Summary
Date Posted: Monday, October 31, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Organizational Setting
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and malnutrition. The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.
The Scaling up Climate Resilience Agriculture Project in Agro-ecological Region I & II (SCRALA) project supports the Government of Zambia to strengthen the resilience to climate change risks of vulnerable smallholder farmers in the country’s Agro-Ecological Regions I and II. These regions are facing increasing risks as a result of climate change, primarily variability of rainfall and increased frequency of droughts, which have direct impacts on the agricultural production in these regions.
Within the two Agro-Ecological Regions, smallholder farmers in the five provinces (namely, Eastern, Lusaka, Muchinga, Southern and Western) will be directly targeted by the project, specifically including the following 16 districts: Mambwe, Nyimba, Chongwe, Luangwa, Chirundu, Rufunsa, Chama, Mafinga, Kazungula, Siavonga, Gwembe, Namwala, Shangombo, Senanga, Sesheke and Mulobezi. The direct beneficiaries will represent approximately 946,153 people.
The project aims to increase the resilience to climate change risks of smallholder farmers in target Agro-Ecological Regions. The project will make targeted interventions to capitalize on opportunities to strengthen and promote viable climate-resilient value chains relating to smallholder agriculture in the target regions, specifically targeting value chains that are gender sensitive and provide viable economic opportunities for women.

There Are Three Inter-related Project Outputs
• strengthening capacity of farmers to plan for climate risk;
• strengthening resilient agricultural production and diversification practices (for both food security and income generation); and
• strengthening farmers’ access to markets and commercialization of introduced resilient agricultural commodities.
FAO will contribute to the Output 2: Resilient agricultural livelihoods are promoted in the face of changing rainfall, increasing drought and occasional floods. With better planning for and management of climate risk, farmers will be supported to be in an improved position to adapt to climate change by managing water more sustainably, introducing new agricultural practices, adopting new varieties of crops and pursuing alternative livelihoods. This will be built on the successful model of farmer field schools, which provide local, context-specific centres where farmers can share experiences with other farmers and continue to receive technical support from extension workers and other experts. Learning centres of excellence will also be established at the district level to promote scaling up and enhance replication to other camps throughout the district.
Reporting Lines
Under the overall supervision of the FAOR, direct supervision of the Assistant FAOR (Programmes) and the technical guidance of relevant technical units in FAO and in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator (NPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture, UNDP project Manager, District Agricultural Coordinators, FAO Lead Technical Officer (LTO) and other project staff and partner agencies.

Technical focus
• Establish and/or strengthen existing farmer field schools in each of the target camps across the 16 districts
• Train trainers of trainers (extension staff) to facilitate experiential learning by communities on adaptive practices and
• Establish demonstrations for adaptation options to enhance experiential learning in each Farmer Field School and Centres of Excellence
• Establish and/or rehabilitate a learning Centre of Excellence in each of the 16 target districts
• Technical contribution to monitoring activities for CSA interventions, including development of tools and methodologies
• Stakeholder engagements
• Represent FAO Zambia in technical Working Groups on climate change and resilience as well as other institutional coordination mechanisms
• Regular participation in Technical Working Groups on CSA/Climate change as well as other institutional co-ordination mechanisms
The Incumbent Will Perform The Following

Tasks and responsibilities
• Provide the day to day management of the project for effective project activity implementation at field level including budget tracking.
• Coordinate the collection of relevant primary and secondary data from the district and community levels as and when required;
• Support implementation of the project activities at the district and community levels with a landscape approach;
• Facilitate broader replication of successfully tested adaptation practices and technology options within the farming communities;
• Liaise with the project team at the national level and district level implementation task groups on day to day activities and provide feedback to all necessary project partners, consultants and other project staff;
• Establish effective partnerships with the Government, local authorities, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society, and other UN agencies to support resilience and climate adaptation work among the farmers
• Support in developing strategic engagement document for the FAO Zambia Office through consultations with the key stakeholders in the climate change arenas relates to sustainable agriculture development.
• Represent FAO in sectoral coordination mechanisms, such as the Cluster Advisory Committees, Co-operating Partners Group related climate change, resilience and climate smart agriculture
• Contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on programme and activities that enable informed decision making and consistence of information
• Liaise with internal counterparts to ensure effective collaboration, and monitoring of climate change and adaptation related projects
• Perform other duties as required

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
• A degree in the field of agriculture or equivalent with field/on-farm experience on planning, implementation and monitoring of field demonstrations, climate change adaptation programmes/activities and Project management.
• Master’s degree with at least five years of experience in conducting field trials/demonstrations and project management is preferable.
• 3 years of relevant experience in conducting of field trials/demonstrations and field level project management is preferable for either Bachelors or Master’s Degree holders.
• Working knowledge of the English language [ie. spoken and written]
• Zambian National

FAO Core Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills
• Extent and relevance of experience in supporting, advising and guiding the implementation of complex, multi-stakeholder projects;
• Ability to develop plans for the implementation and coordination of project operations in developing countries, in partnership with UN agencies, NGOs and other concerned actors;
• Extent and relevance of experience in programme/project formulation, analysis, planning and implementation
• Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset;
• Extent of experience in formulation, implementation and monitoring of projects;
• Familiarity with UN administrative, operational and financial procedures is an asset.

Additional Information
• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: Careers@fao.org
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.
Job Posting
31/Oct/2022
Closure Date
14/Nov/2022, 11:59:00 PM
Organizational Unit
FRZAM
Job Type
Non-staff opportunities
Type of Requisition
NPP (National Project Personnel)
Grade Level
N/A
Primary Location
Zambia-Lusaka
Duration
12 months
Post Number
N/A
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device
• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO’s values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 36

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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