Workplace Culture Special Advisor (ASG level)

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to end global hunger.  Every day, WFP works globally 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. 

Under the guidance of the Executive Director,  and as part of the Leadership Group, the principal function of the Workplace Culture Special Advisor is to provide organization-wide leadership to cultivate and champion a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace culture where staff continue to feel proud to work at WFP. You will work closely with leaders from across the organization, soliciting and utilizing input from others to build a meaningful, and sustainable approach to workplace culture.  You will directly oversee Human Resources Management Division, Staff Wellness Division and the Comprehensive Action Plan Team.  The incumbent will also have a dotted reporting line (Administrative issues and close collaboration) to the Ethics Office and the Office of the Ombudsman while they both maintain their independence and direct reporting line to the Executive Director.

Main responsibilities include:

• Responsible for fostering and integrating WFP’s values in all aspects of strategy, operations, organizational culture and service
• Develop and implement a People Strategy that supports a culture of collaboration and innovation, and provides a healthy, safe and respectful working environment while promoting greater accountability, efficiency and responsiveness to the WFP mandate
• Engage with relevant senior management and functional leaders to ensure policies and practices are supportive of an inclusive working environment
• Promote alignment between the values of the UN/WFP and staff behaviour. Influence the leadership to adopt change strategies, and gain cooperation through sensitivity to the political and organizational culture
• Define and implement effective measures to monitor organizational performance and progress to influence data-driven decisions
• Facilitate collaboration among staff, bringing people together across all levels of the organization to achieve results and share best practices; remain accessible to various stakeholders and show a willingness to become directly and personally involved
• Create consensus and communicate coherently the vision and strategic direction to internal and external audiences.  Develop and share an ongoing and inspiring narrative about progress against the strategy
• Support execution of a strategic communications plan of the people and culture communications strategy with a consistent, compelling narrative for publication on internal and external channels
• Provide continuous alignment to the vision, purpose, and goals of the organization

• Evaluate and report the effectiveness of workplace culture activities and their impact on business/operation results
• Ensure management action in response to observations and recommendations by evaluation and independent oversight and other stakeholder bodies
• Establish and oversee the measurement framework to actively monitor and evaluate risks/issues, track performance of responses and analyze events
• Create organizational precedents and act as a role model, setting an example for the highest standards of integrity for all staff through your personal behaviour
• Ensure an organizational environment that respects diversity, gender equality and cultural/racial sensitivity and foster openness to diverse perspectives
• Promote a culture of results orientation, collaboration, accountability and innovation
• Support the formulation, integration and implementation of relevant policies,  innovative corporate initiatives, programmes and tools relating to Human Resources, Wellness and Ethics and support the enhancement of WFP’s work in the field
• Establish and maintain strategic operational partnerships with key actors to facilitate common operational understanding and approaches, particularly in the field of humanitarian work (ensuring knowledge and respect for humanitarian principles) and provide executive guidance, leadership and support to WFP’s global programmes and operations.
• Credibly represent the organization in senior, high-level United Nations, international, inter-agency and/or intergovernmental fora including the Executive Board
   

This position offers a global leadership role in the world’s leading humanitarian organization and offers a truly unique and exciting opportunity for internationally-experienced executives who have excelled in the international, private and/or public sectors. The role demands stature and senior-executive level presence, built on a successful track record in managing people-oriented and administrative/operational services at an international level, in multicultural, highly complex, dynamic and rapidly evolving organizations. 

• Minimum of twenty years of experience of demonstrated experience in providing direction and leading large, multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams in large international organizations or public sector entities, preferably in UN organisations.
• Strong, reliable and mature judgement and decision-making skills with the ability to make difficult decisions under pressure; identify the key issues in a complex situation and come to the heart of the problem quickly
• Proven experience in successfully managing and leading roles with significant breadth and complexity
• Stature and authority to influence at all levels. Ability to demonstrate conceptual and analytical skills to understand the big picture, assimilate information from a variety of sources, and translate this into practical and prioritized action and planning
• Demonstrated leadership, management, strong communication, negotiation, team-building, partnership and strategic visioning skills
• Firm commitment to the work, objectives, values and guiding principles of WFP and the United Nations system
• Impeccable personal and professional integrity
• Compelling track record of leading or influencing transformation of talent processes across various levels
• Strong networking and relationship-building skills, evidenced by an extensive network of contacts with key players and stakeholders at the international level
• Intellectually curious, creative and strategic thinker. Able to think out of the box, challenge conventional norms, and try new approaches, with tact and judgement. A team player with a high level of energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to the mission and objectives of WFP
• Able to provide leadership and responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives into substantive work and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrate knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing and creating a gender-sensitive working environment that pays attention to work/life issues
• Demonstrated success interfacing and influencing senior leadership of an organization as an advisor by utilizing keen business acumen, understanding of financial data and market trends, as it relates to Human Resources and Wellness
• Experience in advocating change or different ways of working; engaging others by explaining their role in the change process, and ideally mobilize others within the organization to facilitate change processes.

• Fluency (level C) in English language.
• Working knowledge of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese, is desirable.
• Advanced university degree or university degree, preferably in disciplines such as economics, social sciences, psychology, business administration, development studies and/or management.
   

The selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year.

WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance. For more details please visit icsc.un.org.

All applications should include a cover letter and the curriculum vitae of the candidate and must be submitted through the WFP Careers website by Friday, 24 July 2020.