Partnerships Consultant

JOB TITLE: Partnerships Consultant

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Regular Consultant, Level I; locally recruited

UNIT/DIVISION: WFP Nordic Office

DUTY STATION (City, Country): UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark

DURATION: 10 months with possible extension

Organisational context:

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Nordic Office in Copenhagen works to strategically position WFP as an innovative leader in food security and nutrition with the governments, political stakeholders, private sector, and other partners in the Nordics and Baltics. The office manages WFP’s strategic partnerships with the Nordic and Baltic public and private sector, incl. foundations, corporates and philanthropists, which collectively constituted the 5th biggest donor group to WFP in 2024 contributing almost USD 500 million, primarily from the Nordic governments.

The Nordic Office leads WFP’s work with politicians in the Nordics to ensure that food security and humanitarian assistance remain a political priority in the region, incl. through engagements with Nordic NGOs and academia. The office also offers guidance to WFP Country Offices and HQ on how to engage with Nordic and Baltic partners, and engages with Nordic influencers from the culinary world, sports, and other sectors to draw attention to the global humanitarian needs and WFP’s critical role in the fight against hunger. The Nordic Office is part of WFP’s Global HQ and works closely with colleagues in Rome, other Global Offices and Country Offices to protect and diversify funding and partnerships with the Nordics and Baltics.  

Job purpose

Under the leadership of the WFP Nordic Director (Copenhagen-based) and the Deputy Head of Office (Rome-based), serve as WFP focal point for partnerships with Norway and effectively position WFP with public, private, civil society and media partners from Norway to help protect and diversify funding from Norwegian partners.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as focal point for WFP’s management of its strategic partnerships with the Norwegian Government, incl. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Norad.
• Advice WFP Country Offices and Global HQ colleagues on partnerships opportunities with Norway, and on negotiating and reporting against contributions.
• Manage tasks related to government-funded grants and agreements, ensuring timely processing of extensions, amendments, and other donor-related documentation in compliance with organizational standards.
• Maintain an overview of funding forecasts and share partner intelligence using WFP information systems to inform strategic decisions. Collect, analyze, and synthesize data to contribute to quality information management and enhance decision-making processes.
• Prepare timely and strategic briefing materials for WFP leadership for meetings and engagements with senior officials from Norway
• Support missions of WFP field and HQ colleagues to Norway and ensure follow-up is swiftly actioned.
• Coordinate political surveillance on issues related to the work of WFP and report on relevant developments in Norway.
• Keep Parliamentarians in Norway regularly updated on WFP operations and advice WFP colleagues on engagement opportunities with political stakeholders.
• Support the management of WFP’s relationship with Norwegian private sector partners and support on outreach to new private sector prospects from the corporate sector, foundations, philanthropists and influencers. 
• Maintain close relationships with NGOs, think tanks and academic partners in Norway to jointly position the fight against hunger as a key priority.
• Support donor visibility for Norwegian partners and pitch interviews and stories to Norwegian media.
• Perform other related duties, as required.

Deliverables at the end of the contract

• Ongoing communication maintained with the Norwegian MFA and Norad through calls, regular correspondence, and coordinated meetings and engagements.
• Consistent senior leadership engagement facilitated with Norwegian government officials, including participation at relevant dialogues and consultations, ensuring strategic alignment with Norwegian priorities.
• Tailored guidance offered to Country Offices on negotiating, reporting and positioning with Norway, reflecting Norwegian policy and funding expectations.
• Donor tracking tools regularly updated, with inputs provided to Cand other internal processes to support informed strategic decision making on Norway.
• Strategic briefings prepared for high level meetings and engagements, enhancing WFP’s advocacy and partnership efforts with senior Norwegian officials and stakeholders.

• WFP leadership missions to Norway supported, including facilitation and accompaniment of leadership groups and regional or country directors to meetings with government counterparts and other partners, with effective follow up ensured.
• New partnerships developed and existing ones strengthened to diversify WFP’s funding base and enhance advocacy efforts within Norway, including targeted engagement with private sector partners.

Qualifications & Experience

Education:

• University degree in Political Science, Global Development, Business Administration, Economics, Law, Communications or other related fields; or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:

• Professional experience (3-5 years) in an international organization, political organization, NGO or consultancy company.
• Experience in partnerships management and fundraising from a UN agency, NGO or government would be considered an advantage.

Skills:

• Knowledge of the political dynamics and the development and humanitarian funding landscape in Norway,
• Knowledge of fundraising from Nordic governments, foundations, private sector, individuals and other funding streams of relevance to WFP.
• Knowledge of humanitarian assistance, food assistance and food systems transformation.
• Ability to work independently, plan strategically, as well as to organize, assess and coordinate the work of others.
• Ability to work harmoniously with people of different national and cultural backgrounds, government officials, other UN agencies and multilateral institutions.
• Strong writing, presentation and communication skills and demonstrated social media management and communications campaign experience and capacity.
• Ability to build and sustain effective, collaborative relationships with appropriate stakeholders and contacts to raise the profile of WFP, build relationships and further organizational aims.
• Ability to track and analyze relevant political and technical data to prepare briefs, talking points or other relevant material to help raise resources for operations

Language:

• Fluency in written and verbal communication in English required, with working knowledge of another UN language desirable. Working knowledge of Norwegian is a requirement.

Working Modality:

• The WFP Nordic Office has a full-time presence requirement with regular work office hours 9:00am – 5pm

Term and Conditions:

Please note that this is a recruitment for a Locally recruited Consultancy; therefore, applicants must:

a) be a Danish citizen, or holding a valid legal permit to live and work in Denmark; and

b) reside within commuting distance of the duty station (UN City Marmorvej 51, 2100 København, Denmark), or already live in the country and be willing to relocate to Copenhagen at their own expense before taking up the assignment.

Please note that WFP will not cover relocation or living expenses and will not help in obtaining and extending residency status or work permits.