Sustainable Livelihood and Private Sector Specialist

Details

Mission and objectives

UNDP is a global knowledge network that promotes human development and connects countries with knowledge, experiences and resources to help people build better lives. UNDP has supported Djibouti since 1979 in its solutions to development challenges and capacity building that will help them achieve the goals of sustainable development. In line with the Djibouti National Development Strategy, the UNDAF and the UNDP Strategic Plan, we are committed to supporting the Government and people of Djibouti.

Context

Private sector involvement in Djibouti's land use and agriculture is still nascent. With an arid landscape, scant arable terrain, and limited water supply, agriculture in Djibouti has remained largely underdeveloped, focusing on subsistence-level production of drought-tolerant crops and rearing livestock. Consequently, Djibouti relies on imports for about 90% of its food needs, predominantly from neighboring Ethiopia. Agricultural endeavors within the private sector are mainly facilitated through cooperatives, with a notable number of these groups being led by women. These cooperatives are crucial to the local economy, producing and selling agricultural products in local informal markets. Yet, they face challenges in accessing broader markets, including the critical Djibouti city market, which serves the majority of the nation's population, and other major regional cities, thus limiting their expansion and national economic contribution. Moreover, these cooperatives often lack proper structure and coordination. Acknowledging the sector's potential to contribute to economic expansion and enhance food security, the Government of Djibouti (GoDj) is increasingly looking to involve the private sector in agriculture, with a focus on developing sectors such as dairy and other agricultural products. The Djibouti government has also committed to inclusive growth via the 2020-2024 National Development Plan (NDP), focusing on aiding vulnerable groups such as small-scale farmers, women in cooperatives, nomads, and fishermen to enhance their living standards and economic potential. The plan also prioritizes women's economic empowerment by supporting their entry into the workforce and entrepreneurship, aligning with agencies that bolster micro and small enterprises. Despite these efforts, agricultural cooperatives struggle to obtain suitable financing, as existing microfinance options do not meet their needs, and farmers frequently shoulder the full risk of business setbacks. In addition, climate change is expected to significantly contribute to increasing food insecurity in the country. Djibouti’s rural population, which includes a large pastoralist population, is particularly at risk from increasing aridification and water shortages as they mainly reside in deserts or marginal lands, often with highly erodible soil and limited water supply. In remote areas in the northwest and central parts of the country, increasingly recurrent droughts in the winter season have already led to reduced pasture areas, while flooding damages rural properties, agricultural land and infrastructure. The UNV will work alongside the National Food Security and Value Chain Specialist to develop interventions for inclusive livelihood for climate-vulnerable agro-pastoral communities through improved access to water, energy, and access to finance. The areas of work will include inter alia agriculture, livestock and fishery value chain analysis, conduct value-chain feasibility analysis leading to the selection of value-chains with highest potential, facilitate private sector engagement, carry out mapping of the selected value-chains and conduct intersectional analysis of market, climate change, gender and financing for the value-chains.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor and Team Leader of Greening Djibouti Portfolio, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1. Identify the relevant government strategies and policies and administrative frameworks promoting agri-business and agro-entrepreneurship in Djibouti 2. Analyze the transboundary socio-economic and socio-political mechanisms and pa-rameters governing the agri-business and agro-based markets 3. Design and undertake market analysis to develop dataset on supply and demand of various agriculture, livestock and fishery-based value-chains 4. Undertake Capacity Gap and Needs Assessment to identify the institutional, political, and infrastructure potential and challenges to develop agriculture, livestock and fishery-based value chains 5. Conduct feasibility of the existing value-chains and identify the areas of improvement to support the Vision 2035 ambition of economic diversification and SDG targets 6. Conduct gap and needs analysis for the prioritized green/ blue economy-based enter-prises, (production and services) to set up an efficient value chain framework 7. Mapping and analysis of the key stakeholders for promotion and scaling up of the val-ue-chain-based agri-business 8. Map the cooperatives at the national and regional level and develop livelihood support interventions in support of climate-resilient value-chain development opportunities. 9. Design private sector engagement approaches and a milestone-based action plan to promote value-chain-based livelihoods. 10. Develop innovative and sustainable financing opportunities for the cooperatives and small-holder farmers, pastoralists and fishermen 11. Provide a concrete roadmap with a costed action plan for cross-border agri-business development to secure the food supply chain with stable pricing for the population of Djibouti, including a resilience framework in the events of crises 12. Build upon the SDG Investor Map analysis and collaborate with the SDG Deep Dive assessment process to develop the agro-business and blue-economy-based sectors