FAO Jobs: Senior Advisor (Agricultural Inputs and Producer Organization) Bangladesh
Job Posting: 16/May/2019
Closure Date: 30/May/2019, 10:59:00 PM
Organizational Unit: FABGD
Job Type: Non-staff opportunities
Type of Requisition: NPP (National Project Personnel)
Primary Location: Bangladesh-Dhaka
Duration: 6 months (Possibility of extension)
Organizational SettingFAO Bangladesh assists the Government to formulate policies, programmes and projects to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and utilize environmental and natural resources in a sustainable way. It contributes to the development of FAO’s field programme projects in the country and implements them in the sectors of food security, agriculture and rural development.
The project is being implemented in the northern and southern regions of the country and financed by the GAFSP-MMI towards with an aim of reducing poverty among the rural community. Stakeholders at the heart of this initiative are farmer organizations (FOs), mainly in Rangpur and Barisal Divisions, which have recently begun to develop into local institutions that assist members to increase incomes. The project scales up successful initiatives promoting FOs that emerged from the GAFSP-financed Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP). The project will initially work with about 6 000 farmer members of some 45 FO supported by the IAPP, which have a minimum level of organizational cohesion and competence achieved to date. The project will gradually include additional 4 000 non-IAPP farmers or 10 FOs over three years.
Reporting Lines
Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Bangladesh, working in close collaboration with the technical units in FAO RAP in Thailand & TCI in FAO headquarter and the project Implementation Support Unit (ISU). The incumbent will work in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator.
Technical Focus
• Expertise in farmer group formation, seed village and seed bulking concepts and liaison with the government counterparts.
Tasks and responsibilities
• In collaboration with the ISU coordinator, regional M&E officers, design the indicators for the institutional maturity assessment of the FO and rating criteria;
• Update the booklet on ‘Seed Village’ prepared during IAPP-TA and provide backstopping support to the MMI-FOs towards establishing ‘Seed Villages’;
• Provide necessary support and liaison with Ministry of Agriculture and BADC for mainstreaming ‘Seed Village’ and MMI concepts for developing strong agricultural investment projects.
• In collaboration with the ISU Coordinator design the training programme modules on leadership, governance, negotiations, financial management and accounting, and organizational management and communication, using training materials used by FAO for the IAPP project and other available materials used in similar programmes in Bangladesh and other countries;
• Test and finalize the developed materials;
• Train all the FO BFs;
• Support FO BFs to deliver the training to the FO members and support BFs in their mentoring role and follow-up coaching;
• Analyze the results of the annual FO maturity assessment and provide additional support to FOs lagging behind in their development;
• As the project progresses, develop and deliver refresher and advance course modules in the area of organizational development;
• Develop materials that explain the most important government policies of concern to the project beneficiaries (smallholders, marginal and landless men and women) for use in study circles.
• Ensure regular coordination and exchange of lessons learned with the national, regional and local authorities and institutions, apex farmer organizations, private sector organizations, financial service providers and other partner organizations involved with the project.
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
• Master’s degree in a subject related to agriculture, business administration, rural development, community based organizations, community development,
• Minimum of 20 years professional experience in development of farmer organizations, cooperatives (preferable multi-purpose) or farmer group formation, seed production and marketing.
• National of Bangladesh
FAO Core Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
• Ability to work under pressure in an independent manner within a project team and to mentor the
development of the people working with him/her
• Ability to communicate in a credible and effective manner
• Skills in advocacy, tact and versatility and a high degree of discretion and integrity
• Fluency in spoken and written English.
Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile.
Vacancies will be removed from the recruitment portal at 23:59 Central European Time (CET) on the deadline for applications date. We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.
If you need help, or have queries, please contact: [email protected]
FAO IS A NON-SMOKING ENVIRONMENT
