Partnerships Officer P3

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is a new initiative under the School Meals Coalition, launching in 2026 to support low- and lower-middle-income countries in scaling up and strengthening their national school meal programs. It responds directly to growing government demand for strategic, high-quality technical assistance that ensures long-term sustainability. The Accelerator builds on the momentum of the Coalition, which has mobilized over 110 countries and 140 partners around the school meals agenda, with more than 60 countries making formal national commitments.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL MEALS ACCELERATOR

Hosted by WFP and supported by a diverse network of partners, the Accelerator will provide demand-led, country-driven support across three core pillars: national program design, partnership alignment, and learning and knowledge. Its goal is to unlock the full potential of school meal programs by enhancing design, scaling investment, and fostering cross-sector collaboration across education, health, agriculture, and food systems. The Accelerator aims to help countries reach an additional 100 million children by 2030 with healthy and nutritious meals in school.

Joining the Accelerator team means being part of a bold, systems-focused effort to drive lasting change. It's an opportunity to work alongside governments and partners to co-create solutions, strengthen national capacity, and help shape the future of school meals as a strategic investment in children, communities, and inclusive development.

JOB TITLE: Partnership Officer
TYPE OF CONTRACT: TDY - P3
UNIT/DIVISION: School Meals Accelerator
DUTY STATION: Rome, Italy
DURATION: 2 January - 31 March 2026

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:

The School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is a new initiative under the School Meals Coalition, launching in 2026 to support low- and lower-middle-income countries in scaling up and strengthening their national school meal programs. It responds directly to growing government demand for strategic, high-quality technical assistance that ensures long-term sustainability. SMA builds on the momentum of the Coalition, which has mobilized over 110 countries and 140 partners around the school meals agenda, with more than 60 countries making formal national commitments.

Hosted by WFP and supported by a diverse network of partners, the Accelerator will provide demand-led, country-driven support across three core pillars: national program design, partnership alignment, and learning and knowledge. Its goal is to unlock the full potential of school meal programs by enhancing design, scaling investment, and fostering cross-sector collaboration across education, health, agriculture, and food systems. The Accelerator aims to help countries reach an additional 100 million children by 2030 with healthy and nutritious meals in school.
Joining the Accelerator team means being part of a bold, systems-focused effort to drive lasting change. It's an opportunity to work alongside governments and partners to co-create solutions, strengthen national capacity, and help shape the future of school meals as a strategic investment in children, communities, and inclusive development.

JOB PURPOSE:
The School Meals Partnership Officer will be based in the central structure of the Accelerator as part of one of the Rome-based Technical Assistance Cells, acting as a key liaison to country teams. The Officer will play a central role in operationalizing the Accelerator's country support model by enabling country teams to help governments design, implement, and sustain national school meals programmes through tailored technical assistance and strategic partnerships. By aligning global networks, tools, and expertise with national priorities, the Officer will strengthen collaboration, contribute to strengthening partner ecosystems, and expand the reach of government-led school meals systems. The ultimate goal is to build resilient, locally owned ecosystems that thrive beyond external support.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:
1. Lead the design and execution of advocacy and partnership strategies to help the Accelerator identify, cultivate, and strengthen strategic partnerships that enhance the technical and policy support ecosystem for government-led school meal initiatives.
2. Guide and support the Accelerator Technical Assistance Cells and governments in managing complex partnership ecosystems. Facilitating dialogue to ensure that partner support and operations align with government policies and priorities for achieving national school meal commitments. Translate global insights into actionable, country-specific partnership strategies.
3. Generate strategic insights and diagnostics to adapt strategies for strengthening national school meals ecosystems to evolving country contexts and priorities. Surface country-level insights to inform global learning and collaboration within the Stakeholder Assembly and broader ecosystem.
4. Co-develop and refine tools, templates, and standards for the Accelerator's prototypes and processes from partnerships and advocacy perspective. Ensure tools and methodologies are context-sensitive and continuously improved based on country-level feedback. Support the design and execution of partnership models and action plans, including mapping partner capacities, identifying synergies, and fostering collaboration across sectors (education, health, food systems).
5. Assist Accelerator's country teams in matchmaking government priority needs with partner expertise to support to national school meals programme design and development, partnership building and alignment, learning and knowledge creation. Promote adaptive implementation by encouraging experimentation, learning, and iteration with country teams and stakeholders.
6. Guide and support the Accelerator Technical Assistance Cells and country teams on global and country level advocacy efforts to position school health, nutrition, and feeding in key policy discussions by identifying strategic entry points, mapping stakeholders, and developing compelling narratives.
7. Prepare high-quality briefing materials, proposals, and strategic agreements to position the Accelerator effectively with partners and stakeholders, ensuring clarity of roles, commitments, and mutual benefits.
8. Monitor and analyse partnership performance and trends, leveraging data and insights to inform adaptive strategies and strengthen the Accelerator's value proposition.
9. Promote knowledge exchange and joint learning, connecting partners with country-level initiatives and facilitating peer-to-peer engagement to scale best practices.
10. Contribute to resource mobilization efforts, supporting negotiations and alignment of partner contributions to advance School Meals Coalition and the Accelerator objectives.
11. Advice and support the development of functional training in areas of expertise to enhance the capacity of the Accelerator, national stakeholders and partners to develop and nurture strong partner ecosystems in targeted countries. Apply systems thinking in daily work and support country teams in adopting systems approaches and mindsets.
12. Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in both partnership engagement and workplace culture by promoting equitable participation, representation, and opportunities across all stakeholder groups. Foster an environment that values diverse perspectives and supports mutual respect and belonging.
13. Other as required.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:

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Minimum 5 years of relevant professional work experience in advocacy, fundraising, marketing, strategy development and/or other partnership roles.

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Experience in international organizations/companies and /or outside of home country.

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Has extensive experience developing and managing multi-stakeholder partnerships aligned with government priorities, with exceptional skills in building strategic alliances, navigating complex power dynamics, and securing high-level political buy-in.

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Ability to integrate multiple agendas into actionable plans and address challenges using strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

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Has led or coordinated advocacy and partnership strategies and technical assistance initiatives at global, regional, or country level.

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Experience in establishing multisectoral and multistakeholder coalitions to accelerate progress on development priorities.

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Has experience in resource mobilization and negotiating strategic agreements.

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Has demonstrated experience in managing/working in complex teams and coordinating across diverse and dispersed networks or ecosystems.

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Has solid grasp of key concepts in systems thinking and adaptive leadership, with the ability to explain and apply them independently in most scenarios.

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Openness to testing ideas in uncertain environments.

STANDARD MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
Education:
Advanced University degree in Political Science, International Development, Development Economics, International Relations, Law, Marketing, Communications or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.
Language:
Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or
Portuguese (a WFP working language).

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

The School Meals Accelerator is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: 

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The School Meals Accelerator does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Please contact us at  in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.