Senior Programme Associate (Innovations) SSA-7

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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, physical or mental disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

In the Eastern African region, the Kenya Country Office and its operational context offers optimal potential for using innovative solutions to improve food assistance programmes and support capacity strengthening. Designing, piloting, implementing, and scaling new ideas lies at the heart of WFP Kenya.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Completion of secondary education, and a University degree in business administration, marketing, or communication, or tertiary level training in related field or equivalent an added advantage. Language: Fluency in both oral and written English.

Work Experience: At least five years of relevant, progressively responsible experience in partnerships, communications, fundraising role, start-up advisory or innovation services.

JOB PURPOSE

As innovations in WFP Kenya are becoming increasingly important and widely spread, there is need to strengthen the sourcing processes of high potential innovations and coordinate the increasing demand for innovation services from both internal and external stakeholders. In response to these needs and opportunities, the key objectives of Programme Associate - Innovation Community Manager position is to support the strengthening of linkages between the Kenya Country Office Innovation Unit and the Kenyan Innovation ecosystem by managing the relationship with Kenyan Innovators and other innovation actors.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Innovation, the Programme Associate -(Innovation Community Manager) will manage engagements with all players in the Kenyan innovation ecosystem and measure the success of innovation projects. The main tasks will be as follows: 1. Provide support to the Innovation Unit, by participating in strategic visioning exercises with the unit’s management team, attending all critical meetings, supporting prioritization, and tracking key action items and next steps 2. Support innovation fund mobilisation activities such as writing fund raising proposals and set funding targets with the Head of Innovation 3. Identify Kenyan innovation ecosystem actors with whom WFP can forge strategic partnerships 4. Identify events within the Kenyan Innovation ecosystem WFP can support as well as mobilise the Kenyan innovation ecosystem actors for WFP supported events. 5. Support planning and execution of online and offline innovation workshops 6. Prepare talking points and presentations for various innovation stakeholder meetings 7. Support report writing 8. Develop and execute effective communication and dissemination strategies for innovation activities run by WFP Kenya 9. Coordinate with the communication teams to create digital content including blogs, and audio-visual materials for communication, dissemination to the Kenyan innovation ecosystem and stakeholders

10. Manage the engagement with Kenyan innovators and innovation players in the Kenyan innovation ecosystem, including establishing appropriate governance forums, and sharing of high potential start-ups with other key innovation hubs in Kenya where necessary 11. Work closely with the External Relations and Communications team to: o Create and sustain media relations with the press, media partners and bloggers o Prepare and disseminate press releases and statements with media contacts and partners o Manage social media engagements between WFP, and online audiences

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Coaches team in the most effective ways to communicate WFP’s Strategic Objectives to WFP team and partners in the field.
• Be a force for positive change: Implements new methods or tools to improve team’s work processes and productivity.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Maps team’s activities and tasks to specific successes in beneficiary communities to showcase positive impact.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Explains to teammates how each unit contributes to the overall WFP mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Identifies skill development opportunities such as training modules or on-the-job experiences for self, colleagues and direct reports.
• Create an inclusive culture: Facilitates team building activities to build rapport in own unit.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Facilitates the pairing of junior colleagues with coaches within own team.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Proactively anticipates potential challenges and develops mitigation plans to ensure that team meets goals and targets.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Identifies opportunities to be creative in own work and to help team be more innovative and accurate in their respective tasks and areas of work.
• Focus on getting results: Monitors team’s deliverables and provides feedback to ensure outcomes are delivered consistently and accurately.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Provides accurate guidance to team on expected responsibilities and tasks, whilst also upholding own commitment to the team.
• Be Decisive: Sets an example and provides guidance to junior team members on when to escalate issues when faced with challenging issues in the workplace or in the field.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Facilitates partnerships with other WFP units to accomplish missions in the field.
• Build strong external partnerships: Sets an example and provides guidance to team on how to build relationships with external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Articulates to colleagues or direct reports the value of contributing to other WFP teams and agency partnerships in fulfilling WFP’s goals and objectives.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Organizes, monitors, and prioritizes own and team’s efforts to ensure that they will fulfil the needs of internal and external partners.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability Name Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level Programme Lifecycle & Food Assistance Demonstrates ability to identify key variables and contextual factors that affect food assistance problems and programmes throughout the lifecycle to inform quality programme design or re-design. Transfer Modalities (Food, Cash, Vouchers) Demonstrates ability to analyse and consolidate quantitative and qualitative information from different sources (e.g., market studies) to inform transfer modality selection and programme development. Broad Knowledge of Specialized Areas Demonstrates the ability to interpret basic data in the context of WFP specialised fields to contribute to technical programme design, implementation and monitoring. Emergency Programming Displays capacity to provide inputs into the development, implementation and realignment of high quality emergency programmes. Strategic Policy Engagement w/Government Understands and applies basic principles of engagement with government counterparts at the national or local level.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

1. A self-starter. You are full of initiative and great ideas. You need little guidance, are comfortable working independently but are also a great team player.
2. Strategic Thinkers. You demonstrate big picture thinking and thrive in conversations about setting goals and KPIs for the future.
3. Ability to multitask. You like variety in your work and are willing to tackle different challenges when the opportunity arises.
4. An organiser with great attention to detail. You are a meticulous planner but are flexible enough to change course when the situation requires you to do so.
5. Driven by impact. Achieving impact through your job is important to you, and you are passionate about working towards achieving zero hunger.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Experience with business development in emerging markets and or social impact start-ups.
• Extensive experience working in the Kenyan innovation ecosystem.
• Strong business writing and professional verbal communication skills. Experience in implementing startup-support programs within the Kenyan innovation ecosystem.
• Digital marketing and online audience engagement skills
• Experience with design tools such as illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Canva, etc
• Photography, Videography and editing skills
• Highly organized with the ability to multitask and prioritize.
• Microsoft Office Suite knowledge.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Apply by 4th February, 2022.

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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.