School Meals Accelerator Business Support Associate G6

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is a new initiative under the School Meals Coalition launching in 2026 to support low- and lower-middle-income countries in scaling up and strengthening their national school meal programs. It responds directly to growing government demand for strategic high-quality technical assistance that ensures long-term sustainability. The Accelerator builds on the momentum of the Coalition which has mobilized over 110 countries and 140 partners around the school meals agenda with more than 60 countries making formal national commitments.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL MEALS ACCELERATOR

Hosted by WFP and supported by a diverse network of partners the Accelerator will provide demand-led country-driven support across three core pillars: national program design partnership alignment and learning and knowledge. Its goal is to unlock the full potential of school meal programs by enhancing design scaling investment and fostering cross-sector collaboration across education health agriculture and food systems. The Accelerator aims to help countries reach an additional 100 million children by 2030 with healthy and nutritious meals in school.

Joining the Accelerator team means being part of a bold systems-focused effort to drive lasting change. Its an opportunity to work alongside governments and partners to co-create solutions strengthen national capacity and help shape the future of school meals as a strategic investment in children communities and inclusive development.

We are seeking to fill the position of Business Support Associate G6 for the School Meals Accelerator based in WFP Headquarters in Rome Italy.

Please note that this vacancy announcement is being issued internally and externally. For more details please check the Terms and Conditions.

Only applications received in English will be considered.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is a new initiative under the School Meals Coalition launching in 2026 to support low- and lower-middle-income countries in scaling up and strengthening their national school meal programs. It responds directly to growing government demand for strategic high-quality technical assistance that ensures long-term sustainability. SMA builds on the momentum of the Coalition which has mobilized over 110 countries and 140 partners around the school meals agenda with more than 60 countries making formal national commitments.
Hosted by WFP and supported by a diverse network of partners the Accelerator will provide demand-led country-driven support across three core pillars: national program design partnership alignment and learning and knowledge. Its goal is to unlock the full potential of school meal programs by enhancing design scaling investment and fostering cross-sector collaboration across education health agriculture and food systems. The Accelerator aims to help countries reach an additional 100 million children by 2030 with healthy and nutritious meals in school.

Joining the Accelerator team means being part of a bold systems-focused effort to drive lasting change. Its an opportunity to work alongside governments and partners to co-create solutions strengthen national capacity and help shape the future of school meals as a strategic investment in children communities and inclusive development.

THE ROLE

The Business Support Associate will provide essential operational and administrative coordination to ensure the smooth functioning of the School Meals Accelerator a new initiative hosted by WFP to help countries scale and strengthen national school meal programmes. Working within the Rome-based Accelerator team the Associate will manage a full range of business support services - including front office operations logistics resource tracking and mission supportwhile proactively solving operational challenges and maintaining high standards of efficiency. By enabling effective delivery across the Accelerators core pillars the Associate contributes directly to its goal of helping countries reach 100 million additional children with nutritious school meals by 2030.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive nor exhaustive):

• Provide dedicated executive assistant support to the Accelerator team including calendar management travel arrangements and coordination of high-level meetings with governments and partners.

• Prepare and consolidate reports documentation correspondence and briefing materials related to Accelerator activities including technical assistance missions and partner engagement.

• Actively seek and use feedback to improve business processes and procedures contributing to the efficient delivery of Accelerator support across its core pillars.

• Respond to complex business support queries from internal and external stakeholders ensuring timely and accurate resolution aligned with SMAs operational priorities.

• Oversee the maintenance of records and databases related to Accelerator operations ensuring information is well-organized accessible and compliant with relevant policies.

• Review and revise correspondence and documentation providing quality assurance and timely delivery of materials that support SMAs country engagement and learning functions.

• Assist managers in planning monitoring and reconciling budgets linked to Accelerator activities ensuring effective use of financial resources.

• Assess and recommend improvements to administrative procedures and practices to enhance the delivery of business support services within the Accelerators dynamic multi-partner environment.

• Provide a full range of complex business support services to the Accelerator team contributing to the smooth functioning of technical assistance partnership coordination and knowledge exchange.

• Provide advice support and informal training to junior support staff fostering a collaborative and high-performing support team.

• Coordinate tasks of junior colleagues to ensure consistent delivery of support services to the required standards across Accelerator operations.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Education: Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area.

Experience: Six or more years of progressively responsible work experience in the relative business stream with experience in general administrative work.

Essential Requirements

• Business Process Expertise: Familiarity with standard workflows such as procurement travel HR transactions finance and administrative procedures combined with the ability to apply practical tools and techniques for scheduling document management reporting and data entry.

• Systems Proficiency: Strong knowledge of organizational platforms and ERP systems (e.g. SAP Workday) document tracking tools and other business applications to ensure accurate and efficient support services.

• Ability to analyze and interpret financial data and monitor budgets with ability to reconcile budget allocations staffing costs and service-related expenses.

• Communication & Coordination: Excellent communication and coordination skills to deliver specialized business support services to a wide range of stakeholders. Proven skills in managing and organizing senior managers schedules.

• Collaboration & Confidentiality: Ability to build relationships across functions and maintain strict confidentiality in handling sensitive information.

• Ability to organize prioritize and manage a complex set of tasks with competing deadlines remaining calm under time pressure.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience in coordinating the work of others and self and training and supporting others.

• Experience in organizing and coordinating large-scale events involving a significant number of participants ensuring smooth logistics effective communication and adherence to timelines.

• Ability to proactively identify and recommend improvements to specialized services.

• Openness to testing ideas in uncertain environments.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Please note that this is a local recruitment for a General Service Staff position; therefore applicants must:

a) be Italian citizen or non-Italian citizen holding a valid legal permit to live and work in Italy; and

b) reside within commuting distance (100 km or 1.5 hours travel time) of the duty station in Rome Italy (Via Cesare Giulio Viola) or already live in the country and be willing to relocate to Rome at their own expense before taking up the assignment. Preference will be given to candidates who already reside within commuting distance of the duty station. Please note that WFP will not cover relocation or living expenses and will not provide assistance in obtaining and extending residency status or work permits.

WFP offers a competitive compensation package determined by the contract type and the selected candidates qualifications and experience.
Rome salary scale: UN Salary Scale.

For Internal WFP General Service Staff in HQ:

• Contractual status: Staff on Fixed-Term contract and Continuing Appointment will remain on their WFP contract with a letter amending the existing TOE to reflect their new duties with the Impact Accelerator. During their employment with the Impact Accelerator they will be eligible to transfer promotion or conversion to other appointments within WFP and be considered as internal candidates for vacancies outside the Impact Accelerator within WFP.

• Accelerator position ends for Continuing Appointments: In the event the Impact Accelerator position ends and the position is abolished WFP would have a duty to use every reasonable effort to ensure that the staff is placed elsewhere in the Programme subject to the availability of suitable posts. If no suitable post is located termination could be pursued subject to WFP rules.

• Accelerator position ends for Fixed-Term staff: staff will be separated when the Fixed-Term contract expires. Before this staff could apply for available WFP positions at HQ and be considered as internal candidates.

For External candidates:

• Contractual status: Candidates will receive a Fixed-Term contract with specific conditions around the contractual duration/modality only for the duration of the assignment in the Impact Accelerator. They will not be entitled to any transfer promotion or conversion to other appointments within WFP nor be considered as internal candidates for vacancies outside the Impact Accelerator within WFP. Once the contract ends at Accelerator the employment relationship will end.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

The School Meals Accelerator is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation please contact:

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

TheSchool Meals Acceleratordoes not charge any application processing training interviewing testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee please disregard it. Furthermore please note that emblems logos names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate complete and includes your employment records academic qualifications language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed please apply and submit your application.

• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport recommendation letters academic certificates etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Please contact us at in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) FAO Finance Committee WFP External Auditor WFP Audit Committee Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.