Internship - Partnership & Advocacy, Purchase for Progress, Rome, Italy

World Food Programme

Partnerships & Advocacy Intern

Purchase for Progress Coordination

April – August 2018 (5 months)

The mission of WFP is to end global hunger. 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.

In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives. Present in nearly 80 countries, the organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to nutritious food and contribute to the lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas.

With the launch of Purchase for Progress (P4P) in 2008, the World Food Programme (WFP) began exploring ways of using its food purchases to help develop staple crop markets and spur improvements in smallholder agriculture. The recently ratified Sustainable Development Goals identify support to smallholder farmers and agricultural markets as a critical element of ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. In the past years, WFP’s unique added value to global efforts to support smallholder farmers has become increasingly clear. Building on the lessons learned through the P4P pilot, WFP is increasingly supporting smallholder farmers through a variety of initiatives.

Currently, WFP is strengthening these efforts as P4P strengthens its role as a policy, programme and technical hub of WFP to leverage its strong knowledge base on smallholder market support. P4P will lead efforts to strengthen and expand the approach, ensuring WFP’s ability to deliver upon goals set forth in the Strategic Plan (2017-2021).

The Partnerships & Advocacy Intern will be part of the Partnerships and Knowledge Management Team. Under the supervision of the Partnerships and External Relations Officer and supporting other staff, the intern will contribute to partnerships management and advocacy agenda to support the work of P4P.

Duties and responsibilities:

Within the above mentioned context, the Partnerships & Advocacy Intern will work under the supervision of the Partnerships and External Relations Officer. The incumbent will be responsible for a wide variety of assignments, including but not limited to the following:

• Create a database, collating partnership related information from the field, including project shortfalls, requirements and donor mapping;
• Collate data to contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reports, including donor and communications reports;
• Responsible for the P4P weekly outlook, highlighting the core activities of the Unit;
• Contribute to a P4P advocacy agenda, seeking opportunities and engaging the relevant functions of the Unit;
• Support in the management of a portfolio of partnerships, providing coordination, data and analysis to support effective solicitation of contributions, donor stewardship and assessment of results;
• Support in the preparation of briefing materials, notes for the record from meetings, fact sheets and any relevant publications.
• Assist in online and public fundraising campaigns, ensuring alignment with overall communications and WFP strategies.
• Support as needed with activities such as funding proposals, requests from partners, presentations and the preparation and organisation of high-level meetings and conferences.
• Any other duties as required.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor or Master’s degree in Development Studies; International Relations, Journalism; Media & Communications; Social Science or other relevant field.
• Experience in partnership development and donor relations desirable.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. Editing experience in English desirable.
• Excellent research, analysis and computer skills, particularly in MS Office (Excel and PowerPoint).
• Capacity to analyse and synthesize large amounts of information.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work together with a multi-sectoral team.
• Ability to stay calm, positive and work well under pressure, and adhere to tight deadlines.
• Skills and maturity gained from relevant jobs or internships is desirable.

Terms and Conditions

• Interns receive a monthly stipend from WFP up to the maximum amount of US$1000 per month depending on the duty station of assignment.
• WFP is not responsible for living expenses, arrangements for accommodation, necessary visas and related costs.
• WFP will reimburse travel ticket for candidates who are nationals of developing countries and are pursuing their studies in their home country.
• WFP will recognize candidates’ educational credentials from recognised institutions that have been certified by competent international or national authorities such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) or Ministries of Education;

Closing date:   28 March 2018

VA reference no:   77463

Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply.  WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.