Regenerative Supply Chain Expert (p4)

Organizational Context

The School Meals Accelerator (SMA), hosted by WFP, supports governments in scaling national school meal programs. Operating as a network catalyst, it mobilizes resources and expertise to deliver strategic technical assistance. The SMA aims to unlock the full potential of school meals by improving design, scaling investment, and fostering collaboration across education, health, and food systems, ultimately reaching 100 million more children by 2030.

Job Purpose

The Regenerative Supply Chain Expert will provide technical and strategic leadership within the School Meals Accelerator's Country Support Team. This role focuses on strengthening the enabling environment for resilient, localized, and regenerative supply chains for school meal programs. The expert will offer global leadership on home-grown and regenerative supply chains, ensuring national programs transition towards climate-resilient, ecologically sustainable, and locally anchored sourcing. This involves engaging with country priorities across education, agriculture, and nutrition sectors, advising governments on policy alignment, procurement, and system-level connectivity. The role also entails coordinating with partners, developing shared tools and standards, and supporting country teams to access high-quality assistance, ultimately contributing to the SMA's mission of enhancing school meal programs and improving child nutrition.

Responsibilities

The School Meals Accelerator (SMA) is a new initiative under the School Meals Coalition, hosted by the World Food Programme. Its primary goal is to assist governments in scaling and strengthening their national school meal programs, aiming to reach an additional 100 million children by 2030 in low- and lower-middle-income countries. The SMA acts as a network catalyst, mobilizing resources and expertise from various partners to provide strategic technical assistance. It focuses on improving program design, increasing investment, and fostering collaboration across education, health, and food systems, employing a systems-thinking approach that adapts to country priorities and encourages global, regional, and local collaboration. The role of a Regenerative Supply Chain Expert within the Country Support Team is crucial. This expert provides technical leadership to strengthen enabling environments for resilient, localized, and regenerative supply chains for school meals. They also support country teams in accessing high-quality assistance. Responsibilities include global leadership on home-grown and regenerative supply chains, ensuring alignment with climate resilience and ecological sustainability. The expert will mobilize technical partners for diagnostics and assistance, develop shared tools and standards for procurement and supplier onboarding, and guide governments in defining sourcing standards and policy alignment. They will also drive cross-ministerial policy alignment, translate technical insights into actionable policy guidance, and strengthen system-level connectivity by linking governments with global and regional actors. Furthermore, the role involves leading governments in designing national school meal plans, strengthening the national school meals ecosystem by convening diverse actors, and enabling governments to translate needs into partnership opportunities. Overseeing technical assistance, establishing coordination platforms, and championing systems-leadership capacity are also key accountabilities. The role requires a strong systems-leadership mindset, deep technical knowledge of regenerative food systems, advanced facilitation and relationship-building skills, and the ability to orchestrate coordinated technical contributions.

Work Experience

Requires at least eight years of senior experience in agrifood supply chains, engaging with smallholder farmers on market access, infrastructure, and supply chain challenges. Must have international experience collaborating with diverse partners (governments, IFIs, UN, civil society, private sector, academia). Extensive experience supporting government policy processes (fiscal, agricultural, procurement, nutrition) and shaping supply chain/procurement systems, especially for smallholder-inclusive or institutional markets. Experience translating lessons across contexts is crucial.

Skills

Systems Thinking, Collaboration, Policy Alignment, Supply Chain Management, Regenerative Agriculture, Stakeholder Engagement, Cross-Ministerial Coordination, Technical Assistance, Learning and Adaptation, Problem-Solving, Facilitation, Relationship Building, Knowledge Translation, Project Management, International Development

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