DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

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WHY JOIN WFP? 

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

Title: Consultant, Senior Legal Counsel and Board Secretary

Org. Unit: ARC

Duty Station: Abidjan

Contract Type: Regular Consultant

Duration: 6 months with possibility of extension

Reporting to: ARC Group Director General

Background:

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), a specialised agency of the African Union (AU), is dedicated to strengthening climate and public health resilience across Africa. It partners with Member States to enhance their capacities to plan, prepare for, and respond to extreme weather events and disease outbreaks. Initially established with the support of the World Food Programme (WFP) under a Memorandum of Understanding with the AU, ARC continues to receive administrative services from WFP via an Administrative Service Agreement. The Agency, now comprising 38 Member States, is governed by a Ministerial-level board elected by its Conference of the Parties (COP). Its headquarters are located in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with a regional office in Lusaka, Zambia.

Since its inception in 2012, the ARC Group, comprising the ARC Agency and its financial affiliate, ARC Ltd, has pioneered a proven model for enhancing climate and disaster resilience across Africa. The Group’s unique value proposition integrates four critical components of disaster response: capacity building, early warning, risk pooling, and risk transfer. This holistic approach enables the delivery of innovative, country-tailored solutions that complement national resilience strategies.

ARC offers a diversified range of sovereign insurance products, including coverage for Crop Drought, Rangeland Drought, Tropical Cyclone, Flood, and Outbreaks & Epidemics, as well as a non-sovereign product designed to protect smallholder farmers. This product offering allows for customised risk transfer solutions aligned with specific national priorities.

To date, the ARC has trained over 20,000 government officials in the use of its tools, guided the development of national contingency plans, provided over $1.2 billion in insurance coverage, and disbursed over $300 million in claims to protect the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations. The Group employs innovative tools and systems to assess and model risk, monitor seasons, estimate disaster impacts, and calculate response costs to guide timely, evidence-based insurance payouts through index-triggered mechanisms.

Under the strategic guidance of the ARC Group Director General, the Senior Legal Counsel and Board Secretary will be responsible for providing high-level legal services and authoritative advice on complex and novel legal matters. The incumbent will ensure quality and consistency in all legal support provided to the ARC Agency and will serve as Secretary to the ARC Agency Governing Board and legal advisor to the Conference of the Parties (COP). Key responsibilities include overseeing the preparation of all Board and COP documents, decisions, and related materials.

Within delegated authority, the Senior Legal Counsel and Board Secretary will:

Provide Legal Advice:

• Provide authoritative legal advice and recommendations to the governance organs, Director General and senior management of ARC Agency, on a range of issues.
• Handle a wide range of multidiscipline, highly complex, and often sensitive and/or conflicting legal matters involving issues relating to international, public, private and administrative law, including interpretation and application of legal instruments;
• Develop new legal modalities to meet unique needs/circumstances;
• Determine strategies and approaches to complex legal matters to ensure innovative solutions to legal issues and provision of cohesive legal services;
• Provide advice on the interpretation and application of constitutive and legislative instruments governing ARC Agency activities, including the Establishment Agreement, Rules of Procedure of the Board and CoP, various regulations, rules and policies, and WFP’s rules regulations and policies;
• Provide recommendations to senior officials of substantive units with respect to actions to take;
• Identify potential liabilities and assist in the management of risks in the ARC’s activities, particularly vis-à-vis third parties;
• Provide legal services to ARC Agency governing bodies, including serving as the Secretary to the Board and legal advisor to the CoP, overseeing the production of Board and CoP decision memoranda, policies, and other governance documents, and providing advice to other committees as relevant;
• Advise on legal issues relating to the formation of the ARC insurance pool, risk transfer from Member countries, and other country level engagements, including supervising service providers and consultants;
• Provide legal advice on the establishment of new initiatives of ARC Agency, providing guidance and supervision to outside counsel and legal advisors on these new solutions.

Oversee ARC Agency Legal Work and Work with Partners:

• Oversee all the legal work of ARC Agency, including supervising staff, consultants and coordinating the work of external advisors, on a wide range of corporate, multi-disciplinary and highly complex legal matters to ensure ARC Agency’s interests are protected and legal risks are minimised;
• Represent ARC Agency during legal negotiations and in other fora to ensure that ARC Agency’s position is defended.
• Review, advise on and approve the legal aspects of documents, including complex contracts, agreements, legal opinions, reports, memoranda, rules and policies, legal motions/submissions, and other legal documents;
• Liaise and coordinate productive partnerships with other Legal Divisions across the African Union (AU) – particularly on ratification/treaty support – and UN system.

Develop Rules, Policies and Procedures:

• Manage the development of policies and procedures for the ARC Agency and the ARC Agency Secretariat (Secretariat) to operationalise the functions of the ARC Agency and set standards of good governance;
• Identify gaps and take a lead in the development of policies, guidelines, procedures and other internal or corporate documents to promote operational effectiveness and efficiency;
• Work with the ARC Ltd staff to coordinate the work of the two entities and develop procedures governing their interaction;
• Work with other Secretariat staff members to develop and codify policies and procedures relating to monitoring and evaluation, and deviations from approved contingency plans by ARC Member states;
• Undertake duty travel as required;
• Undertake other duties as directed by the ARC Agency Director General.

Qualifications & Experience Required

Education:

• Advanced university degree in the discipline of law or university degree in the discipline of law with experience and advanced training in both private commercial and public international law;
• The candidate must be qualified to practice law or admitted to practice by a recognised national or state bar or law society.

Experience:

• At least ten years (3 of which international) of progressively responsible professional experience in law and provision of a wide range of legal services including senior managers and governance bodies, both nationally and/or in an international organisation (preferably the UN or a UN system organisation);
• Strong practical legal experience, and experience working with multi-cultural teams and government counter parties.

Technical Skills & Knowledge:

• Experience with the establishment of new, treaty-based international organisations, including development of policies, directives, guidelines, procedures and other foundational documents for such organisations;
• Experience with public private partnerships, and particularly with the establishment of market-based financial affiliates to international organisations;
• Practical understanding of issues related to natural disaster insurance and response, market based-risk transfer mechanisms, and working with sovereign clients;
• Experience providing legal advice, support and coordination to boards, committees, and working groups composed of high-level government and international organisation representatives;
• Understanding of principles of intellectual property law, particularly related to the protection of software;
• Capacity to work closely with government counterparties, and multi-cultural constituencies;
• Solid communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills;
• General knowledge of African Union and UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures.

Competencies:

• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write clear and concise briefing papers and external communications and consolidate the work of others into key, strategic operational documents;
• Strong interpersonal, partnership and diplomatic skills with ability to establish effective working relations with people at all levels and of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Ability to think creatively, proactively, strategically and problem-solve with flexibility and adaptability;
• Strong organisation skills with ability to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under supervision;
• Ability to prioritise multiple tasks under tight deadlines in a timely manner in a dynamic environment;
• Ability to maintain a high degree of judgment, discretion and confidentiality.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English;
• Intermediate knowledge of another AU official language – Arabic, French or Portuguese – highly desirable.

This is more than a job – It is your chance to help transform how Africa and its partners respond to the climate crisis and disease outbreaks, both significant threats to the continent’s sustainable development.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs or spontaneous applications by email.

• If you experience challenges while submitting your online application, please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org for technical support only.

• Please note that applications sent to this email address cannot be considered.

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.