Partnerships Officer (Agri-food Value Chains Development)

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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 climate change.

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).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

Afghanistan today faces mounting challenges against the background of widespread poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition, recurrent waves of displacement, deepening impact of climate change and natural disasters, and long-standing structural economic instability. This complex context requires a dual approach to meet immediate humanitarian needs while stabilizing people’s livelihoods, supporting the local economy, and protecting development gains. The traditional approach to social protection – with WFP partnering with governments to support national social protection systems and national school feeding programmes – is not currently feasible given the operational context and challenges in Afghanistan. Instead, WFP is partnering with other development and social protection actors, including IFIs, to ensure coherence and as much coverage and quality as possible for current and future social protection interventions with two objectives: support vulnerable peoples to meet their food, nutrition, and other essential needs and lay the foundation for sustainable human development. 

While humanitarian assistance continues to provide a critical lifeline, there is growing recognition of the need to strengthen agriculture value chains as a pathway to resilience, livelihoods, and sustainable food systems. In 2025, WFP expanded its collaborations with international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, tapping into both resilience and emergency response funding to support communities. Alongside these partnerships, WFP has piloted initiatives with private sector actors, including dairy processors and small-scale value chain models, to create stronger market linkages for farmers and producers. These efforts highlight the importance of coordinated engagement strategies that connect humanitarian interventions with longer term development objectives.

The role will focus on developing and implementing an engagement strategy that positions WFP as a convenor and partner in strengthening Afghanistan’s agriculture value chains. This includes identifying opportunities to leverage IFI financing, expanding partnerships with private sector actors, and aligning programming with broader social protection and livelihood frameworks. By fostering inclusive, nutrition-sensitive value chains, WFP is well positioned to help smallholder farmers access markets, improve productivity, and diversify income sources, while promoting women’s economic empowerment and youth participation. Ultimately, the engagement strategy will support the enhancement and expansion of WFP’s resilience work, ensuring that agriculture value chains contribute to food security, stability, and sustainable development in Afghanistan.

To lead on the overall engagement strategy, the role-holder is expected to have a strong background in development and agricultural finance, as well as significant experience with development strategies, policy dialogue and strategic engagement to support advocacy and partnerships around agriculture value chains. The position will require strong operational and technical background, extensive experience in cultivating multi-stakeholder relationships across international financial institutions and multilateral actors. Skilled in identifying opportunities, shaping strong funding narratives, and mobilizing resources, the role-holder will have successfully designed resourcing strategies, negotiated agreements, advised senior leadership and expanded partnerships across sectors. By leveraging partner priorities and institutional strengths, the role-holder specializes in developing and delivering a clear value proposition that strengthens trust and drives sustainable collaboration.  

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive):

The Partnerships Officer – Agri-food Value Chains Development will, under the management of the Head of Partnerships, Communications and Reporting and in close coordination with senior management, ensure the effective design, operationalization and management of the IFI engagement strategy for agriculture value chains for WFP Afghanistan.   Key responsibilities will include:

• Produce a concept note outlining how WFP, together with other critical actors such as FAO, can partner with IFIs in Afghanistan to develop agri-food value chains, aligning objectives and planned outcomes with those enshrined in the new World Bank Group’s Afghanistan ‘pivot’.

• Facilitate dialogue with the IFIs on agri-food value chains, advocating for a central WFP role and helping position WFP as a preferred strategic partner of the IFIs in this area.

• Oversee the development of a road map for WFP engagement with IFIs on agri-food value chains, outlining proposals for joint research and other building blocks which can underpin a closer partnership. This should build on, but not be limited to, existing WFP-WB discussions on possible collaboration around economic analysis and engagement with private sector entities along agri-food value chains; food standards and food safety; solar cold storage; and harnessing private sector investments to bring more value to poor producers.

• Assess constraints and opportunities for investments along selected value chains, in relation to private sector engagement, markets and market institutions, existence and performance of support services, trade policies, risk management systems, agrifood logistics, food safety standards adoption and control systems, among others.

• Lead the development of knowledge products, including analytical work and practical tools, related to agribusiness, marketing and value chain development for advocacy purposes.

• Provide strategic advice on changes needed to WFP’s current approach and positioning, as we move towards closer partnership with the IFIs around agri-food value chains.

• Enhance WFP’s leadership status and drive positioning with partners on WFP’s corporate value proposition around social protection in forums relating to area of specialism through direct participation, briefings, information products and other materials.

• Other duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE & SKILLS REQUIRED:

Education:

• Postgraduate University degree in International Affairs, Law, Economics, Nutrition/Health, Agriculture, Social Sciences, Business Administration, Public Policy and/or Management or another discipline relevant to international development/humanitarian assistance.

Experience:

• Has at least twelve (12) years’ experience in advocacy development in humanitarian, development and/or transitional operations, especially related to design and implementation of access to finance and financial inclusion strategies, strategic support to agriculture and rural development projects, and a strong background in policy development.

• Has gained significant experience with international financial institutions in exploring new opportunities and providing inputs to design and develop solutions with prospective partners.

• Significant experience engaging in and providing input to policy discussions and decisions.

• Extensive experience and/or technical knowledge in relevant areas of rural finance and financial inclusion, Social Protection, capacity building, and/or complementary interventions through exposure to technical teams or demonstrated cross-functional coordination experience an asset.

• Proven track record of developing and strengthening strategic partnerships, advocacy and resource mobilization to expand engagements across thematic areas and partners.

Technical Skills and Knowledge:

• Strong knowledge of current thinking and developments in the field of agriculture value chains, social protection and public policy.

• Familiarity and comfort working with qualitative and quantitative data to produce operational and/or programmatic analysis and evidence to inform decision making.

• Learning agility, and appetite for exploring and experimenting with new ideas and approaches.

• Problem solving and decision-making skills.

• Ability to work independently and under pressure to tight deadlines in a fast-paced operational environment.

• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with a variety of stakeholders, coordinate across multiple stakeholders and communicate effectively at all levels. 

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations 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

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.

• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.

• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

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.