Project Manager
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Job Title: Project Manager
Type of Contract: International Consultant, Level II
Division: GEN – Public Partnership and Resourcing Division (PPR), Thematic Team
Duty Station (City, Country): Rome HQ, Italy, with 40% to 60% of travel
Duration: 11 months
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetime. 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.
The Public Partnerships and Resourcing Division (PPR) supports organization-wide efforts to meet the resource needs at corporate and country levels through active engagement with governments and public sector institutions. Within PPR, the Thematic team (TT) has been created in 2021 in order to advance the Changing Lives (CL) Agenda through more systematic and strategic fundraising for thematic and development activities, which requires a different approach than fundraising for WFP’s humanitarian work.
The new Strategic Plan (SP) 2022 – 2025 continues to prioritize WFP’s Saving Lives mandate with an increased focus on its Changing Lives Agenda. The Strategic Plan Implementation (SPI) is being supported by five workstreams (WS). PPR has been tasked to take the lead in coordinating – on behalf of the Partnership Department – WS 4: funding the full scope of the Strategic Plan, with an increased focus on ‘Changing Lives’ through partnerships and advocacy. WS 4 builds on the joint PA / PD Corporate Critical Initiative (CCI) "Adjusting country level programme design capacities to support funding the full scope of the new Strategic Plan 2022-2025", the Changing Lives Transformation Fund, and other initiatives, and ideated an envisioned future-state for funding the Changing Lives agenda following an extensive consultation process. WS 4 then identified the related challenges and gaps and elaborated a roadmap of organizational changes required to implement the future-state.
Under the overall supervision of the Government Partnerships Officer in TT, the Project manager will support the WS 4 and the roll out of the roadmap of organizational changes in selected Country Offices (COs) by setting processes and milestones, aligning responsibilities among teams, coordinating timely execution of deliverables, facilitating discussion and cooperation among different divisions, ensuring visibility among team and to management, and providing quantitative and qualitative support when needed.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Support the implementation of the roadmap of changes in selected COs in close coordination with the Regional Bureaus (RBs)
- Map stakeholders supporting the roadmap and the implementation of the future state in selected Country Offices
- Assist the RBs in supporting selected COs implementing the roadmap and the future state
- Support on-going development and updates of COs and RBs roadmap related workplans which outline key milestones, deliverables, tasks, deadlines, and owners;
- Facilitate regular coordination meetings between identified stakeholders to align on objectives, activities, timelines and outputs. Be responsible for cross-fertilisation between countries;
- Ensure alignment with the Changing Lives Transformation Fund Monitor progress of the various activity areas
- Monitor progress of the implementation of the roadmap of changes at Country Office’s level
- Organize cadenced and ad-hoc meetings to align on and validate CO’s roadmap implementation updates and decisions
- Prepare and provide timely / regular updates on roadmap implementation; for efficiency and effectiveness differentiate per audiences
- Assist in coordination among teams to address roadblocks and conflicts, escalating when necessary
- Provide support on infographics to portray pre-determined content in a way that facilitates understanding and discussion of certain topics
- Conduct data analysis for insights and to support decision making
- Support knowledge management reviews and sharing of best practices for future scale up
- Contribute internal communication and dissemination of progresses
- Additional support requests, as required
DELIVERABLES:
1) CLs' (Changing Lives) workplans with key milestones, deliverables, tasks, deadlines, and owners
2) After 5 months, a progress report listing the changes implemented and the degree of implementation of the future state per country office
3) A final report presenting per country office i) the changes implemented, ii) a qualitative review of the changes, iii) the degree of implementation of the future state, iv) the related outcomes in terms of partnership and fundraising, v) the overall lessons learnt and recommendation for scale up
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
Advanced University degree in International Development, Business Administration, Political Sciences or other related fields.
Experience:
Over 6 years of progressively responsible national and/or international experience in a business or international relations related position. Experience with WFP is an asset. At least 2 years of field (country) experience in partnership or policy and programme from a national perspective. Additional work experience desirable
Knowledge and Skills:
- Ability to develop new strategies and innovative projects
- Good analytical abilities, both quantitative and qualitative: ability to perform advanced analysis in excel and produce high-quality written materials, including powerpoint presentations as well as text documents;
- Excellent networking and communications skills to ensure participatory collaboration and buy-in from all staff involved across departments and including the field;
- Experience with optimization processes (e.g. optimization of strategic planning, sourcing, logistics, finance processes, performance management, etc.)
- Collaborative spirit to liaise with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures, with credibility and diplomacy;
- Time management skills with an ability to plan ahead, anticipate requirements, problems and obstacles, and an ability to juggle competing priorities successfully, and to work on tight deadlines;
- Self-motivated and able to work with a certain degree of autonomy and/ or in team;
- Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme
- Knowledge of UN system policies and functions of protection-mandated agencies. Flexibility to travel on short notice and in challenging and difficult environments.
- Team spirit and excellent interpersonal skills.
Languages:
Fluency (level C) in English language. Knowledge of Spanish, French or Arabic a strong asset.
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.
Deadline for applications: 20 November 2022
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.
