Engagement Team Anchor Support

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

ABOUT THE SCHOOL MEALS ACCELERATOR

School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is the fifth and newest initiative underthe School Meals Coalitionoperating as an independent initiative while being hosted by the World Food Programme (WFP). It is designed to support governments to scale and strengthen their national school meal programmes and turn their ambitions into real impact. Acting as a network catalyst and convenor the Accelerator mobilizes resources andexpertisefrom the right partners to deliver strategic technicalassistancewhere it matters most.

The Accelerators mission: unlock the full potential of national school meal programs by improving design scaling investment and fostering collaboration across education health and food systems. It embraces a systems-thinking approach adapts to country priorities and thrives in deep collaboration among global regional and local actors. The Accelerators ambition: to help low- and lower-middle-income countries reach anadditional100 million children by 2030 making school meals a cornerstone of human capital development and a global standard of care.

The Acceleratoroperatesin conditions of high complexity. Because itoperatesas a network facilitator rather than a traditional organization its work spans multiple countriesorganisationsand institutional logics andseeksto support system-level change rather than the delivery of predefined solutions.


For this reason the Accelerator has adopted a systemic leadership approach which accepts that pathways to change are non-linear and progress depends on learningadaptationand collaboration across boundaries. Working in this way places ongoing demands on those involved and requires leaders whoare able towork productively with uncertainty difference and incomplete authority whilemaintainingaccountability for results. Joining the Accelerator team therefore means being part of a first-of-its-kind development enterprise: a systems-focused effort to drive lasting country-led change that requires a willingness to learn adapt and be shaped by the work as it evolves.

Role Title: Engagement Team Anchor Support

Grade: Level III
Contract Type:When-Actually-Employed Consultancy (65 days in total)
Duty Station:Remote
Organizational Unit:School Meals Accelerator
Reports to:Director of School Meals Accelerator

About the School Meals Accelerator:

School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is the fifth and newest initiative underthe School Meals Coalitiondesigned to support governments to scale and strengthen their national school meal programmesand turn their ambitions into real impact. Acting as a network catalyst and convenorthe Accelerator mobilizes resources andexpertisefrom the right partners to deliver strategic technicalassistancewhere it matters most.

The Accelerators mission: unlock the full potential of national school meal programs by improving design scaling investment and fostering collaboration across education health and food embraces a systems-thinking approach adapts to country priorities and thrives in deep collaboration among global regional and local Accelerators ambition: to help low- and lower-middle-income countries reach anadditional100 million children by 2030 making school meals a cornerstone of human capital development and a global standard of care.

The Acceleratoroperatesin conditions of high complexity. Because itoperatesas anetwork facilitator rather than a traditional organization its work spans multiple countriesorganisationsand institutional logics andseeksto support system-level change rather than the delivery of predefined solutions.

For this reason the Accelerator has adopted a systemic leadership approach which accepts that pathways to change are non-linear and progress depends on learningadaptationand collaboration across boundaries. Working in this way places ongoing demands on those involved and requires leaders whoare able towork productively with uncertainty difference and incomplete authority whilemaintainingaccountability for results. Joining the Accelerator team therefore means being part of a first-of-its-kind development enterprise: a systems-focused effort to drive lasting country-led change that requires a willingness to learn adapt and be shaped by the work as it evolves.

Purpose of this role:

The purpose of this role is to advise shape and steward the School Meals Accelerators emerging governance architecture by:

• Designing and orchestrating a highquality inaugural Governing Committee (GC) meeting that delivers on formal governance requirements while cultivating the collaborative culture behaviours and shared mindsets that underpin SMAs systemic way of working.
• Guiding the emergence of the Governance Committee as a stewarding bodyone that contributes to directionsetting shared accountability and crossinstitutional coherencerather than functioning solely as an oversight mechanism.
• Codifying and institutionalizing early governance norms roles expectations and working practices as they take shape ensuring they are both contextappropriate and aligned with SMAs identity and systemic leadership framework.
• Synthesizing and translating meeting deliberations into clear artefacts narratives and actionable next steps that can be used by Governance Committee members and internal SMA teams to reinforce alignment clarity and coherence moving forward.
• Laying the foundations for ongoing team development recruitment and onboarding processes learning cycles narrative coherence and sustained engagement with Governance Committee membersensuring that governance consolidation continues beyond the March meeting and supports SMAs longterm evolution.

Responsibilities:

The following responsibilities outlines how the consultant will deliver on the purpose above through a phased approach encompassing premeeting design inperson governance support postmeeting consolidation and ongoing advisory work.

Phase I PreMeeting Design & Preparation
(March 122 approx. 1 day/week)

A. Governance Framing & Meeting Design

• Refine the annotated agenda with clear objectives and desired outcomes per session.
• Clarify the dual purpose of the meeting: formal authorization collective formation.
• Define success criteria for the March GC meeting.
• Strengthen the design of the Countries at the Center session.

Deliverable: Final public and internal annotated agenda.

B. Governance Norms & Leadership Posture

• Translate SMAs systemic leadership stance into GC working norms.
• Prepare a briefing note for the Director and Chair (talking points framing facilitation cues).
• Cocreate facilitator scripts and prompts with the external facilitator.

Deliverable: 23-page governance and leadership briefing note.

C. Countries Session Design

• Work with the SMA Country Team to clarify objectives of the systemmapping exercise.
• Design group structures and participant instructions.
• Coordinate translation and bilingual facilitation considerations.

Deliverable: Session design outline and facilitator cues.

D. Alignment & Coordination

• Participate in SMA coordination calls as needed to ensure alignment across the team.

Phase II InPerson Governing Committee Support
(Week of March 23 Full week travel)

• Attend the Governance Committee dinner and full meeting.
• Provide behindthescenes strategic support to the Director and Chair.
• Facilitate one session if appropriate.
• Observe governance dynamics power patterns and emerging tensions.
• Conduct daily informal debriefs and support realtime agenda adaptation as needed.
  

Role: Strategic governance support and selective facilitation.

Phase III PostMeeting Consolidation

(April 130 approx. 1 to 1.5 days/week)

This phase focuses on translating the meeting into clear differentiated artefacts for different audiences:

A. Governance Committee Record Document
A document to be circulated to GC members for their records.

Contents include:

• Formal decisions and validations.
• Agreements reached.
• Commitments made.
• Summary of key governance norms established.

B. Governance Committee Foundational Document (Living Document)
A forwardlooking document that begins to codify:

• What the Governing Committee is and how it works.
• Roles norms and ways of engaging.
• Elements of the Governance Committee charter and lessons emerging from the meeting.

This document is designed to evolve as the Governance Committee matures.

C. Internal SenseMaking & Analysis Memo (Internal Use Only)
An internal document for the SMA team focused on:

• Tensions observed.
• Risks and opportunities.
• Power dynamics and governance implications.
• What the meeting means for SMAs next phase.

D. Governance NextStep Roadmap

• Suggested next 6 months of Governance Committee evolution.
• Proposed rhythm and focus of future Governance Committee meetings.

E. Debrief Sessions

• Structured debrief with the Director Chair and facilitator.
• Additional debriefs as needed.

Ongoing Advisory: Ongoing Governance team development recruitment learning processes and Narrative & Communications Support
(April October 2026 Scope and intensity to be agreed)

Subject to mutual agreement the consultancy may be extended to support the following areas:

• Governance continuity: Designing the purpose and posture of future GC meetings; maintaining decision-tracking and governance memory between meetings; and supporting how SMA communicates the GCs role to partners and donors.
• Team development: Co-designing the onboarding experience for new team members including how SMAs systemic leadership framework comes alive in practice; and supporting the development of shared working norms coordination rhythms and decision-making practices across the core team.
• Recruitment: Translating SMAs leadership framework into practical hiring tools interview guides role scopes and assessment approaches that help identify candidates with the right mindsets not only technical competence. Supporting TOR development for consultants and where relevant contributing to partner selection criteria.
• Learning processes: Establishing lightweight but durable practices for capturing learning from country engagement governance and partnerships and feeding it back into strategy. Supporting the Director through periodic structured sense-making conversations as the operating model evolves.
• Narrative and communications: Development and refinement of the SMA narrative including governance-related messaging talking points and materials for engagement with different ecosystem stakeholders.

The number of days per week and specific deliverables will be agreed based on evolving needs and availability.

7. Expected Initial Outcomes by April 30

• Annual plan and budget formally validated.
• More clarity regarding governance norms and authority boundaries.
• Chair role visibly anchored.
• Director supported in the transition to formal governance.
• A coherent set of written artefacts anchoring the Governance Committee meeting in March and enabling continuity.

Qualifications:

Education:
Advanced university degree in Public Policy/Administration International Relations/Development Organizational Development/Change Political Science or another relevant field; or a first university degree with additional years of relevant professional experience and/or advanced training.

Experience:

• 10 years of progressively senior experience advising and supporting governance bodies (e.g. boards steering or governing committees) in complex multistakeholder environments across government multilaterals and partner ecosystems.
• Proven craft in highstakes meeting architecture and facilitationdesigning and orchestrating inaugural or milestone governance meetings that integrate formal decisionmaking with culture/behaviour formation and adapting agendas in real time to manage power dynamics and emerging tensions.
• Track record translating principles into practicecodifying norms roles decision rights charters and working rhythms; producing clear artefacts (records of decisions foundational documents internal analysis memos roadmaps) that sustain governance memory between meetings.
• Demonstrated systemsleadership orientationable to read incentives interdependencies and political context; guide stewarding bodies beyond oversight toward directionsetting shared accountability and crossinstitutional coherence.
• Evidence of partnering effectively with senior principals (Chair/Director) and crossfunctional teams to prepare briefs framing notes and facilitation scripts; experience coaching facilitators and governingbody members for role clarity and posture.
• Experience embedding learning processes (afteraction reviews sensemaking cycles) aligning recruitment/onboarding to governance norms and shaping narratives and communications that explain governance roles to internal and external stakeholders.

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English; intermediate (level B) in a second official UN language (Arabic Chinese French Russian Spanish)

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

The School Meals Accelerator is committed to ensuring an inclusive accessible and supportive recruitment process for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process please reach out to: . We will be happy to assist you.

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The School Meals Accelerator does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application processing training interviewing testing or any other). If you receive a solicitation requesting payment please disregard it.

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email LinkedIn or any other channel.

• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete and that all sections are filled in including your employment history academic qualifications language skills and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed please apply and submit your application.

• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application you may contact us at . Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.

• At the application stage the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport certificates recommendation letters etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

OUR WORK ENVIRONMENT

As the School Meals Accelerator is generously hosted within the World Food Programmes facilities and administrative systems we benefit fromand upholdWFPs strong commitment to integrity inclusion safety and respect.

All hiring decisions are based on role requirements merits and the strengths each candidate brings including their alignment with the Accelerators core mindsets and behaviors as per its Systemic Leadership line with WFPour hosting organizationthe Accelerator is committed to fostering an inclusive respectful and safe work environment free from discrimination harassment abuse of authority and any form of sexual exploitation or abuse. As part of this commitment all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Lastly 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.