Partnerships Officer (Policy, Government and Partners) NOC

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

28 March 2026-23:59-GMT+06:00 Kyrgyzstan Time (Bishkek)

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

WFP’s vision is that the Kyrgyz Republic has resilient, inclusive, and shock‑responsive food and social protection systems that enable all people, especially the most vulnerable, to access healthy diets, sustain livelihoods, withstand climate and crisis shocks, and realize their full human potential, leaving no one behind. Derived from the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework , WFP Country Strategic Plan (2023-27 EN|RU) focuses its human capital development, capacity building and productive asset creation activities to enhance the resilience and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, with a focus on food systems strengthening across three core pillars: (i) Social Protection and Human Capital; (ii) Climate Change Adaption, Disaster Risk Management and Emergency Preparedness; and (iii) Schools as platforms for healthy diets. In addition, a contingent emergency response outcome can be activated in case of need.

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT:

WFP has been supporting the Kyrgyz Republic’s National Development Programme (NDP) 2030 by leveraging its strengths in food security, nutrition, resilience, and logistics through scaling up nutrition‑sensitive school meals linked to local food procurement, and supporting adaptive, shock‑responsive social protection systems. WFP has been contributing to food security and rural development by building climate‑resilient food systems, supporting smallholder farmers and cooperatives, reducing post‑harvest losses, and integrating anticipatory action and disaster risk reduction in climate‑affected regions. In addition, WFP has been adding values by enhancing emergency preparedness and logistics capacity, improving food security data and early warning systems to support evidence‑based policymaking, and helping reduce regional inequalities through targeted interventions — all closely aligned with the NDP priorities on human capital, resilience, digitalization, and inclusive growth.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The Partnerships Officer will effectively position WFP with the Government and development partners to attract policy support, resources, technical assistance and innovative solutions to advance the joint works among the Government, partners and WFP. The Partnership Officer will also support the Government to achieve the SDGs and Zero Hunger, ensuring WFP’s contributions in this regard.

Supervision: The Partnerships Officer will be directly supervised by the Head of External Relations and under the overall supervision of the Country Director.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:
1. Position WFP as a partner of choice of the Kyrgyz Government and establish strategic partnerships through supporting their policy development, necessary legislative changes, policy implementation and evidence-generation in view of WFP strategic objectives.
2. Establish good rapport with government counterparts, UN agencies and development partners to identify partnership opportunities for the CSP implementation, including regional and international institutions. Share partner strategies and intelligence to influence the policy agenda and provide briefing materials to senior management.
3. Advocate WFP missions and roles through policy dialogues and facilitate integration of WFP programmes into the national policies and systems in the long-term. Support partnerships management in line with corporate norms, processes and legal agreements.
4. Actively coordinate among WFP, UN agencies and development partners on UNSDCF, CSP and other strategic issues, highlight strategic opportunities and issues to senior management, and propose the best course of actions to nurture trust and interest in the work of WFP. Prepare joint events with partners that can advance WFP interests and objectives.
5. Contribute to the preparation of partnership proposals, strategic and technical agreements, joint strategies and/or MOU, taking into account corporate norms, processes and external regulations, including the Basic Agreement with the host government.
6. Lead cooperating partner management process, including due diligence, UNPP, field-level agreements review and coordination with Operational Partnerships in Global HQ.
7. In the context of the UN system and multilateral fora, support the development of partnerships with the Kyrgyz Government, development partners and civil society to advocate for the SDGs and Zero Hunger and advance WFP priorities and policies.
8. Manage staff, providing coaching, training and guidance to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance.
9. Take responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives in all areas of work to ensure equal participation of women and men.
10. Contribute to preparedness actions, providing technical recommendations and guidance; Monitor defined risks and make recommendations how to manage these effectively.
11. Contribute to the overall office work, including respective focal points and tasks beyond the above-mentioned, to jointly deliver the CSP results as one WFP team.
12. Perform any other tasks as required.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:

• List specific capabilities and concrete experience required for the role

• Has a good understanding of government and corporate strategies and priorities and gained experience in developing multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Has gained significant experience in exploring new opportunities and providing inputs to design and develop solutions with prospective partners.
• Has developed long-term partner relationships and expanded engagements across geographies and sector.
• Has designed and managed all resource mobilization processes and resource strategies, negotiated contract terms and provided resourcing advice to seniors.
• Has used understanding of partner’s focus areas and knowledge of internal capabilities to create a Unique Value Proposition for the partners.
• Has gained experience in using technology and digital tools for data collection, analysis and shared data-based insights to add value to all partnerships.
• Has provided input into training and support strategy for technical systems users and provided advanced technical support.
• Has experience in managing a team.
• Has motivated team spirit and contributed to a gender-balanced, inclusive and sound working environment.
• Minimum five or more years of relevant professional work experience in partnership roles.

Experience: At least five (5) years of postgraduate professional experience in the area of partnerships, donor relations, development, humanitarian assistance or related fields.

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 both oral and written communication in English and proficiency in the duty station’s language(s) (Russian or Kyrgyz, both considered an advantage).

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.