Senior Agricultural Officer (Agriculture and Rural Development) – Mogadisho 29 views

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• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply
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• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind

Organizational Setting
The key mission of the FAO Representation in Somalia, which is led by FAO Representative (FAOR), is to assist and support the national government to develop policies, strategies and programmes aimed at accelerating the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the area of FAO’s global mandate and Strategic Objectives. More specifically, FAO’s response aims to address national needs and priorities in achieving food security, reducing hunger and malnutrition, developing agricultural, fishery and forestry sectors, and ensuring the sustainable use of environmental and natural resources and respond to recurrent emergencies. The current portfolio of activities of the FAO Representation in Somalia includes a wide scope of technical support interventions ranging from policy support through fisheries, Agriculture and crop production, to natural resource management, nutrition, value chain, food security analysis and water and land information management. FAO is also implementing several emergency, resilience-building and development interventions, with the support of its five field offices and in partnership with the Federal and State line ministries.

FAO is a global institution mandated with food and agriculture issues fostering global, regional and national initiatives to ensure sustainable development of the sector and in optimizing its contribution to nutrition, food security and rural poverty reduction, integrating scientific and technical expertise and policy advice. Agriculture is fundamental sources of food, livelihoods, trade around the world. In Somalia, in addition to wide scope of technical support interventions policy development, FAO is implementing several emergency, resilience-building and development interventions in the agriculture sector. The incumbent will be responsible for the development and day-to-day management of FAO’s agriculture sector activities.

The position is located in the FAO Representation in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Reporting Lines
The Senior Agricultural Officer (Agriculture and Rural Development) reports to the Senior Programme Officer/Head of Programme – Somalia, under the overall guidance of the FAOR in Somalia and the technical guidance of relevant divisions at headquarters and Decentralized Offices.

Technical Focus
The Senior Agricultural Officer (Agriculture and Rural Development) leads the implementation of FAO’s agriculture sector programme operations and strategies, priorities of coordination, assessment and time-critical interventions.

Key Results
Leadership and technical policy expertise for the planning, development and implementation of Regional Programmes of work, projects, products and services in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework and in alignment with the Organization’s Gender Policy.

Key Functions
•    Plans, manages or leads highly specialized or multidisciplinary teams; leads, coordinates and/or participates in regional committees, project teams and working groups, and/or provides technical leadership/secretariat services on technical networks and/or international technical policy and standard setting bodies.
•    Analyses global and country specific requirements and relevant technical issues to provide critical input into the FAO Strategic Framework, Programme of Work, work plans and the supporting budgets and/or resourcing strategies.
•    Implements and monitors programmes of work involving the development of the approach, evidence based strategies and related tools, methodologies and the supporting system/database, monitoring and reporting frameworks.
•    Conducts, designs and oversees research and analysis activities to support the development of technical standards, international instruments, innovation, technical reports, publications and/or on-going programme development as well as the provision of technical and/or policy advisory services.
•    Provides technical and policy advice to Members and technical support to Decentralized Offices in the development and implementation of their programmes.
•    Leads and/or collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development and knowledge sharing activities within member countries such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events including preparation of related information, learning and on-line tools.
•    Represents the Organization at international meetings and conferences, identifies and implements strategic partnerships, advocates best practices and increased policy dialogue and develops and negotiates effective working relationships/consensus and agreements with international and national stakeholders.
•    Leads and/or participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Corporate Strategy.

Specific Functions
•    Leads the operationalization, reporting, work plans and the supporting budgets/and/or resourcing strategies relating to agriculture programmes/projects/activities of the Country Programming Framework (CPF) 2022-2025.
•    Supervises finance and administration for the same programmes/projects and prepares reports for partners.
•    Provides functional and technical guidance for all agriculture sector programmes, especially plant protection, crop production and related food security programmes relevant to both development and emergency operations at sub-national and national levels, taking into account the Horn of Africa regional context.
•    Ensures FAO’s active participation in all coordination mechanisms relevant to the agriculture sector (including clusters and/or sectors), with government authorities, other UN agencies, donors and other partners.
•    Promotes, supervises and evaluates community-based and participatory approaches within the above programmes/projects/activities.
•    Establishes linkages, exploring the synergies and common steering among agriculture development programmes, resilience building initiatives and emergency response.
•    Ensures agriculture sector related internal coordination mechanisms are functioning and efficient.
•    Acts as budget holder for all relevant agriculture projects and monitors the financial execution and accounting of projects.
•    Ensures that the required technical assistance from the Technical Focal Point Network is made available to the FAO implementing partners.
•    Ensures the development of an advocacy and outreach plan, including key messages, communication material such as Executive and ad-hoc Briefs, Situation Reports and the authorization of information to external communication sources.
•    Establishes and maintains regular contacts with donors, and ensures the provision of updated information on FAO assessments, response plans and activities.
•    Establishes and maintains relationships with the donor community and participates in designing new programmes and fund-raising activities.
•    Perform other related duties as required.
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CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements
•    Advanced University degree in agriculture, agronomy/crop production, agricultural economics and/or advanced degree in a relevant field including development studies, food security, natural resources management and rural development.
•    Ten years of relevant experience in agriculture and rural development related development and emergency interventions, of which five years should be in the Horn of Africa context.
•    Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies
•    Results Focus
•    Team Work
•    Communication
•    Building effective relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills
•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions.
•    Extent of relevant experience in leading the implementation of agriculture and rural development related programmes or projects in developing countries, especially in the Horn of Africa, with a humanitarian-development peace nexus approach.
•    Excellent managerial and coordination skills.
•    Proven experience in fundraising activities and donor engagement.
•    Good communication, writing and presentation skills.
•    Experience in working with national institutions, international NGOs and UN agencies is desirable.
•    Familiarity with the UN System, Somali operational context and understanding of the political economy in Somalia will be a considerable advantage.

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