Innovative Finance Consultant

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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).

JOB TITLE: Innovative Finance Consultant

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultancy (2 positions)

UNIT/DIVISION: WFP Innovation Accelerator (INNA)

DUTY STATION (City, Country): WFP Munich, Germany

DURATION: 5 months (Extendable)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency fighting hunger.
WFP reaches more than 100 million people every day - delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with smallholder farmers, communities, and governments to improve nutrition and build resilience. 

The WFP Innovation Accelerator was launched by the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme in 2015 to source new ideas, sprint pilot projects, and scale high-impact innovations by connecting them with WFP’s global network in over 120 countries and territories. From its base in Munich, Germany, the WFP Innovation Accelerator has grown to become one of the world's leading social impact startup accelerators. Together with the network of WFP regional innovation hubs and country office innovation teams, portfolio ventures and with the support of our partners, in 2023 the WFP Innovation Accelerator ran 14 programmes addressing a wide range of social impact and sustainability issues, including climate change, primary healthcare, gender equality, and emergency response. Most recently, the Accelerator runs programmes for external partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.

More information here: http://innovation.wfp.org and https://youtu.be/OnKkQlRdh2c

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Consultant, reporting to the Head of Innovative Finance and Venture Launchpad, is expected to:

Foster the development and implementation of innovative financing models, with a particular focus on helping to build the Accelerator’s and WFP’s impact investing mechanisms to fund impact at scale:

Contribute to the development and implementation of new impact investing mechanisms to attract additional funding towards investable and scalable innovations creating social impact at scale.

Support the development and management of processes and tools for the impact investing mechanisms, including impact measurement and management, reporting and monitoring of investments facilitated by WFP.

Develop a robust pipeline of investable and scalable innovations in the Accelerator and beyond, covering all aspects of deal origination from market research to investment proposal.

Conduct landscape mapping to further inform WFP impact investing activities and support relationship building with external investor partners to help with fundraising efforts for the WFP funding mechanisms as well as direct capital raising by the innovations.

Support impact businesses in the Accelerator portfolio and/or affiliated with other WFP teams with investment readiness activities to accelerate their path to scale advancing towards Zero Hunger and other Sustainable Development Goals:

Provide investment readiness support and lead continuous refinement of a toolkit to be used across the Accelerator and WFP.

Provide innovations with capital raising advice to secure most suitable funding either through WFP impact investing mechanisms or external investor partners.

Share impact investing knowledge and best practices with the Accelerator and other WFP teams and to promote and showcase the value of investment readiness activities.

Support other WFP innovative financing initiatives, including in the areas of blended finance, value chain finance, climate finance and other prioritized areas.

Design, test, prototype, validate and implement innovative financing models contributing to WFP’s strategic objectives and delivering meaningful humanitarian and development impact at scale.

Engage with all necessary internal stakeholders on topics related to innovative financing models and support the building of strong external partnerships within the Innovative Financing ecosystem globally.

Provide analysis and content preparation for presentations and management meetings on innovative financing and other priority topics.

Support other core processes of the Innovation Accelerator and, from time to time, support the Head of the Innovation Accelerator and the Director of Innovation with any other activities as required.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

• A pipeline of investable and scalable innovations, leading to investment proposal development and strengthen the portfolio of WFP-facilitated investments.
• Investment readiness and capital raising advice provided to a range of innovations and Accelerator teams.
• Ensure that all work and materials developed during the contract are well documented and available to the WFP Innovation Accelerator team.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration or equivalent. Master’s degree is a plus.

Experience:

At least 3 years of progressively responsible international experience in the impact investing space, preferably with demonstrable interest in the humanitarian or international development sector.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Ability to conduct detailed research on impact businesses, understand their business models and impact potential, and create financial and non-financial forecasts.
• Understanding of the impact investing sector, ability to identify key trends, conduct market scoping exercise and identify potential external investor partners.
• Understanding of investment processes and ability to advise innovations and Accelerator teams on key aspects of investment readiness and capital raising activities.
• Strong conceptual thinking and analytical skills to develop new innovative financing strategies and models.
• Passion for innovations disrupting hunger, preferably with working knowledge of investing in food system transformation, climate change adaptation and socio-economic resilience (incl. agtech, foodtech, market access platforms, etc.).

• Experience working cross-functionally and getting things done in an agile and hands-on way.
• Able to interact with a broad range of stakeholders and external audience with maturity and tact.
• Excellent communication/presentation skills, with the ability to write strategy documents, to develop business plans and to write and deliver presentations.
• Collaborative spirit, able to partner with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy.
• Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy.
• Sets a high-level of ambition for own work to achieve impact for the vulnerable people we serve.
• Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme.

Languages:

Fluency in oral and written English is mandatory. Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is a plus.

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 dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our recruitment process is inclusively crafted to welcome candidates of all backgrounds, celebrating diversity and ensuring a respectful environment for all. We aim for an accessible and fair recruitment journey. Should you need any reasonable accommodations or have accessibility concerns, please reach out to us confidentially at global.inclusion@wfp.org. Our DEI team is here to ensure your full participation in our recruitment process.

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.