Senior School Meals Finance & Innovative Capital Officer

Job Posting Organization:
The School Meals Accelerator (the Accelerator) is a newly established initiative under the School Meals Coalition, hosted by the World Food Programme (WFP). Its mission is to support governments in scaling and strengthening their national school meal programs, aiming to unlock the full potential of these programs by improving design, increasing investment, and fostering collaboration across various sectors such as education, health, and food systems. The Accelerator operates in a complex environment, engaging with multiple countries and organizations to facilitate system-level change rather than delivering predefined solutions. It aims to help low- and lower-middle-income countries reach an additional 100 million children by 2030, making school meals a cornerstone of human capital development. The Accelerator emphasizes a systems-thinking approach and deep collaboration among global, regional, and local actors, requiring leaders who can navigate uncertainty and maintain accountability for results.

Job Overview:
The Senior School Meals Finance & Innovative Capital Officer plays a crucial role within the Country Support Team, focusing on public finance and innovative capital mobilization to enhance the financial foundations of national school meal systems. This position is responsible for ensuring that countries can establish credible, sustainable, and investment-ready financing architectures that align with national priorities. The role encompasses two core functions: firstly, positioning school meals within long-term, domestically sustainable public financing; and secondly, attracting and aligning concessional and commercial capital from various sources, including Multilateral Development Banks, Development Finance Institutions, impact investors, philanthropic actors, corporates, and local financial institutions. The officer will engage with key ministries and financial institutions to strengthen the financing ecosystem for national school meals systems, ensuring macroeconomic credibility and supporting long-term financial sustainability. Additionally, the officer will coordinate with the School Meals Coalition Secretariat and other global initiatives to maintain aligned approaches and coherent support to countries.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Public Finance Leadership: Develop and implement fiscal strategies for school meals, including macro-fiscal analysis and cost projections. Oversee Public Expenditure Reviews and budget reviews to identify gaps and inefficiencies. Shape fiscal dialogue and financing pathways through evidence-based trade-offs and ROI cases.
• Private Sector & Innovative Finance Mobilization: Mobilize diverse capital sources by structuring blended-finance approaches and advancing innovative financing instruments. Negotiate terms and risk-mitigation structures to attract capital along the school-meals value chain.
• Country Support: Guide governments in designing multisectoral national school meals plans and strengthen the national school meals ecosystem by convening various stakeholders. Enable governments to translate priorities into partnership opportunities and oversee technical assistance with partners.
• People Collaboration: Foster cohesive working relationships across teams and partners, ensuring effective communication and resolution of challenges. Model the Accelerator’s systemic leadership culture by promoting inclusive collaboration.
• Learning & Continuous Improvement: Institutionalize financial learning through benchmarks and sustainability indicators. Drive continuous improvement by refining financial models and sharing lessons on blended finance.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess an advanced university degree in Finance, Economics, Development Finance, Public Policy, Public Administration, Development Economics, or a related field. Alternatively, a first university degree with additional relevant professional experience and/or advanced training may be accepted. Candidates should have at least eight years of progressively senior experience in public finance, development finance, blended-finance structuring, investment analysis, or sovereign/public-sector financing in government or international development settings. Extensive experience engaging with ministries of finance and sectoral ministries on fiscal strategy and budget planning is essential. A demonstrated track record in mobilizing capital from various financial institutions and a strong understanding of public financial management systems are also required.

Educational Background:
An advanced university degree in Finance, Economics, Development Finance, Public Policy, Public Administration, Development Economics, or another relevant field is required. A first university degree with additional years of relevant professional experience and/or advanced training may also be acceptable.

Experience:
Candidates should have a minimum of eight years of progressively senior experience in relevant fields such as public finance, development finance, and investment analysis. Experience engaging with government ministries and mobilizing capital from diverse sources is crucial, along with a proven ability to translate complex financial analysis into actionable strategies for senior government counterparts.

Languages:
Fluency in English (level C) is mandatory, along with intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language, which may include Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish.

Additional Notes:
This is an International Professional position open to candidates of all nationalities, with a fixed-term contract for an initial period of two years, subject to renewal based on performance and funding availability. The selected candidate will be required to relocate to Rome, Italy, and will receive a comprehensive compensation and benefits package in line with ICSC standards, including salary, allowances, annual leave, education grants for dependents, a pension plan, and medical insurance. The position is open to both internal and external applicants, and all hiring decisions will be based on role requirements and candidate merits.