Partnerships, Communications, and Reporting Officer (SC8)

The Partnerships, Communications, and Reporting Officer supports WFP's mission by leading partnership development, enhancing fundraising strategies, managing communications activities, and strengthening reporting and information management to support operational needs in Sri Lanka.

Responsibilities

• Lead to enable WFP to identify, develop and strengthen quality partnerships in support of WFP strategic objectives.
• Enhance and implement the partnerships strategy to support the Country Strategic Plan, aligning it to key and evolving programme strategies, and key donor priorities.
• Expand and diversify the fundraising portfolio, with a focus on identifying and developing opportunities beyond traditional donors (untapped institutional donors, private sector, International Financial Institutions, pooled funding available at HQ and RBB level, etc.).
• Build and lead strategic engagement with IFIs in country, engaging CO management, in liaison with strategic partnerships officers managing World Bank, ADB, and IMF portfolios.
• Lead the pursuit of any relevant innovative financing opportunities.
• Guide national staff to manage external partnerships, opportunities, and information at the country level, while offering support to programme and support units.
• Proactively support a wide range of aspects of a partnerships portfolio, including partner profiling, data/trends analysis and outreach plan, to maximize resources and leverage policy and technical support for WFP’s work; Ensure partner visibility and that partner conditions are met.
• Facilitate corporate dialogue with partners through preparation of quality briefing materials; Proactively highlight strategic opportunities and issues to senior management and propose options for the best course of action to nurture trust and interest in the work of WFP.
• Gather and share partner intelligence (including forecasting), using key information systems (e.g. WINGS, Salesforce, WFPGo), and assessing results.
• Facilitate partnership growth, by exploring opportunities to expand existing partnerships and scope of new partners, guided by assessments, analysis and due diligence; Present recommendations to senior management and ensure follow-up.
• Contribute to the preparation of partnership proposals, strategic agreements, joint strategies and/or MOU, considering corporate norms, processes and external regulations; Ensure quality control of content by engaging with relevant functional units, RBs and COs.
• In the context of the UN system and multilateral fora, support the development of partnerships with member states, civil society and intergovernmental organizations to advocate for the SDGs and Zero Hunger on the global agenda, and advance WFP priorities and policies, based on a good understanding of member states’ dynamics and interests.
• Proactively contribute to the partnerships portfolio by leading partner profiling and outreach activities, using data driven insights to expand support from existing partners and to scope opportunities with prospective partners; ensure partner visibility obligations are met and partner conditions complied with to maximize resources and leverage policy/technical support for WFP’s work.
• Oversee country specific communications activities that execute the CO communications plan, ensuring products and actions are aligned with WFP’s corporate/regional strategies and effectively serve operational needs in Sri Lanka.
• Strengthen staff and partner capacity on operational information management and performance reporting by coordinating and delivering targeted guidance and light training sessions (e.g., data capture standards, essentials for communications-ready dashboards, ACR input), in line with CO needs and corporate OIM & PR competencies, thereby improving the standard operating picture used for management decisions.
• Support emergency response set-ups by preparing, organizing, and providing secretariat support to Operational Task Forces (OTFs); ensure timely collection, consolidation, and circulation of situation updates and performance information to enable a consistent operational picture for decision makers and for external communications products during crises.
• Any other tasks assigned by the Country Director.

Requirements

• Advanced University degree (master’s degree) in Communications, Journalism, International Relations, Political Science, Law, Marketing, Development Studies, Information Management, or another relevant field; or First University degree in a related field with additional years of relevant professional experience and/or training.
• Minimum one (1) year or more of post‑graduate, progressively responsible professional experience (managerial level experience) in partnerships, external relations, communications/media, donor visibility, information/knowledge management, or performance reporting within the UN, government, INGO/NGO, development or private sector.
• Three (3) years with advanced university degree (master’s qualification) or first university degree (bachelors) with five (5) or additional years of related work experience and related trainings/ courses in related professional area/s is desirable.
• Demonstrated experience drafting high‑quality briefs, press/materials and social content, coordinating inputs across units, and using data/analytics to inform outreach or reports.
• Experience developing effective relationships with partners/stakeholders (government, UN, donors, private sector, civil society) and supporting joint events/advocacy.
• Experience preparing briefs, visibility materials, and social content that translated programme results into clear messages for external audiences.
• Experience gathering and presenting information through corporate systems and tools (e.g., Salesforce, WINGS, WFPGo, media/social analytics) to support positioning and reporting.
• Experience contributing to proposals/agreements/MoUs and ensuring timely, accurate inputs from multiple units in line with corporate guidance.
• Experience supporting emergency communications (rapid updates, coordination with response teams) and basic training/guidance for staff/partners on visibility/reporting.
• Excellent writing and editing skills for diverse audiences (briefs, press releases, success stories, talking points, social/digital content) with strong attention to accuracy, tone and brand compliance.
• Partnerships support and stakeholder management: able to coordinate inputs, maintain partner information, and prepare audience‑appropriate materials that meet donor visibility requirements.
• Information & performance reporting support: ability to coordinate information flows, apply basic analysis, maintain trackers, and support quality assurance for reporting products and templates.
• Digital & media competencies: social media scheduling and analytics; basic multimedia curation (photo/video selection, captioning, metadata); media list management and outreach.
• Data & systems: confident with MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel); familiarity with WFP/corporate tools an asset (Salesforce, WINGS, WFPGo) and web/social analytics dashboards.
• Coordination & planning: strong organizational skills to manage multiple deadlines, events, and products; ability to work effectively with programme team, RAM/M&E, and field teams.
• Core soft skills: initiative, attention to detail, client orientation, intercultural communication, and ability to provide basic guidance/training to staff/partners.
• Fluency (Level C) in English.
• Fluency in Sinhala and/or Tamil is highly desirable for engagement with national counterparts and local media.

Skills

• Partnership Development
• External Relations
• Communications Strategies
• Media Relations
• Donor Visibility
• Information Management
• Performance Reporting
• Brief Writing
• Press Release Writing
• Social Media Content Creation
• Data Analysis
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Event Coordination
• Proposal Development
• Drafting Agreements
• Emergency Communication
• Training Delivery
• Social Media Scheduling Tools
• Media Analytics
• Multimedia Curation
• Media List Management
• Salesforce
• WINGS
• WFPGo
• Microsoft Office Suite
• Report Quality Assurance
• Inter-Cultural Communication

Languages

English, Sinhala, Tamil