Senior Partnerships Consultant

The Senior Partnerships Consultant will lead the Swiss Global Innovation Scaling Partnership between FAO and the Swiss Food and Nutrition Valley (SFNV), facilitating linkages and dialogue among stakeholders, supporting partnership development, and managing project implementation. The role also supports strengthening linkages with the Swiss agrifood innovation ecosystem in line with FAO strategies.

Responsibilities

• Act as project lead of the Swiss Global Innovation Scaling Partnership (FAO-SFNV partnership) (Approximately 80%).
• Facilitate linkages and dialogue between SFNV management, SFNV corporate members and FAO (including FAO HQs technical units, FAO LOG, and FAO country and subregional offices).
• Engage with SFNV members and with the Swiss agrifood innovation ecosystem (Swiss academic institutions, research institutes, private sector), in close coordination with SFNV and FOAG, to confirm technical and/or financial support of partners and its individual projects.
• Provide technical support to the implementation of the four main areas of cooperation of the Partnership (i) actionable needs identification, (ii) matchmaking, fund raising, co-creation, and partnership development, (iii) implementing: solutions development and deployment, and (iv) Scaling-up and knowledge management.
• Undertake recurrent national travel and occasional international field missions as needed.
• Develop and apply a monitoring, learning and evaluation framework for systematic improving and scaling of the Partnership model, ensuring consistent and sustained impact and potential for replication across different LMICs settings.
• Ensure overall management of the partnership, incl. coordination and supervision of individual project activities across the portfolio, monitoring progress against timelines and budgets, and supporting timely and effective delivery of results.
• Support LOG in strengthening linkages with the Swiss agrifood innovation ecosystem - including companies, research institutions, academia, and innovation actors - in line with FAO’s Private Sector and Science & Innovation Strategies and in close coordination with FOAG (Approximately 20%).
• Promote Swiss agrifood innovation and related opportunities, raising visibility of Swiss capabilities and fostering linkages with international partners, particularly in support of initiatives in the Global South.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in Agriculture, Food Systems, Economics, Public Administration, International Relations, Political Sciences, Business Administration, Innovation Management or other field relevant to FAO's mandate.
• A bachelor's degree may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree in combination with two additional years of relevant professional experience.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in project design and management, partnership development, innovation ecosystems, private sector engagement, resource mobilization and/or international development cooperation.
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one other FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).
• Demonstrated experience in project and partnership management.
• Proven ability to engage and coordinate with governments, international organizations, research institutions, academia, funding institutions/foundations and private sector partners.
• Experience in innovation, agrifood systems and/or international development cooperation.
• Strong analytical, communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience in resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder initiatives is an asset.
• Demonstrated experience building and managing multi-stakeholder partnerships involving public, private and development actors.
• Experience in agrifood innovation, innovation scaling, public-private partnerships and/or multi-stakeholder platforms would be an asset.
• Experience working with FAO, the United Nations system or other international development organizations would be an advantage.
• Deep knowledge and network within the Swiss Agrifood ecosystem
• Working knowledge of an additional FAO official language would be an asset.

Skills

• Project Design
• Project Management
• Partnership Development
• Innovation Ecosystems
• Private Sector Engagement
• Resource Mobilization
• International Development Cooperation
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships
• Public Private Partnerships
• Agrifood Systems
• Innovation Scaling
• Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Leadership
• Government Coordination
• International Organization Coordination
• Research Institution Collaboration
• Funding Institution Engagement
• Analytical Skills
• Communications Skills

Languages

English, French