Head of the School Meals Coalition Secretariat (P5)

Position description

Reporting to the Director of School Meals and Social Protection the Head of the School Meals Coalition Secretariat leads a team of about 20 staff members which support s all the countries and partners of the Coalition, including academia, NGOs, civil society organizations think tanks, UN agencies and others.

The Head of the Secretariat oversees the complex work of managing the Coalition and its different components. This includes ensuring that governments are participating and connecting in different ways engaging them in discussions, motivating them to issue domestic commitments to the Coalition and connecting them with partners that can help to implement those commitments. It also means supporting and empowering countries or regional entities such as the African Union in taking leadership on the topic of school meals, helping them organize and lead local, regional or global events and create local networks.

The Secretariat oversees all the global and local events organized using the Coalition’s brand while ensuring communication is flowing through the Coalition and its members at all times. The position requires high level political skills and judgement to negotiate the complexities of governments, civil society, partners, initiatives, and UN system collaboration. The role also requires deep experience in advocacy and communications that leverages global platforms and processes. Finally, demonstrated experience conceiving and organizing high level events to support broad mobilization around an issue while driving policy change and action at regional and national levels is required. The role requires experience and preferably training in public speaking, including with media.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority)

• Oversee the strategic and operational coordination of the Secretariat, ensuring the Coalition’s membership and initiatives are effectively positioned to advance the global school meals agenda;
• Lead high level political negotiations with governments and partners to secure political support, engagement, and investments for school meal programs and the Coalition’s sustainability;
• Drive resource mobilization efforts to sustain the Secretariat’s operations and promote global investment in school meal programs;
• Align the Coalition’s objectives with WFP’s priorities, ensuring complementarity, and provide guidance to WFP staff on distinguishing between the Coalition’s mandate and WFP’s organizational goals;
• Support the Coalition’s co chairs (Finland, and France) by ensuring their Ministries of Foreign Affairs are well prepared and equipped to represent the Coalition at the highest levels;
• Facilitate connections across the Coalition’s ecosystem, identifying opportunities at global, regional, and national levels to advance its objectives and foster partnerships with governments and key stakeholders;
• Maintain and strengthen relationships with Coalition leaders, including the Task Force countries and champions, to leverage their influence in advancing the Coalition’s agenda;
• Oversee the organization and execution of high level events annually, ensuring impactful engagement with presidential or ministerial level attendees;
• Develop and execute advocacy and communication strategies to raise awareness and support for school meals and build a conducive environment for the Coalition’s success.

Qualifications

Education:

• Advanced university degree in Public Policy, International Development, Political Science, Social Sciences, Business Administration, or other relevant field, or first university degree with two additional years of related work experience.

Desired experiences for entry into the role:

• Minimum 11 years or progressively responsible experience in leading large-scale, high profile, international partnerships, coalitions, or multi-stakeholder initiatives;
• Proven experience in high-level political negotiations and stakeholder engagement, particularly with governments, international organizations, and non-governmental actors;
• Strong track record in resource mobilization, including securing multi-year investments from diverse funding sources;
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex teams and coordinating across diverse and dispersed networks or ecosystems;
• Experience in advocacy and communication strategy development, including organizing large, high-profile events;
• Solid grasp of key concepts in systems thinking and adaptive leadership, with the ability to explain and apply them independently in most scenarios;
• Strong leadership and management skills to inspire diverse stakeholders and align them toward shared goals;
• Exceptional skills in building partnerships, navigating complex power dynamics, and securing political buy-in;
• Ability to integrate multiple agendas into actionable plans and address challenges using strong analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Outstanding written and verbal communication, including public speaking, media experience, and high-level representation;
• Openness to testing ideas in uncertain environments;
• Experience working effectively in diverse, multicultural settings.

Language:

• Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language).

MORE ABOUT YOU

You have:

• Deep knowledge and expertise on the global school meals landscape, its connections to food systems and climate action, and interrelationships with the education and health sectors;
• Knowledge of global and regional platforms used to drive political and policy outcomes and/or convene diverse stakeholders around a shared agenda, such as the G7, G20, African Day of School Feeding, COP, UN General Assembly and High Level Political Forum, School Meals Coalition Ministerial Meetings;
• Knowledge of social change and sustainable development project management, high-level partnerships, stakeholder engagement, policy advocacy and communications campaigns;
• Knowledge of the UN system, its functions, and coordination mechanisms is highly desirable;
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to represent the Coalition globally.

Application instructions

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