sustainable livelihood expert/agricultural econo mistFAO

Organizational Setting:
For more than four decades, FAO has been working with the Government of the Philippines, civil society, community-based organizations and the private sector to address challenges in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector. Joint efforts have included increasing sustainability in agricultural production, promoting value-adding practices, improving post-harvest management, enhancing productivity and increasing the resilience of agriculture-based livelihoods to natural disasters, climatic hazards and armed conflict.
Reporting Lines:
The Sustainable Livelihood Expert/Agricultural Economist will be under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative in the Philippines ad interim, the direct supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative for Programme, the technical supervision of the FLO (GEF Coordination Unit), the LTO and the International GEF Expert and in close collaboration with the national experts.
Technical Focus:
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) recently approved the Project Identification Project (PIF) of the project entitled "Sustainable Management of Natural Resources towards Rehabilitation and Preservation of the Key Biodiversity Area along Bataan Province to Manila Bay". The project specifically aims to mainstream biodiversity and sustainable land management (SLM) in key biodiversity areas (KBA) along Bataan Province to Manila Bay In response to the said objective, the project's interventions will focus on the following three components: (i) Provincial level capacity to support mainstreaming biodiversity and SLM and development and implementation of provincial level land use planning and development frameworks; (ii) Capacity building, natural resource management and sustainable livelihoods to deliver global environmental benefits in key biodiversity areas (KBAs) at sub-provincial level in Bataan province; and (iii) Monitoring and evaluation and knowledge management.
In line with this, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Government of the Philippines, will now develop the full project document based on the approved PIF and in alignment with the national priorities, FAO comparative advantages, and GEF 7 programming directions. Project preparation activities will include desktop review as well as multi-stakeholder consultations and workshops to ensure the involvement of key stakeholders in the project design process and generate commitments both at the national and sub-national levels.
The project will focus on the Bataan Province which is directly connected to the bigger natural system of the Manila Bay catchment. Within this project site, the nature and extent of specific target sites for field-level activities will be confirmed during the project development phase, taking into consideration the existence of globally important environmental values and addressable associated threats, community buy-in, and resource availability.
It is expected that through the project implementation, biodiversity and SLM concerns will be successfully mainstreamed across landscapes. Likewise, the project will facilitate better partnerships among stakeholders and provide appropriate tool to decision makers in effectively addressing major threats on SLM and biodiversity conservation in the project sites.
Tasks and responsibilities
The Sustainable Livelihood Expert/Agricultural Economist will carry out the following tasks:
Provide technical inputs to help ensure that the overall project design reflects and integrates a strong understanding of existing natural resource conservation/agricultural economic challenges and opportunities related to achievement of the project objective;
Conduct preliminary value chain analysis of existing products and identify potential for possible sustainable livelihood interventions;
Map existing groups, including women farmer groups and IPs, and corresponding livelihood practices, and develop appropriate roadmap towards its transformation into biodiversity friendly livelihoods;
Develop livelihood enhancement plans, including the strategies and mechanisms to foster private sector partnership for biodiversity-friendly enterprises; identify appropriate training and capacity building activities to support enterprise development.
Identify the critical needs of farmers in adopting sustainable practices and their needs for value adding activities and provide recommendations for addressing these gaps.
Identify ongoing and past good practices on similar livelihood practices and identify potential areas of learning, collaboration and up-scaling.
Complete and contribute to relevant sections of the project document and supporting materials including: tracking tools, social and environmental assessments, results framework, baseline information, national benefits, results framework, capacity development;
Complete and submit mission reports covering a brief summary of mission activities and conclusions, key persons/ organizations consulted and recommendations for the finalization of the project documents;
Define a set of activities (and associated budget and M&E) for the provision of technical, organisational and marketing support to farmers, to enable them to obtain livelihood and commercial benefits in a sustainable manner;
Undertake field missions and participate in workshops/ meetings/ consultations as required;
Provide a preliminary outline, proposed methodology, draft and final copies of all expected output; and
Carry out other relevant duties within his/her technical competence as requested by FAO.
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
Advanced university degree in agriculture economics, development economics, agriculture business management, and allied fields;
At least ten (10) years of demonstrated experience in developing CBFM and livelihood strategies, proven success in supporting community-private sector partnerships and community-based enterprise, their implementation and monitoring - especially in the Philippines;
A National of the Philippines.
FAO Core Competencies
Results Focus
Teamwork
Communication
Building Effective Relationships
Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
Language requirement: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;
General knowledge and skills in the use of standard office software, such as MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point)
FAO

Philippines
Permanent
Full-time