Delegation of Authority and Governance Consultant

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

7 November 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

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 is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of extreme weather shocks.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP’s values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Delegation of authority and governance consultant

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Regular Consultant

UNIT/DIVISION: Internal Governance Unit / Risk Management Division

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Rome, Italy

DURATION: EOD: as soon as possible (3 November 2026); NTE: 31 December 2026

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. It is one of the largest programmes in the United Nations common system, both by number of employees and by revenue. WFP is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

The Risk Management Division (RMD) aims to strengthen, embed and achieve continuous improvements in risk management, internal control and compliance, oversight reporting, anti-fraud & anti-corruption measures and donor review management throughout WFP, and organizational learning in these areas.In 2026, RMD established a new unit titled Internal Governance Unit (RMG), which focuses on issues related to internal governance in WFP such as delegation of authority, committee governance and advisory services on normative instruments, amongst others.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The incumbent will join the RMG team to provide support on two key ongoing projects:

Delegation of authority workstream

The 2024 report from the External Auditor identified weaknesses in WFP’s delegation of authority (DoAs) structures including the lack of a system for maintaining them.

• Refreshing the Excel based inventory of DoAs
• Mapping out workflow
• Research on other UN agencies’ approach to a DoA system

Governance structures for small country offices

Recent internal audit reports, e.g. Namibia and Republic of the Congo, have identified weaknesses related to governance of committees in small country offices, including not a clear division of work, inappropriate chairpersons, etc. Rather than addressing this on a case-by-case basis, the objective is to develop corporate guidance that will assist smaller country offices to ensure adequate governance.

• Review existing definitions of small country offices within WFP, obtain consensus on the most suitable one also taking into account the new country office structures that are being implemented.
• Liaise with global headquarters functions to determine minimum requirements for committees at the country office level, regardless of size of country office.
• In coordination with the functions, develop the ideal structure for small cou