Partnerships Officer - Adviser to Head of Office

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is the frontline United Nations agency fighting hunger and malnutrition worldwide. Operating in over 85 countries, WFP is directly reaching over 120 million people every year through humanitarian, recovery, peace and development programmes and interventions.

In Colombia WFP is a key ally of national government and institutions in the goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2030. With 8 field offices strategically located in the capitals of the departments of Arauca, Caquetá, Córdoba, Chocó, La Guajira, Nariño, Norte de Santander, and Valle del Cauca, WFP operates in 23 departments saving lives and changing lives, promoting local socio-economic recovery and development and providing transformative and sustainable solutions through nexus approaches linking humanitarian, peace, and development efforts.

Through its interventions, during 2021 WFP was able to directly reach and assist over 1.6 million people among vulnerable and affected Colombians as well as Venezuelan migrants, with a special focus on women, children and adolescents, indigenous and ethnic communities, and other vulnerable population groups. Resource permitting, it is expected that a similar number will be assisted in 2022.

The persistence of dynamics of internal violence and displacement mainly caused by armed actors linked to illicit economies, the continuation of migratory influx to and through the country, the continued impact of natural and climatic disasters, coupled with the socioeconomic shock caused by the COVID19 pandemic, and finally the new challenge posed by rising food prices, are all factors that in recent years have been affecting socio-economic trends and progress towards the Strategic Development Goal 2 (SDG2 - Zero Hunger).

Against this backdrop, ensuring a clear vision of strategic opportunities ahead in the fight against hunger, strengthening collaboration with national institutions and organizations, fostering effective interagency coordination and partnerships, and setting-up robust alliances are all clear priorities for WFP Colombia.

WFP Colombia has also engaged in a process aimed at promoting innovative approaches in the fight against hunger, which led to launching the initiative “Innovation for Nutrition” (I4N) with the Government of Colombia, and to the establishment of the WFP Regional Innovation Hub HZERO based in Bogota’. These initiatives focus on the challenges that the current crisis is posing on nutrition and provide new opportunities to promote innovative approaches to achieving Zero Hunger. 

Reporting to the Country Director (CD) and working in close collaboration with the rest of the WFP team, the job holder will carry out and coordinate broad range of partnerships activities, analytical work and research, and assisting the senior management and Country Office (CO) team in identifying strategic opportunities (thematic areas, alliances, resources) and developing solid narratives about the vision and contribution of WFP in Colombia. They engage with internal stakeholders and a host of public, private sector and external entities. These can comprise governments, UN agencies, intergovernmental institutions and their member states, international financial institutions, individuals, corporations, foundations and NGOs.

JOB PURPOSE

This position aims at supporting the leadership of the WFP CO to ensure a strong and focused processes of strategic and programmatic alignment and coordination. Provide substantial value to WFP’s effective positioning with public, private and external partners to attract policy support, resources, technical assistance and innovative solutions to advance the work of WFP, while supporting member states in the achievement of the SDGs and Zero Hunger and emphasizing WFP’s contributions in this regard.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):

1. Assist the Management Team in the identification of strategic opportunities and implement the work plan established to enable WFP to identify, develop and strengthen quality partnerships in support of WFP to effectively deliver on its mandate for the achievement of Hunger Zero, in support to national institutions and in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.
2. Proactively contribute to a partnerships portfolio and outreach activities, by facilitating contacts and dialogue with key national actors and institutions to ensure the identification of strong collaborative opportunities in Government priority areas (migration, PDETs, SDGs) with the aim to maximize resources and leverage policy and technical support for WFP’s work.
3. Gather and share partner intelligence (including forecasting), using key information systems (e.g. Salesforce, WINGS, WFPGo). 
4. Use data to scope new partners, guided by programmatic assessment and context-specific analysis, with the aim to enhance the impact of WFP’s work and diversify the resource base.  
5. Solicit inputs from other functional entities, support internal coordination and integrated approaches including with WFP field offices to consolidate and streamline interagency workstreams and mechanisms
6. Conduct analysis and draft quality briefs in support of outreach opportunities. 
7. Gather socio-political insights to support WFP’s effective positioning vis-à-vis national governments, regional and international institutions with the aim to influence the policy agenda, assisting the CO on ensuring continuity of operations and engagement with new partners.
8. Contribute to the preparation of strategic agreements, joint strategies and reporting with key partner government institutions, RCO, and MPTF in order to promote the SDGs and Zero Hunger on the national, regional and global agenda and to reach advantageous outcomes for WFP.
9. Facilitate corporate dialogue with partners through networking and information sharing; Proactively highlight strategic issues to senior managers and propose options for the best course of action to nurture trust and partnership growth.
10. Contribute to preparedness actions, providing technical recommendations and guidance, and monitor defined risks.
11. Others as required. 

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS (details to be determined by Post Managers):

12. Assist the Management Team in the strategic engagement with the humanitarian and migratory architectures, supporting common narratives and fostering partnership opportunities.
13. Act as focal point on interagency coordination, supporting the development of specific inter-agency initiatives, and following-up on WFP’s participation on the various UNCT interagency working groups.
14. Represent WFP in official meetings and events especially of interagency nature. 
15. Support the Management Team in the implementation of the key milestone initiatives, also through interaction with WFP HQ and Regional Bureau.
16. Research, revise and analyse national policies and plans, ensure active follow up of national debate, and engage in the strengthening of WFP’s policy stand, in coordination with relevant WFP units. This includes research that can be of strategic interest.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK: COMMON STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR

 FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES:

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced university degree in international relations, public relations, sociology, social development, development economics or performance management or other relevant field, or first university degree with additional two (2) years of relevant work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:

• Minimum five (5) or more years of relevant professional work experience in partnership roles and in humanitarian/development field which includes experience from government work.
• Previous experience working with WFP and/or UN agencies / government institutions /implementing partners focusing on developing strategic documents and undertaking high-level consultations. Previous UN and international experience, preferable.
• Experience from arranging and administrating consultations with high level stakeholder participation.
• Has explored new partnership opportunities, provided inputs into developing solutions with prospective partners and explored new areas to scale-up existing activities.
• Has gained experience in using technology and digital tools for data collection, analysis and shared data-based insights to add value to all partnerships.
• Has supported creation of external communications and briefing materials.
• Has provided advanced technical support and identified opportunities for service delivery excellence to strengthen partnerships.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Familiarity with humanitarian/development strategic planning.
• Understanding of the country/regional context. Knowledge of monitoring & performance management concepts & principles. Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Strong conceptual thinking to develop new strategies & innovative projects
• Able to interact with a broad range of stakeholders and external audience with maturity and political tact
• Collaborative spirit, able to partner with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy
• Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy
• Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme

Languages:

Fluency in oral and written Spanish. An advance knowledge of English (Level C) is mandatory.

Application deadline: 14 August 2022

Applications using P11 format are encouraged, and it may be found by typing "Fomato P11" in the search engine of your preference. Download it, fill it out, sign it and attach it to your application.

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status, and is committed to achieving workplace diversity within its office in terms of

gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority social groups, indigenous groups and people with disability are equally encouraged to apply.

All employment applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

Please visit the following website for more information on the work that WFP does.

http://www.wfp.org.