HZero Regional Innovation Advisor

The United Nations World Food Programme (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. WFP 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, physical or mental disability.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

In 2021, the Regional Innovation Hub HZERO was established within the framework of Innovation for Nutrition (I4N), a novel and visionary initiative of the Government of Colombia and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to actively promote the fight against malnutrition in Colombia and the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region.

HZERO is a regional hub for innovation specifically focusing on food security and nutrition, based in Colombia, and supporting the entire LAC region. HZERO aims at generating meaningful Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) solutions for the region's most vulnerable populations. It builds on the extensive experience of WFP’s Innovation Accelerator based in Munich, and it will be unique in terms of its very specific focus on SDG2 achievement in the region.

By leveraging a broad set of alliances with existing institutions, capacities and innovation ecosystems, and by focusing on disruptive solutions that empower territories and communities, HZERO aims at identifying, supporting, and scaling up innovative solutions, accelerating and potentially replicating successful experiences, thus contributing to the fight against hunger and malnutrition in the continent and at global level.

In 2022, HZERO launched Acelera HZero, a programme that aims to accelerate innovative projects that contribute to Zero Hunger in the LAC region. From over 200 applications, 21 projects were selected to participate in a two-week innovation Bootcamp, then invited to present to a jury in a Pitch Event held in person in Medellin, resulting in 10 finalists from 6 countries that will receive technical and financial support in the next 6-month Acceleration phase.

HZERO leverages innovation opportunities and transformational change among young entrepreneurs, youth and women, local leaders and communities, indigenous and ethnic groups, fostering a culture of comprehensive, relevant, people-centered and socially meaningful and sustainable interventions over time. In coordination with country and field offices, HZERO builds initiatives to disseminate innovation resources to and from the communities.

HZERO functions as a WFP led regional innovation platform aimed at supporting the activation and alignment of efforts aimed at achieving SDG2 in LAC countries, through public-private partnerships and the strong engagement of local and regional civil society actors, communities, academia and international cooperation, among others.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reporting to the HZERO Innovation Hub Coordinator, the incumbent’s responsibilities will include:

1. Support the development and growth of the HZERO Innovation hub:
   1. Advise the development of the hub’s strategy, key performance indicators and milestones for the innovation hub, and for the portfolio of innovation projects.
   2. Advise and support the development of the necessary structure, roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders contributing to the work of the HZERO Innovation Hub.
   3. Support the development of HZERO’s business model and sustainability plan
   4. Ensure linkages between WFP Colombia Country Office and the Innovation Accelerator in Munich to facilitate HZero’s development as part of the global WFP innovation network.

1. Grow the impact portfolio and enable innovation in territories:
   1. Lead and manage the portfolio of innovations, maintaining diversity, high return on investment and high potential, in relation to the country and regional priorities
   2. Coach and advise hub’s project managers as well as project leads in the impact portfolio.
   3. Support the scale up of innovation projects in the region, identifying and building investment cases in coordination with multiple stakeholders
   4. Strengthen innovation capacity at Country Office and Field Office level, enabling access and advising on change management practices related to the adoption of innovation and transfer knowledge on new approaches and methodologies.
   5. Lead strong relationships with actors within the regional and national ecosystem to drive forward innovations with potential for Zero Hunger and prioritizing a community-based approach.

1. Ensure sustainability of the HZERO hub by supporting resource mobilization efforts and building long term partnerships:
   1. Advise on the development of a partnership and local ecosystem engagement strategy, including involving actors from the private sector, government institutions, academia, civil society organizations and international cooperation actors.
   2. Support resource mobilization and seed funding efforts to ensure the Hub’s sustainability
   3. Map and engage innovative and disruptive national and regional initiatives on Food Security & Nutrition
   4. Ensure coordination with other innovation initiatives in Colombia and in the LAC region relevant to HZERO’s objectives.
   5. Represent the HZERO Innovation hub at events and towards partners and donors as requested by WFP Country Director, HZero Coordinator, and WFP Partnerships team.

1. Ensure internal coordination and collaboration, and strengthen innovation capacity at WFP Colombia Country Office and regional level:
   1. Understand the key work streams of WFP and ensure synergetic efforts with colleagues from the WFP Colombia Country Office.
   2. Enable access and advice on use of innovation methodologies, such as human centered design, lean start up etc. and innovation process from ideation, sourcing, sprinting and scaling.
   3. Build strong partnerships and create organizational alignment by ensuring linkages between CO and the central Innovation and Knowledge Management function at WFP, INK, especially with the Innovation Accelerator in Munich to help CO and projects reach growth/scale.

1. Support strategic evolution of HZero, the WFP innovation network and its innovation community:

1. Provide guidance to support staff and other CO colleagues, acting as internal champion for innovation in WFP
2. Execute any other task required to support the activities of the Innovation network, the Accelerator or regional innovation activities.
3. Proactively capture and disseminate learnings from implementation of innovative approaches.
4. Perform any other relevant duties.

VALUE AND PAYMENT:

This contract corresponds to a Consultancy – Level 2. Payments will be made monthly.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Master’s degree in business, innovation, design, technology, or other related degrees.

Experience:

Min. 8 years (of which 3 are international) of professional and experience in project management, leading complex operations, with at least three years spent at the country / implementation level in developing countries. Experience in innovation structures such as an innovation accelerator or working directly with start-ups, is a plus.

Proven Track of experience working in a large-scale organization, experience in leading small teams with ambitious goals, ability to promote alliances and build powerful networks.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Experience in innovation, change management, facilitating stakeholders’ transition into new processes and reinforcing and sustaining change.
• Interest in technology innovations (e.g. mobile apps, blockchain, artificial intelligence) and business model innovations (e.g. innovative finance, crowdsourcing)
• Proven experience in innovation project life cycle – from ideation, minimum viable product, testing, prototyping and implementation and innovation methodologies such as human centered design.
• Startup experience or startup mentality. Worked or led cross-functionally and get things done in a scrappy and hands-on way
• Proven track driving projects – effectively delivering impactful elements of projects in fast-moving environment, ideally for new businesses, new business models, startups
• Sound analytical abilities and problem-solving skills. Able to generate new and original solutions to complex problems and to design new products ideas
• Strong conceptual thinking to develop new strategies & innovative projects
• Ability to influence people from different levels of the organization. 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
• Knowledge and understanding of UN’s role in development cooperation and full committment and motivation to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme
• Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy
• Sets high-level of ambition for the project and own work to achieve impact for the hungry people we serve
• Proven team management experience.

Languages:

Fluency in oral and written Spanish and English is mandatory.

Application deadline: 25 January 2023

For this vacancy, only applications of candidates that comply with all the requirements established in the job profile, will be taken into consideration. Applications using P11 format are encouraged, and it may be found by typing "Fomato P11" in the search engine of your preference. Download it, fill it out, sign it and attach it to your application.

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 and all employment applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

Please visit the following website for more information on the work that WFP does (http://www.wfp.org)

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