Innovations Associate at World Food Programme (WFP)

Career Opportunities: Innovations Associate, SC6 (832124)

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 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.

POSITION DETAILS

Job Title:Innovation Associate

Type of Contract: Service Contract, level 6

Unit/ Division: Programme Unit 

Duty Station: Kigali, Rwanda

Duration: Initially 12 months with potential subsequent contract renewals upon satisfactory performance and availability of funding.

Application Deadline: 9th April 2024

BACKGROUND

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency fighting hunger. WFP reaches more than 80 million people every day - delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with smallholder farmers, communities and governments to improve nutrition and build resilience. As conflict, climate change and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on global supply chains and food prices drive up the number of hungry people in Eastern Africa, finding innovative solutions to the complex humanitarian & development challenges in the region is essential, now perhaps more than ever.  

Brief Description of WFP in Rwanda

The WFP Rwanda Country Office is currently implementing its Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2019-2024 and in the process of developing the next CSP 2025-2030.

WFP Rwanda is also supporting the Government to transform the national food system to ensure equitable access to healthy and nutritious diets for all, in line with the outlined priorities in the post-food systems dialogue National Strategic Pathways, elaborated in 2021 following the conclusion of the UN Food Systems Summit.

This position is based in the WFP Rwanda Country Office, Kigali. The incumbent will be reporting to the Country Innovation Advisor for Rwanda and will be working with across all functional units in Rwanda including Programme, Research, Assessment, and Monitoring (RAM), Partnerships, Supply Chain, TEC, Management Services and Field Offices, as well as stakeholders within the external innovation ecosystem. The incumbent will also be expected to liaise frequently with the WFP Innovation Hub for Eastern Africa as well as WFP’s Innovation Accelerator in Munich, Germany, for technical support.

The Government of Rwanda made the deliberate choice to prioritize innovation as a crucial component of the nation’s development agenda and WFP is supporting to maintain and improve this enabling environment through projects and initiatives. The WFP Rwanda Country Office, already in close collaboration with the Government and other key stakeholders to drive this agenda forward. 

WFP Rwanda is tapping into the support of the WFP Innovation Hub for Eastern Africa which identifies, supports, and scales high potential solutions to end hunger – based in Nairobi. The key objective is to facilitate and foster innovation in the context of WFP Rwanda activities, help innovation projects to scale, develop local innovation ecosystems, without compromising country- and department-specific initiatives while ensuring an orchestration of efforts, and the creation of synergies between projects. Ultimately, the goal is to bring to scale innovative solutions that can help us get closer to a world without hunger.

PURPOSE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ASSIGNEMENT

We are seeking a qualified individual for the position of Innovation associate (SC6) to be based in Kigali, Rwanda, for a period of 12 months, with the possibility for extension. 

The qualified individual will be responsible for the development and growth of impactful and sustainable innovations by leveraging WFP’s brand, public and private partners, deep field access, and expertise to develop, nurture, and scale sustainable innovations to increase food and nutrition security in Rwanda. 

The incumbent will work along with the innovation officer across all units to scale up the innovation process in the Country Office, identify problem statements or opportunities, source innovations, manage innovation programme implementation and events with the support of the WFP Innovation Hub for Eastern Africa, and support the scale-up of innovations through the various divisions and in close coordination with relevant WFP and external stakeholders. 

Under the direct supervision of the Country Innovation Officer, the innovation associate will be responsible for the following:

1)     Support to the coordination of program delivery and spearhead creation of new concepts

• Support in coordinating and working closely with all functional units in implementing innovation initiatives.
• Support in managing existing innovation projects in coordination with existing WFP’s implementing partners.
• Provide support for innovation needs assessment in coordination with internal units and external stakeholders.
• Support in Identifying, designing, and developing new concepts by conducting background research, designing concepts, and collecting feedback from all relevant stakeholders.

2)    Event management and ecosystem management: 

• Assist in planning, coordinating, and executing WFP innovation-related events and workshops.
• Support in conducting an ecosystem mapping to identify key innovation events, workshops, and engagement for WFP’s participation.
• Support in engaging with key internal support units for innovation programs delivery.

3)    WFP Innovation Capacity Building

• With support from your supervisor and the regional innovation hub, coordinate internal innovation learning workshops and training to equip WFP staff with innovation tools such as human-centered design methodologies, etc.
• Facilitate the internal innovation challenge to support capturing of WFP most innovative ideas.
• Support ideation and implementation of low-cost, rapid testing and visualization of ideas by supporting teams to design prototypes. 

4)    Support measurement and learning activities:

• Document and compile best practices from WFP Accelerator, WFP Regional Innovation Hub, and other WFP country offices and regularly share insights with the country office.
• Contribute to the preparation of monthly reports, and quarterly updates to country office and regional bureau.
• Support in coordination and compilation of key donor reporting inputs.

5)    Support other innovation and organizational activities:

• Support other innovation and organizational activities as instructed by your supervisor.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, finance, entrepreneurship, international development, environmental science, development economics, or any other relevant field.

Experience: 

• A minimum of 3 years of post-graduate professional, progressively responsible national or international experience in an innovation function in a private business or start-up and/or in innovations in the humanitarian or international development sector.
• Experience working in the start-up or innovation world with a focus on humanitarian or development context.
• Experience in organizing events, providing inputs into reports and proposals, coordinating with external partners, developing budgets, etc.
• Experience with Human-centred design (HCD), emerging technologies, and social media management.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Curious, motivated to learn, and comfortable asking questions and proposing new ideas.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work with a high degree of autonomy and sense of ownership. Able to ask for help when needed. 
• Collaborative spirit, able to partner and empathize with colleagues across professional levels and cultures, able to act with patience, credibility, diplomacy and tact;
• Proven facilitation skills with the ability to bring stakeholders from different sectors/units together.
• Highly organized and able to effectively manage multiple projects and stakeholders, effectively leveraging tools (GANNT, excel etc);
• Able to collect, analyze and synthesize programmatic performance data;
• Strong time management skills with an ability to plan ahead, anticipate requirements, problems and obstacles, and an ability to juggle competing priorities successfully, and to work to tight deadlines;
• Excellent communication/presentation skills, with the ability to write reports, develop guidance documents, and present findings clearly and concisely to a range of different audiences;
• Committed to achieving the aims of the UN World Food Programme and the Sustainable Development Goals;
• Network of actors in African innovation ecosystems and a nuanced understanding of the sector and its development over the past decade is beneficial

Languages:

• Fluency in oral and written English is mandatory. Kinyarwanda and French is an asset. 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The position is open for Rwanda Nationals only.

APPLICATION LINKS

Click here to Apply

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

9th April 2024

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.