and Expertise Required

• Expertise in Econometrics: Proficiency in econometrics and simulation modelling.
• Knowledge of Food Security: Understanding of food security and nutrition indicators and their measurement.
• Data Analysis: Experience with household income and expenditure survey data.
• Collaboration Skills: Ability to work effectively with other experts and stakeholders.
• Report Writing: Strong skills in technical writing and report preparation.

LANGUAGES

Working knowledge (proficiency/Level C) of English is required.

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

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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.