Partnerships Officer (Head of Office) NOC

About the role

The World Food Programme (WFP) is recruiting a Partnerships Officer (Head of Office) for its Kuwait office, based in Kuwait City. This is a national position open exclusively to Kuwaiti nationals, reporting to the Functional Director at Global Headquarters. The office was recently formalised to position WFP with the Government of Kuwait, regional and international financial institutions, private-sector and philanthropic actors and the broader Gulf donor community. The role combines representational leadership of the office with direct ownership of its partnerships and resource mobilisation agenda.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the WFP office in Kuwait, implementing a work plan for an assigned area to identify, develop and strengthen quality partnerships.
• Engage with other WFP units, regional and country offices on thematic and country-specific offerings, adapting content and language for government, private sector and IFI audiences.
• Support partner profiling, data and trend analysis and outreach planning, and ensure partner visibility and conditions are met.
• Prepare briefing materials for corporate dialogue, highlight strategic opportunities to senior management and support joint events such as UN pledging conferences.
• Gather and share partner intelligence using systems such as WINGS, Salesforce and WFPGo, and assess results.
• Develop Kuwait partnership strategies and Partnership Action Plans, manage partnership and contribution agreements, and write quality proposals and reports.
• Expand existing partnerships and explore new ones across government, private sector and IFI channels, with due diligence and follow-up.
• Develop partnership proposals, strategic agreements, joint strategies and MOUs, with quality control across functional units.
• Use socio-political insights to influence policy agendas and support partnerships with member states, civil society and intergovernmental organisations to advocate for the SDGs and Zero Hunger.
• Solicit input from other WFP entities on inter-governmental and inter-agency work.
• Manage staff, providing coaching, training and guidance, and incorporate gender perspectives in all work.
• Contribute to preparedness actions, monitoring risks and recommending how to manage them.

Required profile

• Kuwaiti nationality; the position is national and open only to Kuwaiti nationals.
• Ability to operate with a high degree of independence and exercise judgment on sensitive political, diplomatic and institutional matters.
• Accountability for the strategic direction, credibility, growth and sustainability of WFP's presence and partnerships in Kuwait.