Ecosystem Consultant

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

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. We are currently seeking to fill an Ecosystem Consultant position in the Innovation Division, based in Munich, Germany.

Brief description of WFP Innovation Accelerator, INNA:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency fighting hunger. WFP reaches more than 100 million people every day – delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with smallholder farmers, communities, and governments to improve nutrition and build resilience.

The WFP Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as Most Innovative Non-Profit Organization 2021 for its work in identifying, nurturing, and scaling disruptive start-ups and innovations to end global hunger. Based in Munich, Germany, the Innovation Accelerator provides WFP employees and start-ups with funding, hands-on support, and access to WFP’s global operations. Through the Accelerator, WFP is leveraging unprecedented advances in digital innovation – such as mobile technology, artificial intelligence, and blockchain – and new business models to transform the way it serves vulnerable communities across the world. In 2023, Accelerator supported innovations that positively impacted the lives of more than 60.7 million people globally. The Accelerator runs programmes with external partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Austrian Development Agency, and others.

More information here: http://innovation.wfp.org and https://youtu.be/OnKkQlRdh2c

General Information: 

Job title: Ecosystem Consultant

Unit: WFP Innovation Accelerator (INNA) 

Country: Germany 

Duty Station: Munich 

Initial contract duration: 5 months (extendable)

Expected Start Date: 01.09.2024 (estimated)

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The incumbent, reporting to the Head of Unit, is expected to: 

1. Deliver innovation events and spaces to enhance the value of our acceleration programmes.

• Drive the end-to-end planning and implementation of a broad variety of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. From virtual innovation bootcamps, to multi-stakeholder workshops or high-level pitch events, most of our events are in international locations.
• Handle the operational, administrative and procurement aspects of preparing for the events, orchestrating the work of external vendors, and collaborating with other units such as Business Operations, Partnerships, Communications and other relevant teams at the Innovation Accelerator.
• Track the project master plan and ensure that events are delivered smoothly and to the highest standards, within established timelines and budgets.
• Manage and deliver outstanding participants and guests experience, from pre-event communication, to invitation, onboarding and onsite event management.
• Develop and execute effective outreach and communication strategies in coordination with the Communication Team to ensure high-attendance to the events.

2. Coordinate community building and ecosystem activation strategies to nurture a thriving innovation environment.

• Contribute to the design and implementation of strategies to engage and grow the WFP Accelerator ecosystem, which includes innovators, alumni, mentors & support partner network, at global, regional and local levels.
• Act as community manager to plan and deliver an engaging calendar of online and in-person activities for active innovators and alumni, ensuring a seamless integration with our programmatic activities and high level events.
• Design and curate mentoring and partner engagement models in coordination with programme leads and accelerator units.
• Participate in the identification and definition of strategies to grow our support partner network and engage with relevant local actors in the regions where we are active.
• Ensure alignment with other relevant communities of practice at the accelerator, WFP, the UN, and other external organizations in order to maximize impact.

3. Implement effective communication plans and outreach campaigns to amplify our impact in coordination with our communications department.

• Ensure a cohesive visual identity and communication strategy across our portfolio and acceleration programmes, including our newsletter and social media.
• Create high visibility communications to highlight milestones and achievements from across our portfolio.
• Drive alignment between communications and knowledge management to strategically nurture our thought leadership in humanitarian innovation.
• Prepare input, talking points, briefings, presentations and reports for management, inter-agency opportunities and donor activities.

4. Support the overall Innovation Accelerator operations.

• Provide analysis & content preparation (data on projects, PowerPoint presentations, briefs, etc.) for corporate priority topics and management meetings.
• Participate and carry out discussions with colleagues in other divisions or external stakeholders on topics related to innovation.
• Support other core processes of the Innovation Accelerator (e.g. innovation sourcing; innovation bootcamps; sprint programme; thought leadership; scale-up enablement; innovation services; knowledge management) as required.
• Support the Head of the Innovation Accelerator and the Director of Innovation and Knowledge Management with any other activities as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: The candidate must have a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree a plus.

Experience: At least 3 years of progressively responsible national or international experience in innovation in-person, virtual, and/or hybrid events planning and implementation. Prior experience of working in an innovation structure such as an incubator or an accelerator is a plus.

Languages: Fluency in oral and written English is mandatory. Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is considered advantageous.

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Experience in coordinating all aspects of in-person, virtual and/or hybrid events management.
• Worked cross-functionally and able to get things done in a hands-on way.
• Experience working in a large scale-organization, including in complex international environments.
• Proven track record in driving projects – effectively delivering impactful elements of projects in a fast-moving environment.
• Able to generate new and original solutions to complex problems and to design new product ideas.

REQUIRED SKILLS tendersglobal.net WFP COMPETENCIES

• Able to interact with a broad range of stakeholders and external audience with maturity and tact.
• Excellent oral and written communication/presentation skills, 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.
• Sets a high-level of ambition for the project and own work to achieve impact for the hungry people we serve.
• Fully committed and motivated to achieve the mandate of the UN World Food Programme

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 website for detailed information on working with WFP: http://www.wfp.org 

Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified. 

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Closing Date: 01 July 2024

VA Reference number: 833391

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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.

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.

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.