BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

The World Food Programme (WFP) in Uganda is a vital force in addressing food insecurity and malnutrition across the country. Their work encompasses various initiatives aimed at providing food assistance, promoting sustainable livelihoods, and supporting communities affected by conflict, displacement, and natural disasters.

One of their primary focuses is on providing emergency food assistance to refugees fleeing conflicts in neighboring countries like South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi. Through food and cash distributions in refugee settlements, WFP ensures that vulnerable populations have access to nutritious meals, helping to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Furthermore, WFP is increasing the use of cash-based transfers and food vouchers to empower beneficiaries and stimulate local economies.

WFP implement programs that support smallholder farmers, improve agricultural productivity, enhance food security in rural communities and promoting climate-smart agriculture practices to build resilience against climate change impacts. WFP also supports school feeding programs, which not only address hunger among schoolchildren but also incentivize attendance and improve educational outcomes. By providing meals to students, WFP helps ensure that children have the nutrition they need to concentrate in class and learn effectively.

In all WFP programme, Cooperating partners play a crucial role by providing essential support and expertise to ensure the effective implementation of numerous humanitarian and development activities. These partners include governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donors, local communities, and other stakeholders who collaborate closely with WFP to deliver assistance to those in need. Through partnerships, WFP can leverage resources, share knowledge, and coordinate efforts to reach the most vulnerable populations efficiently. Additionally, cooperating partners often bring specialized skills and local insights that enrich WFP's programs, leading to more tailored and impactful interventions. By working together, WFP and its cooperating partners can amplify their collective impact, ultimately helping to build stronger and more resilient communities in Uganda.

KEY ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• In liaison with other UN agencies, and through the UN NGO portal, manage the cooperating partner selection process to develop more collaborative and strategic relationships that deliver the maximum collective value proposition across portfolio thematic areas;
• Coordinate and effectively work with all the programme sub-units including Field/Area Offices on all activities/plans related to downstream partnerships such as partners selection, review of proposals/budgets, drafting of field level agreements from time to time and ensure that all documents used are as per the corporate requirement;
• In collaboration with the Programme sub-units, ensure regular working sessions with cooperating partners are held at Kampala and Area Office levels to review performance, collectively identify challenges and agree on ways forward;
• Lead the capacity assessment process of new and prospective cooperating partners in accordance with the corporate guidelines and country specific requirements before the signing of the field level agreements;
• In collaboration with the Field/Area Office, lead the performance review and management process of cooperating partners, ensuring adherence to the commitments made in field level agreements and to WFP’s overall corporate requirements;
• Organize and coordinate partners joint quarterly/bi-annually review meetings at national level as a means of sharing good practices and innovations as well as designing corrective measures on the challenges identified;
• Through capacity assessments and performance evaluations, contribute to capacity strengthening of the cooperating partners, providing technical guidance and recommendations whilst monitoring the progress on the identified areas of improvement;
• Organise and support the Cooperating Partner Committee (CPC) meetings at the Country Office level in all aspects of review and endorsement of project proposals/budgets submitted by cooperating partners to WFP;
• Enhance Partner engagement to strengthen partnerships building, and brokering relationships both at the field and head office levels ensure effective and strategic partnerships;
• Develop, review and update any necessary partnership documents, guides, tools, SOPs, manuals etc. to ensure partners are properly guided during the course of their FLAs.
• Review and update where necessary the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the field level agreement and other necessary manuals e.g. invoice processing guide and others where necessary;
• Carry out WINGS related activities on the signed field level agreements (FLAs) e.g. creation of Service Outline Agreements (SOAs), budget amendment and addendums as per the signed documents;
• Maintain accurate records (FLAs and other documents) and regularly update partnerships information including contact information (physical, emails, telephones) and be able to produce reports, statistical information and tables including contract values from time to time;
• Coordinate with RBN to ensure the unit is properly supported and to seek guidance when necessary.
• Work alongside the field/area office to provide trainings to staff on the contents of the FLAs and budgets to ensure they are well equipped to monitor the implementation of the programmes in their jurisdictions.
• Perform any other duties from time to time as required.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: