UN Jobs in Rome

Position details

• Job ID: 38204
• Organizational unit: Near East & North Africa Div.
• Grade: P-4
• Appointment: Regular
• Schedule: Full-Time
• Assignment duration: 9 months
• Application deadline: 10/13/2026 (Rome time)

Organizational Setting

This call is advertised as a short-term opportunity with a duration of 9 months and expected to start shortly after selection. Should an external candidate (including consultants and staff members not meeting IFAD HR Implementing Procedures' definition of 'internal') be selected, the contract type would be that of a short-term professional (TPO). In the event an IFAD staff member, holding a Fixed Term contract be selected, the movement would be implemented as a Temporary Assignment through the applicable provisions. Applicants should verify and obtain their supervisors' support to be released. This is a short-term contract. The appointment of a short-term staff member carries no expectation of continuous employment or conversion to any other type of appointment with IFAD.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.

The Department for Country Operations (DCO) oversees the origination, design and management of IFAD investments, including sovereign and non-sovereign operations, as well as the design and implementation of non-lending activities within country programmes, including policy engagement and SSTC. DCO is the department that primarily interfaces with governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver IFAD's programme of work and to provide oversight to ensure quality of the portfolio.  

DCO is led by an Associate Vice-President and is composed of five (5) regional divisions: Asia and the Pacific Division (APR), East and Southern Africa Division (ESA), Latin America and Caribbean Division (LAC) , Near East, North Africa and Europe Division (NEN) and West and Central Africa Division (WCA), the Private Sector Operations Division (PSD), and two (2) units:  the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Unit (SSTC) and the fragility unit (FRU).

The Regional Division NEN is led by a Divisional Director, based in IFAD Headquarters, Rome, Italy.  The Division leads on the design and delivery of IFAD country and regional programmes in NEN.  The precise country coverage of the division varies across replenishment periods.

Job Role

The Senior Portfolio Advisor provides authoritative advice on operational matters related to the divisional portfolio and contributes to relevant corporate processes to enhance the efficiency of IFAD-funded operations.

Key Functions and Results

1. CONTRIBUTION TO OPERATIONAL POLICY ADVICE: The Senior Portfolio Advisor contributes to relevant corporate processes to enhance the Fund's business model, with a particular focus on efficiency of IFAD-funded operations. Activities may include, but are not necessarily limited to: (a) as part of the Portfolio Advisors' Group, supporting the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) in the development and/or revision of relevant operational policies and procedures aimed at enhancing the performance of IFAD-funded interventions, e.g. Supervision and Implementation Support (SIS) policy and guidelines; (b) promoting the use and compliance with new and revised operational policies and procedures by country teams within the division; (c) coordinating divisional efforts to ensure full divisional compliance with IFAD SIS policy and guidelines, and establish relevant divisional quality assurance systems to ascertain quality and cross-country consistency of key SIS mission deliverables and those related to project completion reports; (d) coordinating the divisional self-assessment work which culminates in the yearly Portfolio Stocktaking exercise; (e) providing authoritative advice to country teams pertaining to project results-based management; and (f) providing authoritative advice to the Regional Director and Heads of Multi-country Offices (MCOs) planning exercises.

2. COUNTRY PROGRAMME ADVICE AND DEVELOPMENT: The Senior Portfolio Advisor provides authoritative advice on operational matters related to the divisional portfolio, keeping abreast of all relevant corporate changes and reforms having a bearing on portfolio management. Activities may include, but are not necessarily limited to: (a) providing demand-based authoritative advice to the Divisional Director, CDs/Heads of MCOs on operational requests, e.g. extensions, suspensions, cancellations, additional financing, restructuring; (b) closely monitoring portfolio performance and working closely with Country Directors to develop and implement project performance improvement plans for projects-at-risk; (c) ensuring quality review of supervision mission and project completion reports (PCRs), including clearing the reports in the Operational Results Management System (ORMS), and monitoring timely disclosure, as well as providing inputs to Management Letters; (d) playing a role in identifying and mitigating risks in operations, having the oversight of emerging risks from the portfolio, as well as aggregating and reporting on these risks to the Regional Director and relevant committees; (e) working closely with the Senior Regional Economist to ensure, as required, that experiences and lessons learned from the ongoing portfolio are fed into project designs; (f) providing field support on demand during supervision and implementation support missions, and design missions, as required; (g) working closely with PFM and FCD to expedite withdrawal application processing and other loan administration tasks, e.g. addressing ineligible expenditures; and (h) overseeing, monitoring and coordinating IFAD's expanding private sector and equity investment portfolio. Senior Portfolio Advisor support includes providing advice on investment solutions and portfolio quality, also from a financial perspective.

3. KNOWLEDGE MANGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING: The Senior Portfolio Advisor engages in a wide range of peer-to-peer interactions and systematically manages and shares both formal and informal knowledge pertaining to relevant qualitative and quantitative information and best practices for the benefit of all country programmes. Activities may include, but are not necessarily limited to: (a) making use of all corporate media and delivery mechanisms, including divisional publications, with particular responsibility for documenting and analyzing implementation-related issues common across country programmes; and (b) taking the lead on designing and delivering needs-based training modules and improving results-based management performance.

4. RESULTS MONOTORING AND REPORTING: The Senior Portfolio Advisor coordinates the monitoring and reporting processes on the regional portfolio (loans and grants) management, performance and results for Divisional, Departmental and Corporate levels. This entails, as part of the regional team, organizing and overseeing portfolio data analysis, periodic portfolio performance reports/updates, portfolio reviews and stock takes, production and dissemination of knowledge products, briefs, case studies, as required, and delivering of presentations. The Senior Portfolio Advisor coordinates the divisional quality assurance processes for SIS, mid-term review (MTR), PCR, data/results reporting, and the timely submission and disclosure of reports as well as updating of the various systems, i.e. Grants and Investment Projects System (GRIPS) and ORMS. Upon request, the Senior Portfolio Advisor provides input to new Country Strategic Opportunities Programmes (COSOPs) and the design of new loans and/or grants based on lessons learned from the country portfolio performance. The incumbent coordinates divisional contributions to the corporate Results Measurement Framework (RMF) and provides support to CDs/ Heads of MCOs and Country Teams towards compliance with IFAD rules, regulations and policies, implementation of corporate operational strategies, establishment of targets, and monitoring of results achievement. The Senior Portfolio Advisor also provides authoritative advice to CDs/Heads of MCOs and Country Teams on implementation matters notably, but not limited to, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and results reporting, and directly contributes to implementation support, as required, for enhanced portfolio performance. The Senior Portfolio Advisor collaborates closely with the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) on departmental and corporate initiatives and takes an active role in the Departmental Portfolio Advisory group to review and develop adapted strategies, policies, procedures and guidelines. Finally, the Senior Portfolio Advisor liaises with key partner departments, notably IOE and OTD, as well as some divisions, e.g. PFM, FCD, LEG and AUO.

5. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The Senior Portfolio Advisor plays an important role in assisting, as required, the Divisional Director in relation to all tasks assigned to them, and is expected to act with honesty, fairness, impartiality and sensitivity in exercising authority and interacting with colleagues and external parties. The incumbent coordinates complex processes and provides technical advice on a wide range of issues related to the functions and responsibilities of the division, ensuring accuracy and timeliness of substantive outputs including, but not limited to: direct review and preparation of relevant documents and reports; identification of priorities, strategic opportunities, problems and issues to be addressed through pragmatic corrective actions; liaising with relevant parties, taking on focal responsibility for corporate activities, and initiating follow-up actions. The incumbent coordinates the development, implementation and evaluation of assignments and divisional and/or corporate initiatives, as requested by the Division Director. The incumbent coordinates the preparation and implementation of divisional high-level events with a particular focus on substantive engagement ensuring appropriate protocol, representational opportunities, and visibility. As a change agent, the Senior Portfolio Advisor understands and applies the principles of change management and proactively serves as a role model for transformation.

6. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The Senior Portfolio Advisor is accountable for integrity, transparency, and equity in the management of IFAD resources. This includes People Management, through support to recruitment and supervision/mentorship of staff and non-staff specialists, as well as technical leadership/capacity development; Resource Management by providing strategic advice into programme and divisional budget development, and Knowledge Management by ensuring knowledge content within specialty/thematic areas is continuously updated and available.

Considering the concentration of fragile and conflict-affected situations in the NEN portfolio, the Senior Portfolio Advisor plays a crucial role in bringing fragility and conflict operational knowledge and experience to directly support the overall NEN country programmes. The Senior Portfolio Adviser provides operational support to NEN country programmes in fragile and conflict-affected situations including, but not limited to: monitoring and analysing regional, national and subnational fragility and conflict situations; integrating fragility and conflict sensitivity into designs and operations, including analytic work, programme and project design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation; advising programme delivery teams (PDTs) to better address weak capacity and institutions in the design and delivery of operations; monitoring the evolving regional and country contexts and associated risks to the portfolio; engaging with Country Teams on dealing with government, de facto authorities, development partners and other relevant stakeholders, on a coherent strategy that fits into the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and addresses the roots of the conflict and fragility.

Key Performance Indicators

The Senior Portfolio Advisor's provision of authoritative professional expertise and technical leadership has a direct impact on programmes at global, regional and national levels through coordinating and spearheading relevant corporate processes to enhance the Fund's business model, with a particular focus of enhancing institutional efficiency and the efficiency of IFAD-funded operations. The Senior Portfolio Advisor represents the position of IFAD in national, regional as well as global fora and conferences. Innovation is required in the adaptation and development of approaches and methods to evolving portfolio contexts. Work at this level is considered as substantially complex and of critical concern to the Fund. In particular, portfolio advisory work requires in-depth identification and consideration of a full range of factors relevant to the examination and discussion of programme problems and policies in the solution of methodological problems or in the formulation of policy proposals and project recommendations.

Working Relationships

The work relationships of Senior Portfolio Advisors involve the provision of authoritative advice and the negotiation and resolution of problems that arise in mission planning, monitoring and evaluation and the preparation of studies and reports. The incumbent exercises wide professional latitude with contacts in their field(s), providing technical expertise and capacity building to internal and external partners. The Senior Portfolio Advisor represents the position of IFAD in national, regional and global fora and conferences as required.

Job Profile Requirements

Organizational Competencies:

Level 2:

• Building relationships and partnerships - Builds and maintains strategic partnerships internally and externally
• Communicating and negotiating - Acquires & uses a wide range of communication styles & skills
• Demonstrating leadership - Leads by example; initiates and supports change
• Focusing on clients - Contributes to a clientfocused culture
• Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating - Challenges, innovates&contributes to learning culture
• Managing performance and developing staff - Manages wider teams with greater impact on others and on the organization
• Managing time, resources and information - Coordinates wider use of time, information and/or resources
• Problem-solving and decision-making - Solves complex problems and makes decisions that have wider corporate impact
• Strategic thinking and organizational development - Staff in management and/or strategic leadership roles
• Team working - Fosters a cohesive team environment

Education:

• Level - Advanced university degree 
• Areas - Rural Development, Finance, Economics, Public Policy or related studies.

• Degree must be an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php. 

   

(*) Note:  For internal candidates, this requirement will be assessed in line with the provisions set forth in IFAD's Human Resources Implementing Procedures. 

Experience:

• At least eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional experience, including two (2) years in a multi-cultural, international organization, rural development/financial institution or government service, in the area of implementation and supervision of rural development programmes.
• Demonstrated capacity to understand the political economy and local context of fragility and forced displacement situations.
• Familiarity with fragility and conflict policies, tools, and instruments.

Languages:

• English (4 - Excellent)
• French (4 - Excellent)
• Arabic  (4 - Excellent) highly desirable.

Skills:

• Advocacy: Ability to leverage IFAD knowledge and/or communication materials to maintain and promote constructive dialogue around IFAD`s vision and strategic priorities to external actors
• Analytical skills: Outstanding ability to analyse and synthesize qualitative and/or quantitative information from a variety of sources and filter out key insights and recommendations
• Performance management: Know-how in managing performance, learning management, establishing learning plans and ensuring staff supervised meet their development needs while meeting the needs of IFAD
• Project coordination: Identification of key-priorities, ability to work with others, coordinate and structure work to meet deadlines and adjustment of workplan/resource allocation when needed, identification and management of project-related risks
• Risk management (e.g. reputational): Know-how in identifying and assessing of potential legal, reputational, ethical risks and liabilities in relation to the Fund's activities; contributing strongly to the division as second line of defence function; demonstrating ability to manage these risks by advising senior management on contingency and mitigation strategies.
• Interpersonal skills: Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with others (e.g. visitors, clients, callers, etc.), including senior individuals (e.g. high-level meeting participants)
• Political acumen: Ability to conduct sound political analysis and understand complex environments, providing options and advice
• Specialized communication skills: Ability to negotiate on behalf of IFAD and drive for creative and pragmatic solutions in complex negotiations with key partners, both public and private sector
• Synthesis: Outstanding ability to synthesize and simplify complex technical information for a variety of (non-technical) audiences
• Written communication: Clear, succinct and convincing written communication in the language needed for specific role; highly professional, balanced and diplomatic language (e.g. for drafting of position papers, briefings, etc.)
• Policy dialogue: Know-how in the representation of IFAD as a trusted and strategic partner, advocating and promoting IFAD's mandate and vision; effective consultations with IFAD counterparts - like ministries and governmental bodies at all administrative levels, donors, civil society
• Topical expertise - Programme Mgmt for Agricultural Development: Expertise relevant to the specific role (e.g. For ethics office assistant, procedures outlined in the Code of Conduct, Discipline and Anti-harassment provisions of applicable rules and guidelines)

Other Information

This call is advertised as a short-term opportunity with a duration of 9 months and expected to start shortly after selection. Should an external candidate (including consultants and staff members not meeting IFAD HR Implementing Procedures' definition of 'internal') be selected, the contract type would be that of a short-term professional (TPO). In the event an IFAD staff member, holding a Fixed Term contract be selected, the movement would be implemented as a Temporary Assignment through the applicable provisions. Applicants should verify and obtain their supervisors' support to be released. This is a short-term contract. The appointment of a short-term staff member carries no expectation of continuous employment or conversion to any other type of appointment with IFAD.

Applicants should note that IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD's Human Resources Policy, the President can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.

IFAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on ethnic, social, or political background, colour, nationality, religion, age, gender, disability, marital status, family size, or sexual orientation. This is in line with our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy and our Policy to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. For more information, please refer to the UN disability-inclusive language guidelines.

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In accordance with IFAD's provisions, all new staff members will normally be placed at the first step in the grade level for which they have been selected. For information on IFAD's remuneration package, please visit IFAD's compensation and benefits page on our website. Applicants are invited to use the ICSC compensation calculator to estimate the salary and benefit entitlements.

Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.

In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful.