Innovative Finance Specialist, CFOSI

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The World Food Programme is the worlds 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.

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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).

JOB TITLE: Innovative Finance Specialist

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultancy Consultant Level I

UNIT/DIVISION: Innovative Finance Team CFO Division (CFOSI)

DUTY STATION (City Country): Rome Italy

DURATION: until 31 December 2026

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
The Innovative Finance Specialist is based within the Chief Financial Officer Strategic & Innovative Financing (CFOS) unit under the Innovative Finance branch (CFOSI). The position supports the development and implementation of WFPs innovative financing agenda with the objective of diversifying and scaling sustainable funding sources to support programme delivery across Country Offices.
Within this context the role contributes to translating WFPs global innovative finance strategy into actionable and execution-ready initiatives working across technical streams including debt swaps debt conversions capital market solutions structured solutions innovative climate finance and emerging financing approaches such as digital assets and faith-based finance. The position plays an important role in structuring and advancing priority opportunities supporting Country Offices in pipeline development and ensuring alignment with corporate priorities funding gaps and operational constraints.
The assignment also supports cross-functional coordination across relevant WFP units (programme finance legal risk partnerships and regional offices) as well as engagement with external partners including governments international financial institutions and private sector actors. Through this the role contributes to strengthening WFPs positioning as a credible and effective actor in innovative finance while supporting the delivery of scalable impactful financing solutions.
The Innovative Finance Specialist reporting to the Head of Innovative Finance is expected to:

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Conduct research and feasibility studies on existing innovative financing models in reference to debt swaps blended finance co-financing and cryptocurrencies that could be applied to support WFPs programmes giving due consideration to WFPs operational contexts mission and risks inherent in WFPs areas or work.
2. Assume responsibility for maintaining and strategically leveraging WFPs debt swap knowledge base including the global database country profiles and supporting analysis.
3. Lead the production of proposals and concept notes to support the screening of innovative finance mechanisms.
4. Contribute to the design and implementation of various Innovative Finance (IF) projects.
5. Contribute to the exploration design and implementation of new thematic areas such as Islamic finance and climate financing.
6. Contribute to the scoping design and implementation of ESG bonds and debt buy-backstructures to support WFPs programmatic interventions in certain countries.
7. Map out and lead the operational and financial plans in terms of cryptocurrency fundraising including input holding and disbursement of crypto assets. Work with finance colleagues to design the appropriate methods of handling of crypto assets. Work on improving financial inclusion of beneficiaries through cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Support WFPs engagement with large crypto foundations/crypto donors.

8. Serve as Secretariat and coordination lead for the Digital Asset Task Force coordinating cross-divisional engagement; translating technical discussions into clear recommendations for senior management; ensuring coherence in WFPs digital asset approach; and engaging with UN and external counterparts.
9. Contribute to the development of financial models for assessing risk/return of potential projects and their development impact under a variety of financing scenarios.
10. Contribute to the research of innovative financing interests of IFIs DFIs private investors and sovereigns working with WFP and map their interests to opportunities within WFPs programmes and areas of work.
11. Support the drafting of Guidance documents and other reference material to support Country Offices in piloting and implementation of projects financed through IF mechanisms.
12. Lead the development of Innovative Finance Country Office Action Plans translating global strategy into prioritized execution-ready pipelines; coordinating inputs across HQ Regional Offices and Country Offices; and delivering decision-ready outputs aligned with CSPs and operational needs.
13. Develop learning material to enhance knowledge exchange on innovative finance workstreams in HQ Regional Offices and Country Offices.
14. Prepare and present high-quality presentations directed at a variety of stakeholders.
15. Contribute to the management of new IF junior consultants job shadowing and provide support in their onboarding as needed.
16. Monitor and document progress across specified innovative finance projects and workstreams.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:
-New Innovative Financing and Impact Investing Mechanisms including all supporting documentations and underlying partnerships.
-Investment Readiness Toolkit and engagement approaches.
-Resource mobilisation opportunities successfully realised and delivered.
-Ensure that all work and materials developed during the contract are well documented and available to the Innovative Finance team.
-Effective support of operations of CFO Division.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
Bachelors degree in Finance Business Administration or equivalent. Masters degree is a plus.
Experience:
At least 3 years of work experience in finance banking treasury innovative finance or related fields or between 4 and 5 years of work experience in lieu of an advanced degree.

Knowledge & Skills:
- A proven track record building innovative finance projects and/or driving and implementing innovative finance venture building projects preferably in an impact humanitarian and/or development context;
- Experience and interest in initiatives focused on financial inclusion microfinanceand resilience programmes;
- Passion and understanding of technology innovations (e.g. digital payments crypto assets) and business model innovations (e.g. innovative finance ESG transaction impact bonds);

-Experience in innovation project life cycle - from ideation minimum viable product testing prototyping and implementation.
-Worked or led cross-functionally and get things done in an agile and hands-on way.
-Experience working in a large scale-organization or with a client/in partnership with a large-scale organization;
-Proven track record of driving projects - effectively delivering impactful elements of projects in a fast-moving environment ideally for new businesses new business models start-ups etc.;
-Strong conceptual thinking to develop new strategies & innovative projects.
-Able to interact with a broad range of stakeholders and external audiences with maturity and tact;
-Excellent communication/presentation skills with the ability to write strategy and partnership documents develop business plans and write and deliver presentations;
-Collaborative spirit able to partner with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy;
-Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy;
-Sets high-level of ambition for the project and own work to achieve impact for the people we serve;
-Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme.

Languages:
Fluency in oral and written English is mandatory. Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic Chinese French Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFPs working languages) is a plus.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

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• 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.

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