Nutrition and Food Systems Officer

Organizational Setting

FAO’s commitment to environmental sustainability is integral to our strategic objectives and operations.

The Subregional Office for the Pacific Islands (SAP) covers Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau (a New Zealand territory), Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. SAP is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed-upon strategies and projects for supporting the Pacific countries' agrifood systems transformation. SAP delivers technical assistance to countries through partnerships with subregion-wide institutions.

The Subregional Office is a subsidiary of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP).

The position is located in the Subregional Office for the Pafic Islands (SAP) in Apia, Samoa.

Reporting Lines

The Nutrition and Food Systems Officer reports to the Subregional Coordinator for the Pacific Islands.

Technical Focus

Provides nutrition, food systems, corporate and cross-cutting technical and managerial support to the programmes of work under two of FAO's Four Betters (Better Nutrition and Better Life), in the context of the FAO Strategic Framework and the 2030 Agenda.

Key Results

Comprehensive technical, statistical, analytical and/or policy analysis services and the development of specialized tools, methodologies, systems and/or databases to support the planning, implementation/delivery and monitoring of the programmes of work and related products, projects, publications and services.

Key Functions

• Plans and leads components of multidisciplinary teams and short-term work groups; leads and/or participates in internal committees, project teams and working groups and provides specialized expertise on international technical networks and or technical policy and standard setting bodies.
• Develops technical, statistical, analytical, monitoring and reporting frameworks, and related tools, methodologies, systems and databases, etc. to support the planning, implementation/delivery and monitoring of the programmes of work, products, projects and services.
• Designs and conducts research, data collection, validation, analysis and/or reporting activities to support the development of technical standards, international instruments, innovative tools and methodologies, flagship publications/technical reports and/or policy proposals as well as the provision of technical specialist and/or policy advice and expertise.
• Responds to requests and provides technical/policy advice, assistance and solutions to Regional, Subregional and Country Offices and provides technical backstopping to field projects.
• Promotes international cooperation and collaboration, advocates best practices and increased policy dialogue and provides technical expertise at international meetings and conferences.
• Supports capacity development and knowledge sharing activities within Member Nations, through policy support, organizational development and individual learning and by the development of learning materials and related on-line tools.
• Participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework and Office plans.

Specific Functions

• Contributes nutrition and food safety expertise to the implementation of the FAO Multi-country Programming Framework, which is derived from the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for the Pacific Islands and represents SAP's contributions to the FAO Strategic Framework and the overall Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Acts as Lead Technical Officer for the formulation, implementation and monitoring of all agrifood systems projects including nutrition, food safety, food systems transformation, statistics, digitalization, policy support, gender and others under the Better Nutrition and Better Life modules.
• Leads the nutrition stream of FAO's work in the Pacific by supporting governments' efforts and collaborating with partners to address non-communicable diseases through promoting the production and consumption of unprocessed or minimally processed, nutritious and safe foods.
• Develops and implements innovative tools for successful nutrition education initiatives that draw on proven creative approaches to food based dietary guidelines development and implementation, integrated gardens, digitalization and nutrition education in schools and communities.
• Leads the food safety stream of FAO's work in the Pacific by supporting governments' efforts in ensuring food safety in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners on strengthening the capacities of National Codex Committees as well as the adoption and implementation of Codex Alimentarius standards to ensure the local consumption of safe foods and access to foreign agrifood systems markets.
• Leads the agrifood systems transformation agenda by working with partners to support governments over the development, costing, monitoring and implementation of national pathways backed by robust multi-sectorial and inclusive dialogue and consultation processes.
• LeadsFAO's statistics stream of work by strengthening governments' capacities to design and implement statistical methodologies, collects and analyses data and produce quality reports via agricultural censuses, post disaster needs assessments and other analytical reports to inform thetransformation of agrifood systems.
• Leads FAO's support to governments in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and strategies to facilitate thetransformation of agrifood systems.
• Leads FAO's efforts on gender by ensuring good gender analysis and sensitivity to programming, for example ensuing gender sensitive targeting, sex disaggregated beneficiary numbers and reporting.
• Leads the FAO Digital Village Initiative by collaborating with the Better Production and Better Environment module leaders, governments, communities, the private sector, other UN agencies, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), resource partners and others to unleash the power of digitalization and innovation in catalysing thetransformation of agrifood systems.
• Leads the FAO Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Solutions Platform, by organizing the biennial SIDS Solutions Forum, profiling of solutions and facilitating knowledge exchange to accelerate the achievement of SDGs, particularly those linked to agrifood systems, the environment, climate change and health.
• Leads the annual publication of the Pacific Overview of Nutrition and Food Security Report under the FAO led partnership of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), WHO and the Pacific Community.
• Leads resource mobilization efforts for the Better Nutrition and Better Life Modules in collaboration with the Better Production and Better Environment Module leaders, but also with other UN and non-UN agencies.
• Supports the Subregional Coordinator on donor and partner engagements as well as corporate initiatives, as required.
• Leads FAO engagements with the Rome-based agencies for creative partnerships and programming.

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CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in nutrition, food science, development studies or a related field.
• Seven years of relevant experience in analysing nutrition, food security and related issues, using both descriptive and advanced quantitative and qualitative survey techniques.
• Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of English and intermediate knowledge (intermediate - level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• 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, is desirable.
• Strong experience working on agrifood systems and a critical understanding of the nutrition context of SIDS, particularly Pacific SIDS, is desirable.
• Extent and relevance of experience in and knowledge of nutrition policy and programme initiatives.
• Extent and relevance of experience in analysing nutrition related issues.
• Extent and relevance of experience in the integration of nutrition into agricultural policies and programmes including developing country experience.
• Familiarity with FAO's partner institutions (UN, Non-Governmental Organizations, donors).
• Ability to mobilize resources.