Strategic Technical Advisor (STA) on Knowledge and Learning Management

**Position Information**

- **VA No.:** WFP/VA26/84
- **Position Title**: Strategic Technical Advisor (STA) on Knowledge and Learning Management
- **Duty Station:** Remote (home-based)
- **Duration:** : Contract Start date: 21.06.2026, Contract end date: 20.03.2027 Deliverables-based contract
- **Contract Type:** Consultancy
- **Vacancy Date of Issue:** 03 June 2026
- **Vacancy Closure Date:** 17 June 2026
- **National or International consultancy:** National

*This vacancy is announced by WFP Iraq through Stars Orbit Consultants and Management Development (SOC). SOC is a sub-contractor for WFP Iraq, assisting the programme in implementing their activities through HR and contract management of consultants working in their support.*

To review the full Terms of Reference (TOR), please follow link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mveYtDPIgUBcruz4jiHgjoG1JQfjs01Q/view?usp=drive_link

**Organisational and Country Context**

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and promoting sustainable recovery for populations affected by conflict, disasters, and climate change. In Iraq, WFP supports the development and strengthening of the social protection system by partnering with the government to advance skills development, food security, social assistance, social insurance, and the resilience of vulnerable populations. For further details, visit our webpages at wfp.org/countries/Iraq and ar.wfp.org/countries/Iraq.

WFP has adopted a robust and proactive approach to social protection, as outlined in its 2021 Corporate Strategy for Support to Social Protection. This approach is a key pillar of WFP's 'changing lives' agenda, prominently featured in the Strategic Plan for 2022-2025.

Social protection, as a rapidly expanding priority area, is now central to WFP’s work across all regions and in more than 98 countries, including Iraq, underscoring its critical importance at both national and global levels. In 2023, WFP supported nationally led social protection systems and programmes in 98 countries across all operational regions, up from 88 in 2022. This growth reflects WFP's commitment to strengthening social protection as a core pillar of its global strategy to achieve Zero Hunger under Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2).

Iraq has an extensive social protection system, with social expenditure increasing from 23.7% of the Government of Iraq's spending in 2019 to 26.9% in 2023. The system is anchored by the Public Distribution System (PDS), one of the world's largest food assistance programmes, which reaches approximately 96% of the Iraqi population—one of the highest coverage rates globally. In addition, the Social Safety Net (SSN) and the

Persons with Disabilities Programme (PwD) provide income and service support to some of the most vulnerable groups. However, fiscal space remains constrained.

The Federal Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) have committed to undertaking comprehensive reforms of their social protection system to support inclusion and equity, foster capacity-driven empowerment, bolster economic opportunity and security, and ensure sustainability and adaptability. To this end, they have established a partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), under the European Union—supported UN Joint Programme "Leveraging Effective Response and Accelerating Reform for Social Protection in Iraq."

The Joint Programme is structured around broad outcome areas aimed at contributing to the reduction of poverty and vulnerability in Iraq through an inclusive, shock-responsive, child-, gender-, and disability-sensitive social protection system. These overarching outcomes are operationalised through a set of activities led and implemented by each participating agency according to its areas of expertise, with the ultimate objective of achieving the Programme’s shared goals.

As part of this partnership, WFP provides technical and operational advisory to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Iraq’s social protection policies and programmes. Its services cover key areas including food security and nutrition, social inclusion, shock- responsive and adaptive social protection, school feeding, economic empowerment pathw