BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. WFP’s Regional Bureau Cairo (RBC) covers 18 operations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia, reaching some 30 million people with food assistance. RBC provides strategic guidance, policy/technical support and direction to WFP operations and activities in a region marked by protracted and complex conflicts. With the WFP Strategic Plan 2017-2021 and Corporate Partnership Strategy providing overall guidance, RBC’s Government and External Partnerships team leads the implementation of the regional strategic action plan on partnerships. In this context, the team works to monitor and analyze global and regional trends, partner priorities and opportunities, and to develop strategic partnerships in support of WFP country office operations.
Under the supervision of the Head of Government and External Partnerships, the External Partnerships Officer SC8 will support regional engagement with UN agencies, NGOs and other external partners. Working closely with communications, government partnership and policy/programme colleagues, the External Partnerships Officer will maintain current relationships, identify opportunities for new engagements, and support RBC participation in key interagency fora while acting as the focal point for partnership knowledge management in the Bureau.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Contribute to the implementation of the work plan for assigned area, to ensure timely and cost effective delivery of results, in accordance with WFP and Corporate Partnership strategies.
- Develop and maintain knowledge management tools for partnerships in order to provide support to technical units, RBs and/or COs in identifying partnership trends and opportunities.
- Track and analyse partnership trends at the country office level through outreach to partnership focal points, maintenance of partnership mapping tools and partner perception surveys.
- Maintain effective relationships and contact databases of member states, UN agencies, NGOs, host government and other partners working in the RBC region.
- Support RBC participation in meetings and events with the UN and other multilateral bodies, NGOs, member states, preparing background information, taking notes, sharing outcomes, and supporting joint information programmes to increase WFP’s profile, and protect its interests.
- Support the coordination of WFP’s Cairo Regional Bureau’s participation in regional inter-agency processes, including CFS-RBAs, Agenda 2030, Arab and ECA R-UNDG, UNDAF, including collation of inputs to inter-agency documents and preparation of briefs and correspondence for RBC participation.
- Contribute ideas for opportunities to develop new and existing synergies with other UN agencies to senior external partnership officers in order to support more effective and efficient approach to food assistance.
- Track programming priorities, current activities, political and social events of UN and other multilateral bodies/governments, conduct analysis to understand how they may impact WFP activities and programmes and provide timely information to WFP staff for decision-making.
- Follow corporate partnership policies and guidelines and provide documentation, advice and contacts for RBC and country office colleagues in support of the conclusion of agreements with UN and NGO partners.
- Any other duties as required.
DELIVERABLES:
- Timely responses to queries from RBC and country office colleagues for partnership guidance, particularly in support of Country Strategic Plans and country-level Partnership Action Plans.
- Up-to-date partnership knowledge management tools, including calendar of events, contact lists and archive of events.
- Knowledge bank of latest developments on global humanitarian and development agendas, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals and outcomes from the World Humanitarian Summit, alongside an archive of WFP partnership policies, guidance and corporate positioning.
- Ongoing partnership mapping to track progress on the implementation of the regional strategic action plan on partnerships.
- Support to RBC’s participation in upcoming events, particularly the Committee on Food Security, World Food Day and regional nutrition symposia.
- Working with RBC Programme colleagues, support the conclusion of regional partnership agreements with priority UN partners including FAO, UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Women.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: Education: Advanced university degree in Political Science, International Development, Development Economics, Journalism, International Relations, Communications or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.
Experience: At least two years of work experience in a programme, fund or agency of the United Nations in the areas of external relations, partnerships, resource mobilization, communications, public information or programme support.
Knowledge & Skills: Knowledge of the United Nations system, its key actors and coordination mechanisms at the regional level is desirable. Understanding of the current challenges and trends in humanitarian and development assistance in the RBC region would be an advantage.
Languages: Fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English.
More Information
- Job City Cairo
