Partnerships Officer NOB, Fixed term (12 months Renewable contract) Windhoek, Namibia

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WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to end global hunger. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives. Present in nearly 80 countries, the organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to nutritious food and contribute to the lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas. We manage an operating budget of approximately $5.9 billion each year, distributing 12.6 billion rations to those most in need. We reach an average of 80 million people with food assistance in around 80 countries each year. The World Food Programme office in Johannesburg is a Regional Office coordinating and supporting the delivery of humanitarian assistance to 11 Southern Africa countries including, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazaville.

For more on WFP and what we do, please go to http://www.wfp.org/videos/zero-hunger

JOB PURPOSE

Namibia, an Upper Middle-Income Country, has made significant economic and social progress since its independence in 1990. The Namibian economy, until recently, recorded strong and steady economic growth while the country’s poverty rate was reduced significantly from 69% in 1993 to 17.4% in 2018. This impressive achievement has been underpinned by sustained political stability, sound macro-economic management and good governance. Some progress in reducing the pervasive income inequality has also been made.

Despite these gains, Namibia remains amongst the most unequal nations in the world. Stunting and malnutrition continue to stagnate. According to the preliminary findings of a recent assessment carried out following the 2018/2019 drought and COVID situation, an estimated 400,000 people are food insecure with food insecurity more prevalent in the north-western regions mainly due to prevailing chronic poverty, drought and the prevailing COVID impact on households. Main contributing factors to food insecurity and under-nourishment are the high poverty rate, inequality of the income distribution, and the incidence of HIV/AIDS.

This position will therefore be core to WFP’s contribution to the Government of Namibia in enabling an efficient and effective resources mobilization landscape that fast-tracks the journey towards hunger. A core part of this function is to expand the networking of stakeholders in addressing stagnating food and nutrition security situation while putting in place interventions to accelerate the journey towards zero hunger. The position will enable WFP to actively co-lead,  review, refine and develop the concept and framework of sustainable food systems from nutrition, food security and sustainability perspective, and methods, metrics and tools to analyse and to mobilise resources while strengthening partnerships that contribute, positively to diet quality and how they are influenced by environmental, economic, social, cultural and policy processes.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Under the direct supervision of the Country Director, the Programme policy officer-Partnership, will have the following responsibilities:

1. Implement the work plan for an assigned area to enable WFP to identify, develop and strengthen quality partnerships in support of WFP strategic objectives.

2. Proactively contribute to a partnerships portfolio, including partner profiling, data/trends analysis and outreach activities, with the aim to maximize resources and leverage policy and technical support for WFP’s work; Ensure partner visibility and that partner conditions are met.

3. Use data to propose options to managers to expand support from existing partners and to scope new partners, guided by programmatic assessment and context-specific analysis, with the aim to enhance the impact of WFP’s work and diversify the resource base.

4. Gather and share partner intelligence (including forecasting), using key information systems (e.g. Salesforce, WINGS, WFPGo).

5. Solicit inputs from other functional entities, RBs and COs on WFP’s programmatic offering that can gain traction with individual partner audiences; Conduct analysis and draft quality briefs in support of outreach opportunities.

6. Gather socio-political insights to support WFP’s effective positioning vis-à-vis national governments, regional and international institutions with the aim to influence the policy agenda.

7. In the context of the UN system and multilateral fora, support the development of partnerships and joint events with member states, civil society and intergovernmental organizations to advocate for the SDGs and Zero Hunger on the global agenda and advance WFP priorities and objectives, based on a basic understanding of member states’ dynamics and interests.

8. Provide inputs to partnerships strategies, including the development of Partnership Action Plans; Draw up quality partner proposals and reports by engaging with other WFP entities and external stakeholders.

9. Contribute to the preparation of strategic agreements, joint strategies and MOUs in order to promote the SDGs and Zero Hunger on the national, regional and global agenda and to reach advantageous outcomes for WFP

10. Facilitate corporate dialogue with partners through networking and information sharing; Proactively highlight strategic issues to senior managers and propose options for the best course of action to nurture trust and partnership growth.

11. Contribute to preparedness actions, providing technical recommendations and guidance, and monitor defined risks.
 

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
•  Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
•  Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

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

Experience: Minimum five or more years of relevant professional work experience in partnership roles.

Language: International Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.
 

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

• Has a basic understanding of government and corporate strategies and priorities and experience in developing multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Has explored new partnership opportunities, provided inputs into developing solutions with prospective partners and explored new areas to scale-up existing activities.
• Has designed and managed all resource mobilization processes and resource strategies, negotiated contract terms and provided resourcing advice to seniors.
• Has gained experience in using technology and digital tools for data collection, analysis and shared data-based insights to add value to all partnerships.
• Has supported creation of external communications and briefing materials.
• Has provided advanced technical support and identified opportunities for service delivery excellence to strengthen partnerships.
• Has motivated team spirit and contributed to a gender-balanced, inclusive and sound working environment.

CONTRACTUAL INFORMATION

• This is a (12 month renewable Contract )  Fixed Term 
• Net Salary monthly range: NAD 51 790,01 - NAD 60 076,42
• Benefits: 30 DAYS Annual Leave, Pension & Medical Insurance

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Wednesday 6 October 2021, 11:59 Namibian time 

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This position is only open to Namibian Citizens.

Qualified female applicants are especially encouraged to apply

WFP has zero-tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

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.