Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social Inclusion), Bangkok

Job Title : Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social Inclusion) P-4, Bangkok

ID : 28018

Location : BANGKOK

Date of issue : 04/14/2025

Close Date : (Midnight, Rome Time) 05/05/2025

Organizational Unit : Envir. Climate Gender & Incl.

Full/Part Time : Full-Time

Regular/Temporary : Regular

Assignment Duration : 2 Years

Grade : P-4

Organizational Setting

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.

The Office of Technical Delivery is responsible for providing expert technical guidance to IFAD teams engaged in the design and implementation of projects and programmes to deliver the high technical quality investments that facilitate rural transformation, and which comply with IFAD's mandate and operational policies. The Office ensures IFAD applies and disseminates state-of-the-art knowledge in its investments and evidence on strategic themes and encourages the innovative application of global knowledge and evidence in IFAD investments. This helps countries tackle complex development challenges in fostering inclusive and sustainable rural transformation including mainstreaming areas. The Office of Technical Delivery (OTD) is led by a Managing Director and is comprised of two (2) divisions: the Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division (ECG) and the Sustainable Production, Markets and Institutions Division (PMI).

The Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division (ECG) leads the mainstreaming of cross-cutting themes of environment and climate, gender, nutrition, youth, disability and indigenous peoples into IFAD's portfolio, and the implementation of social, environment and climate safeguards (SECAP), to strengthen the quality of IFAD's operations and programmes. ECG takes the technical lead to strengthen the quality of IFAD's operations and programmes ensuring that IFAD's operations are environmentally sustainable, climate change resilient, nutrition sensitive and inclusive of marginalized groups (particularly women, rural youth, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities.) In addition to strengthening the technical quality of operations, ECG provides its technical expertise in corporate strategies, policy engagement, resource mobilization, knowledge generation, and partnerships.

ECG is led by a Divisional Director and is comprised of four clusters: Environment and Climate (ECC), Climate and Environment External funds (CEF), Social Inclusion (SI) and Safeguards (SECAP).

Job Role

The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and Social Inclusion) serves as IFAD's technical expert in their area of expertise. The incumbent supports country/regional programs by providing state-of-the-art regional technical advice on nutrition with ability to provide backstopping especially in areas related to social inclusion throughout the project cycle and contributes to the corporate agenda, knowledge building and dissemination as well as strategy and policy setting in their technical area of expertise.

Within their areas of responsibility, the Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) exercises a high degree of independence in providing technical support to the design and implementation of country programmes and investment projects. The incumbent at this level provides in-depth technical leadership for the development of country strategies and investment projects within complex settings. The incumbent works collaboratively with other Regional Technical Leads, thematic Technical Specialists, Country Directors (CD)/Head of Multi-Country Offices (MCO) and other staff in the relevant portfolio assigned to them, to ensure consistency, cohesion and synergy in the application of technical advice and provision of programme development support.

The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and Social Inclusion) supports country/regional programs mainly in Asia Pacific Region (APR).

Key Functions and Results

1. SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVICE TO COUNTRY PROGRAMMES: The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) provides technically authoritative advice on key aspects of nutrition as well as social inclusion to improve the capacity of IFAD to position itself as an influential global player in rural transformation. Accountabilities may include but are not limited to:

• Providing nutrition advice and assessments, in accordance with existing guidelines, technical opportunities for development of investment projects and programmes and supporting/overseeing their execution;
• Participating in country programme management teams and providing technical, analytical inputs to IFAD's country strategic opportunity papers (COSOPs) and Country Strategic Notes (CSNs), project designs as well as to other policy documents related to rural development, poverty reduction and food systems;
• Participating in project missions and providing senior technical advice to ensure quality of operations.

2. POLICY AND STRATEGY ADVICE AND DEVELOPMENT: The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) provides technically authoritative advice informed by empirical evidence to improve the capacity of IFAD to position itself as an influential player in agricultural and rural development in the assigned Region APR and globally. Accountabilities may include but are not limited to:

• Providing IFAD staff and partners with up-to-date and evidence-based advice on relevant policy, institutional and technical matters;
• Providing evidence-informed recommendations to IFAD management on IFAD's rural development agenda using a wide range of data sources and analytical tools;
• Providing support to IFAD's senior and regional management's participation in high level fora with policy implications for rural transformation, including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, and preparing documents and presentations;
• Contribute to the preparation of policy-oriented products (e.g., briefs, guidance notes) to advance IFAD's voice in the regional debate on rural transformation, in close collaboration with relevant Country and Regional Director(s), Lead Portfolio Advisor (s) and other Lead/Senior Technical Specialist(s).

3. KNOWLEDGE AND ADVISORY SERVICES: The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) enhances the development of viable and sustainable policies and supports regional and global thematic input through authoritative technical knowledge sharing in their area of specialization.. The incumbent will ensure access to the latest sources of knowledge and innovation, strengthen technical capacity and establish new knowledge and advisory regional level partnerships. Accountabilities may include, but are not limited to:

• Supporting intelligence gathering and analysis of debates relevant to inclusive and sustainable rural transformation and facilitating knowledge sharing and experiences in this area within IFAD and with other stakeholders in the global and regional arena;
• Supporting the coordination of the relevant knowledge development and dissemination with institutions outside of IFAD, within the regions concerned and national Institutions, disseminating knowledge and lessons learned with external partners and stakeholders through publication of Occasional Papers, journal articles, seminars and workshops, through electronic media and the development of new knowledge products and operational tools that are informed by learning from the field;
• Participating in IFAD-wide thematic discussions and developing appropriate technical and operation approaches of relevance to the country/divisional strategies and programmes;
• Planning and leading learning events in the assigned portfolio/region in close liaison with focal points from the other regions to strengthen IFAD's knowledge on nutrition sensitive agriculture and food systems, social inclusion, quality support to operations and capacity to engage in global debates with policy implications for rural transformation.

4. PARTNERSHIP BUILDING AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES: Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and Social Inclusion) develops and maintains a network of strategic partnerships that can help advance IFAD's mandate and messages around rural transformation in the global debate. The incumbent develops peer contacts inside and outside IFAD to keep up-to-date on activities at the country and regional levels, to support joint advocacy and for knowledge sharing to enhance the Fund's profile as a highly competent and viable partner in development. Accountabilities may include:

• Building partnerships with centres of excellence, complementary technical organizations and specialized departments of other development institutions (including United Nations agencies, International Financial Institutions, bilateral cooperation agencies, non-governmental organizations, and others) as strategic partners at global, regional and country levels;
• Strengthening IFAD's representation and communication in policy and technical dialogue processes and strategy issues (including representing IFAD at international, regional, inter-agency meetings, seminars and conferences);
• Developing and cultivating alliances in key global and regional policy forums such as the UN Nutrition, SUN Movement to strengthen IFAD's influence over time, with a strategic focus on nutrition and putting social inclusion aspects into consideration.

5. MONITORING, EVALUATION AND REPORTING: The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and Social inclusion) supports the Director/Lead Technical Specialists in knowledge management and other monitoring and reporting activities to enhance country level programme and funding decisions within the assigned region/portfolio.

6. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) is accountable for integrity, transparency, and equity in the management of IFAD resources. This includes, among others, people management through support to recruitment of technical specialists and technical leadership/capacity development, coaching and mentoring of new and/or more junior staff, supervisory role and evaluation of performance of professionals, consultants, interns and general service staff under their purview.

The Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) supports country/regional programs mainly in Asia Pacific Region (APR).

Key Performance Indicators

Assignments require the provision of authoritative technical expertise in the field of specialization. The impact of work by the incumbent directly affects the overall performance of country programmes and contributes to regional and corporate policy and strategy. Senior Technical Specialists (Nutrition and social inclusion) design and contribute to the delivery, implementation support and supervision of investment projects and country programmes. The impact on the overall IFAD country and regional programmes is significant in projecting the Fund's role/capacity as a reliable, viable partner in development. Work is intricate in that it requires consideration of a wide range of technical factors and related data and national policies.

Senior Technical Specialists (Nutrition and social inclusion) also monitor and guide the work of external consultants and participate as experts in field missions and in the servicing of intergovernmental and expert group meetings of a technical nature. Work at this level normally is not reviewed for technical accuracy. Senior Technical Specialists (Nutrition and Social inclusion) thus exercise independence and initiative in assessing needs and advising governments. Decisions are made on the research or analytical strategies to be followed in resolving problems of concern in the technical area. Established methods and procedures are adapted as necessary in order to achieve desired results.

Working Relationships

The work relationships of Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) involves the provision of technical advice and the negotiation and resolution of problems that arise in technical project design and appraisal, supervision/implementation support and in the preparation of studies and reports. The incumbent serves as an expert in Nutrition with knowledge on social inclusion working with full technical independence in the provision of technical expertise and methodological guidance at the country level, as well as regionally as required. In servicing intergovernmental bodies, expert working groups and other meetings, the Senior Technical Specialist provides technical expertise and recommendations for investment, policy formulation and official conclusions in a consultative and Specialist capacity; they also may provide information regarding the organization's policies, and act as the representative of the organization.

In the assigned region/portfolio (APR) the Senior Technical Specialist (Nutrition and social inclusion) works collaboratively with respective ECG technical specialists, PMI thematic Technical Specialists, and other staff to ensure consistency, cohesion and synergy in the application of technical advice and provision of programme development support facilitating knowledge flows and building of communities of practices.

Job Profile Requirements

Organizational Competencies:

Level 2:

• Building relationships and partnerships - Builds and maintains strategic partnerships internally and externally
• Communicating and negotiating - Acquires & uses a wide range of communication styles & skills
• Demonstrating leadership - Leads by example; initiates and supports change
• Focusing on clients - Contributes to a client-focused culture
• Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating - Challenges, innovates & contributes to learning culture
• Managing performance and developing staff - Manages wider teams with greater impact on others and on the organization
• Managing time, resources and information - Coordinates wider use of time, information and/or resources
• Problem-solving and decision-making - Solves complex problems and makes decisions that have wider corporate impact esWlB6U PHMNB
• Strategic thinking and organizational development - Staff in management and/or strategic leadership roles
• Team working - Fosters a cohesive team environment

Education:

• Level - Advanced/Masters university degree from an accredited institution in a technically relevant area.
• Degree must be an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php
• Areas - Community Nutrition and Development, International Nutrition, Nutrition, Food Security, Agriculture, Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, or related field

(*) Note: For internal candidates, this requirement will be assessed in line with the provisions set forth in the IFAD

• s Human Resources Implementing Procedures.

Experience:

• At least eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional experience leading and implementing Nutrition sensitive projects/programs .
• Two (2) years in a multi-cultural organization or national organization providing support on a global scope.
• Knowledge of the Asia Pacific Region and context is highly desirable.

The following skills and experiences are an asset:

• Authoritative technical expertise at the country and regional level in nutrition sensitive agriculture and food systems programming and policy arena.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the nutrition policies, nutrition priorities and nutrition dynamics of the Asia Pacific Region
• Knowledge and experience in integrating social inclusion aspects (poverty targeting, gender, youth and Indigenous Peoples food systems) and climate change into nutrition sensitive programs in the context of rural development and agri-food systems;
• Skill in the design and coordination of technical research and identification of innovative solutions to emerging issues.
• Ability to share technical guidance/knowledge at the governmental and peer levels as well as to inspire more junior specialists and programme staff in the development of viable programme activities.

Languages:

• Required: English (4 - Excellent)
• Desirable: French, Spanish, or Arabic (3 - Good)

Skills:

• Adaptability: Adaptability and flexibility when facing new or unexpected situations, and to specific constraints and circumstances and managing complex processes
• Corporate approach: Ability to bring in corporate vision and priorities into one's area of work (e.g. budgeting going beyond simple budgetary considerations, taking into account strategic priorities)
• Interpersonal skills: Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with others (e.g. visitors, clients, callers, etc.), including senior individuals (e.g. high-level meeting participants)
• Synthesis: Outstanding ability to synthesize and simplify complex technical information for a variety of (non-technical) audiences
• Verbal communication: Clear, succinct and convincing verbal communication; highly professional, balanced and diplomatic language
• Written communication: Clear, succinct and convincing written communication in the language needed for specific role; highly professional, balanced and diplomatic language (e.g. for drafting of position papers, briefings, etc.)
• Evidence-based policy: Know-how in the formulation of concrete and actionable policy recommendations based on hard evidence (going beyond simple data interpretation)
• Programme/Project development, management: Know-how in Programme/Project development, implementation, management

Other Information

Applicants should note that IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD's Human Resources Policy, the President can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.

In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful. Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.

IFAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnic, social or political background, colour, nationality, religion, age, gender, disability, marital status, family size or sexual orientation.

Please be aware of fraudulent job offers. IFAD does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process. Official communication from IFAD will always come from e-mails ending in @ifad.org.

In accordance with IFAD's provisions, all new staff members will normally be placed at the first step in the grade level for which they have been selected. For information on IFAD's remuneration package, please visit IFAD

• s compensation and benefits page on our website. Applicants are invited to use the ICSC compensation calculator to estimate the salary and benefit entitlements. See here.