Cooperating Partner Management Officer (Team Lead), NoB – Fixed Term

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Regional Bureau Nairobi (RBN) provide support, guidance, and oversight to the 9 Country Offices (COs) in the Eastern Africa region. The Programme Unit of the Regional Bureau provides this guidance, support and oversight to the various country-level programme teams and functional areas, including on issues of Cooperating Partner (CP)/NGO management. Over the past 4 years, the region has introduced new modalities for planning, budgeting, and partnership – in line with the WFP Integrated Road Map (IRM) approach and WFP’s 2018 NGO Guidance.

This position will provide technical guidance and operational support to RB and CO Programme teams on strategic, technical and business process issues as well as risks related to CP management. These activities will strengthen the RBs support to COs and in turn improve CO CP/NGO partnership practices throughout the region. In line with the IRM changes and WFPs commitment to the Grand Bargain (specifically the Localization stream), WFP aims to be a better strategic and operational partner with its CP/NGO stakeholders and the RB plays a key role in facilitating these changes at the Country Office level.

This assignment is in the Regional Bureau Programme Cycle Management unit and reports to the Head of Unit.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Provide COs with technical and operational guidance on how to implement the 2018 NGO Corporate Guidance which includes Call for Proposals, selection process, partner induction, partner evaluations, etc.
2. Liaise with HQ regarding corporate templates and standards which need to be operationalized and provide inputs/feedback.
3. Support COs with the development of key documentation such as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Cooperating Partner Committee ToRs, checklists, etc. that support an effective CP mgmt. function.
4. Provide guidance on all implementing partner agreements including Field Level Agreement (FLA) management, including budget negotiations, budget management, distribution reports and invoice management.
5. Support COs to address oversight and audit recommendations.
6. Lead the rollout of new tools and processes to COs, ensuring timing, participation and process changes are coordinated with each CO to optimize impact and adoption.
7. Provide training/webinars/information sessions to CO staff as required and to also equip them to be able to deliver trainings to CPs.
8. Organize regional events with external CPs to strengthen and enhance WFP’s reputation as a partner of choice.
9. Manage and lead a team to deliver high quality workstream results.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

1. COs CP mgmt. SOP include updated policies and procedures as well as the inclusion of corporate tools and data value chain.
2. Improvement plans for COs to address audit observations and oversight recommendations.
3. Regional contextualization of corporate guidance, templates, training material and checklists for use by COs.
4. Regional capacity strengthening plans and rollout plans of digital solutions, i.e., UNPP, Partner Connect, DOTS, Salesforce, and Partnership Action Plan (PAP).
5. CO mapping tool is updated regularly based on engagement or implementation progress.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced University degree in business management or other field relevant to international development assistance, or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience:

• 3 years of direct experience implementing programmes and managing CPs and FLAs (including FLA budgets) in various operational contexts.
• Excellent knowledge of WFP’s 2018 NGO guidance, partnership principles and modalities, including associated IRM processes.
• Strong understanding of WFP’s corporate planning processes at HQ, RB, and CO level under the IRM structure.
• Familiarity with the WFP technical tools used for CP management and reporting, including WFP’s financial and budget management frameworks, distribution data management, CP closing stocks, etc.
• Effectively managing a team of various levels to deliver high-quality, impactful results.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Supervisory and Leadership skills
• Project Management and Contract Management.
• Excellent written and oral/presentation skills.
• Demonstrates high moral integrity and proven capacity to take initiative, show discretion and autonomy.
• Strong planning and time management, with a structured results-oriented approach and quality monitoring and reporting.
• Client focused and builds strong relationships to improve processes and support the strengthening of CO CP Mgmt. function.

Languages:

Fluency in oral written English. French is highly desirable.

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