Partnerships 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).

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, color, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.

JOB TITLE:                                                   Partnerships Officer

TYPE OF CONTRACT:                                Consultancy

UNIT/DIVISION:                                          School Meals and Social Protection Service (PPG-S) – School Meals Coalition

DUTY STATION (City, Country):                 Rome, Italy

DURATION:                                                  11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

WFP provides school meals to an average of 18 million children every year and works with governments to design and implement nationally owned, financially sustainable school feeding programmes. These technical assistance activities provide support to programmes covering over 39 million schoolchildren worldwide.

In support of the Sustainable Development Goals and aligned with current global evidence and consensus on the importance of supporting the health and nutrition of school children, WFP’s vision is to ensure that all vulnerable children have regular access to food in schools by 2030.

As per WFP’s School Feeding Strategy (2020-2030), the School Meals and Social Protection Service (PPG-S) works toward this vision by supporting the implementation of school feeding programmes, but more importantly and more broadly, by supporting governments to scale up their own programmes. WFP will ensure these children are reached over the next decade through a combination of efforts including advocacy, technical support and direct operational assistance.

The School Meals Coalition, of which WFP is the Secretariat, is widely recognized as one of the most successful multilateral initiatives of recent times, and has already achieved significant results. In the last two years, the coverage of school meal programmes has increased to 418 million children, from 388 million children in 2020. An additional US$ 5 billion in domestic funding has been mobilized for the programmes, and 4 million jobs have been created.

PPG-S works through various corporate teams tasked to identify multiple channels to expand the current funding and proactively search out and leverage new funding for school feeding from private sector partners, international financial institutions, innovative financing, host governments, multilateral funds, and traditional donors, including their finance, development, health and education sectors. This role will support WFP to widen the resource base for school feeding with new donors and opportunities. It is based within the School Meals Coalition Secretariat Resource Mobilization team, which also actively supports the global coalition. In addition, this role will provide strategic advice, manages the flow of relevant information between WFP and partners, and makes clear recommendations for synergies that maximise results, partnerships, and funding opportunities.

ACCOUNTABITLITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES:

Within the direct supervision of the Head of Resource Mobilization the consultant will be tasked with managing the following duties:

Partnerships

1. Lead traditional Donor Portfolio: managing traditional fundraising opportunities for the School Meals Coalition and its Initiatives in support of national governments to overcome challenges in implementing effective school meal programmes.

2. Donor Intelligence: Lead efforts in curating resource mobilization strategies and prepare supporting materials for high-level engagements. Track the wider resourcing portfolio, identifying gaps and next steps.  

3. Manage external partnerships relations (member states, UN agencies, donors) and connect to the global discussion on resource mobilization for school feeding initiatives.

4. Government Partnerships Liaison: Foster internal partnership relations (HQ units/RBs and COs) to effectively mobilize donor resources for school feeding.

5. Corporate Guidance and Tools: Spearheading efforts to manage and continuously update the foundational corporate Partnerships & Resource Mobilization plan (School Feeding Fundraising Guidance) developed in line with the school feeding strategy, a guiding framework for Country Offices and Regional Bureaus (RBX).

6. Focal Point for the “Strategic Plan Implementation - Funding the Strategic Plan (Workstream 4)”: Coordinate, convene and engage in the development of fundraising models between the Partnerships and Advocacy Department (PA), the Programme and Policy Development Department (PD), the

Regional Bureaux (RBx) to unlock untapped fundraising opportunities for school feeding and enhance Country offices (COs) thematic fundraising capacities.

7. Collaborate with other PPG-S staff to provide a toolkit for fundraising and other support materials for RBs/COs by identifying best practices. Act as the main focal point in the  dissemination of this information across programmes and teams.

8. Additional responsibilities as required.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Advanced degree in Political Science, International Development, Law, Marketing communications or relevant field or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training courses.

Experience: A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in International Development or International Relations.

Knowledge and Skills:

Relationship/partner management, resource mobilization, demonstrated ability to produce high-quality written outputs including proposal writing, and analytical skills. Knowledge of financing for development. Ability to develop and maintain networks with a variety of stakeholders. Some knowledge of school feeding programs would be an asset.

Languages:

Fluency (level C) English. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second UN language is a plus.

Terms and Conditions

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

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.

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.