Social Protection – Partnerships Consultant

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 Consultant – Social Protection

Type of Contract: International Consultancy – Level II

Division: PPR – Thematic Funding Team

Duty Station (City, Country): Rome HQ, Italy

Duration: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

ABOUT WFP

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 lifetimes. 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 Agenda through more systematic and strategic fundraising for thematic and development activities, which requires a different approach than fundraising for WFP’s humanitarian work.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

WFP is seeking to fill the position of Government Partnerships Officer for Social Protection, based in the Public Partnerships and Resourcing Division (PPR) at Headquarters in Rome, Italy.

JOB PURPOSE

WFP relies entirely on voluntary contributions to finance its projects. Relationships with fundraising partners from the public sector are pivotal in supporting WFP projects that save and change the lives of millions of people around the globe.

Fundraising for the Changing Lives agenda from development partners is gaining new momentum following the approval of WFP’s new Strategic Plan. It requires a distinct approach and specific knowledge and skills – all the more in the area of social protection financing.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Design and lead the implementation of a work plan in the area of social protection from Government partners that will enable WFP to identify, develop and strengthen quality partnerships in support of WFP’s strategic objectives. This includes identifying a common agenda between WFP and Government Donors on social protection and organizing joint actions to take the agenda forward such as thematic discussions, events, publications.
2. Drive the positioning with partners on WFP’s corporate value proposition in the thematic area of social protection, develop a donor engagement toolbox using tailored content and language that speaks to individual partner audiences and align with on-going policy dialogue in national and global fora; Manage internally to support coherent partner engagement in this area across the organization.
3. Guide functional units, Regional Bureaus (RBs) and Country Offices (COs) on partnership strategies (including Partnership Action Plans, donor engagement plans); Extend support/guidance on partnership management, including quality proposal and report writing, by engaging with other WFP entities and external stakeholders.
4. Promote the use of key information systems (e.g. Salesforce, WINGS, intranet site WFPGo) amongst the organization to facilitate sharing of quality donor intelligence (incl. forecasting), and assess results.
5. Proactively manage the social protection aspects of a partnerships portfolio, including partner profiling, data/trends analysis and outreach plan in this area, so as to maximize resources and leverage policy and technical support for WFP’s work, in particular on the triple nexus and in the Changing Lives agenda; Ensure partner visibility and that partner conditions are met.
6. Support the design and negotiation of large/complex partnership proposals, joint strategies and/or MOUs in the area of social protection in line with corporate norms, processes and external regulations.
7. Contribute to complex negotiations on strategic partnership agreements in line with WFP’s corporate norms, processes and external regulations, in order to reach advantageous outcomes for WFP, such as more flexibility and predictability as well as longer-term funding.
8. Support corporate dialogue with partners, proactively highlight strategic opportunities and issues to team leader and senior management and present recommendations on best course of action to nurture trust and interest in the social protection work of WFP (including through meeting briefs and cheat sheets).
9. Enable partnership growth by identifying opportunities to expand existing partnerships, deepen collaboration and joint advocacy on common priorities and scoping new partners, guided by assessments, analysis and due diligence, and ensure follow-up; Define and disseminate best practices in partnership development and collaboration and provide technical guidance to internal and external stakeholders in this regard.
10. In countries, where WFP has a presence, support WFP’s effective positioning vis-à-vis national governments and international institutions, based on solid socio-political understanding, to influence the policy agenda in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with a particular view to social protection and WFP’s role therein.
11. Take responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives in all areas of work, to ensure equal participation of women and men.
12. Other as required.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced University degree in International Development, Development or Economics, International Relations, Social Protection or other relevant field

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

Knowledge and Skills:

• Has experience and expertise in social protection policy, financing and programming.
• Has a good understanding of government and corporate strategies and priorities, public policy formulation and levels of influence.
• Has gained experience in developing new and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Has evaluated expected Return ROI from new partnerships and created a network of relationships with multiple constituencies.
• Has developed long-term partner relationships and gained significant experience in expanding engagements across geographies and sectors.
• Has designed and managed all resource mobilization processes and resource strategies, negotiated contract terms and provided resourcing advice to seniors.
• Has led and promoted data-based decision making to enable internal stakeholders to make well informed decisions.
• Has created external messaging to function, geography and thematic interests of stakeholders.
• Has contributed to innovation of system improvements and partner intelligence platforms.
• Has utilized digital solutions to improve client services.

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.

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