Advocacy Project coordinator

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Job Title: Advocacy Project coordinator (Rockefeller Foundation)

Type of Contract: Consultancy

Division: School-Based Programmes (SBP)

Duty Station (City, Country): Rome HQ, Italy

Duration: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

As the international community has committed to ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition by 2030, one in nine people worldwide still does not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty.

For its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.

WFP development projects focus on nutrition, especially for mothers and children, addressing malnutrition from the earliest stages of life and later through school meals.

WFP is building in Headquarters, the new Advocacy Unit for School Meals Programmes. As part of this initiative, WFP is opening several positions for advocacy and communication officers that will be responsible for different but always interconnected streams of work: 1) WFP School Meals Programmes; 2) School Meals Coalition advocacy initiative; and 3) the “Catalysing Good Food Through School Feeding Programmes and Institutional Procurement” project.

Through this vacancy announcement, WFP is seeking to hire a qualified and experienced individual to be the Advocacy Project Coordinator (RF) for the “Catalysing Good Food Through School Feeding Programmes and Institutional Procurement” project (3). This is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and its overarching objective is to improve the quality of diets, sustainability and equity of food systems and economic impact for local communities through promoting values-based institutional procurement approaches tailored to country context, strengthening supply chains, and influencing eating behaviour through food-based programs, with a special focus on leveraging school meals programmes as vehicles to drive change.  The advocacy component of the project will focus in 6 countries (Benin, Ghana, Honduras, Rwanda, Burundi and India), each with specific contextual complexities, challenges and opportunities.

Reporting to the Senior Advocacy and Partnership Officer of the School Based Programme Division in Headquarters, he/she will serve as WFP’s global advocacy lead for the project. As Advocacy Project Coordinator, she/he will work closely with:

• An external advocacy firms to support in the three pillars of the advocacy efforts
• WFP advocacy officers in the six pilot countries, coordinating project support and delivering the advocacy project objectives
• WFP and School Meals Coalition Advocacy officers within the HQ School Based Programme Division ensuring that all advocacy efforts are concerted and interrelated.

The role requires a high degree of independence, deep understanding of policy advocacy, experience in delivering global and multi-country advocacy initiatives, and strong project management skills.

ACCOUNTABITLITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the supervision of the Senior Advocacy and Partnership Officer, the Advocacy Project Coordinator will be responsible for the following key duties:

• Manage, coordinate and supervise the work of the project team of the advocacy firm and the four advocacy officers in the pilot countries, ensuring that Component 3 is managed both administratively, financially and technically and applying strategic planning and systemic coordination of planned project activities;
• Monitor overall advocacy coordination such that project outcomes are effectively reached;
• Together with the advocacy firm and advocacy officers at the country level, set and review advocacy objectives, targets and the performance of the project team;
• Oversee and manage relationships between the advocacy firm project team, WFP advocacy officers in the pilot countries and in Headquarters;
• Provide support to the advocacy firm project team in facilitating the completion of the scope of work of the consultancy (development of global and country-based advocacy plans and advocacy capacity strengthening activities);
• Coordinate the recruitment of advocacy officers in each of the six pilot countries,
• Oversee the development of advocacy knowledge products (e.g., case studies and other publications) and communications/social media assets;
• Monitor and ensure compliance with project KPIs;
• Day-to-day supervision/line management of the advocacy firm project team and WFP advocacy personnel, ensuring effective communication at all levels;
• Ensure timely and high-quality preparation of advocacy annual/quarterly/final progress reports, as appropriate;
• Establish effective coordination, monitoring, information sharing and reporting systems for projects;
• Together with the Team Lead of the advocacy firm, guide advocacy consultancy project staff and the WFP advocacy officers such that project objectives are achieved.
• Coordinate cross-office working with internal colleagues on delivery;
• Act as the contract administrator of the advocacy consultancy project on behalf of WFP;
• Engage in briefings and updates for SBP’s Head of Partnerships and Advocacy on key project activities, issues and required action points (i.e., progress against planned activities, updates on risks and issues, expenditures etc.).
• Perform any other duties as may be required by the Senior Advocacy and Partnership Officer;

DELIVERABLES QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

It will provide support specifically in three pillars:  

• In-country advocacy support to influence the uptake of good food, values-based procurement and healthier diets-related policy and practice changes.
• Global level support to devise tactics that put a spotlight on the results and experiences of the pilot countries, particularly ones that seek to utilize the School Meals Coalition as a platform for global advocacy on good food, values-based procurement and healthier diets;
• Advocacy capacity strengthening activities aimed at enhancing WFP’s advocacy capacity at the Country Office level to enable country-based advocacy efforts to achieve the desired change. 
• Contribute to the overall advocacy efforts of the newly Advocacy Unit established in WFP, including the School Meals Coalition and the SBP advocacy related activities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in political science, international relations, social science, economics, law, public administration, or a related field, or First University Degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.

Experience:

Minimum 6 years of relevant experience in policy advocacy, programme/project management, relationship-building and stakeholder engagement in the international development and humanitarian sector.

• Demonstrated experience and comfort in leading global and/or multi-country advocacy initiatives, requiring  a strong ability to coordinate across multiple stakeholders and a deep understanding of policy dynamics in global south contexts;
• Strong project management skills and a proven ability to work collaboratively with consultancy project teams to deliver on project goals and objectives;
• Proven track record of managing/implementing complex and multi-faceted global and/or multi-country advocacy initiatives related to policy and practice change;
• Strong familiarity with working in issue-areas related to school meals such as global health, nutrition, social protection, education;
• Strong ability to lead and manage dispersed teams in cross-cultural settings and proven experience working across multiple teams/departments with diverse functional responsibilities across levels (global, regional and national).

Knowledge and Skills:

• Proven understanding of policy advocacy and communications campaigns, project management, high-level partnerships, and stakeholder engagement;
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of policy advocacy and advocacy capacity strengthening support;
• High-level and strong understanding of the dynamics of intra-organizational communications and how to execute tasks and project management within large international organizations.
• Strong negotiation and communication skills.
• Excellent oral, writing, public speaking and presentation skills.
• Well-organized and detail-oriented.

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.

Terms and Conditions

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

Deadline for applications: 26 August 2022

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.