Consultant- Chief of Technical Advisor- Vientiane

POSTING DATES

Posting date: 19 March 2019

Closing date: 30 March 2019

JOB PURPOSE

1. Undernutrition and food insecurity remain stubbornly high in the upland areas of Lao PDR, with stunting levels of children under five years, as high as 61 per cent in some provinces, the impact of which is lifelong. Undernutrition blights lives and undercuts social and economic development. Children who are chronically malnourished in the critical first thousand days, beginning at conception, can suffer irreversible damage to their physical and mental development. Improving women’s nutrition is critical to breaking the intergenerational cycle of undernutrition and; given the negative impact that chronic undernutrition has on health, productivity, educational attainment, and income-earning, its redress is essential to sustained national economic growth.
2. As part of the Lao Government’s vision to graduate from Least Developed Country status by 2020 and with its strong commitment to a prosperous country free from food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty, the Lao Government has requested for a USD 30milllion grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme to implement a food security and nutrition programme in the country called “Strategic Support for Food Security and Nutrition” in short SSFNSP.
3. The SSFSNP aims to contribute to reduced extreme poverty and malnutrition in Lao PDR through the improvement of food security and nutritional outcomes for poor rural communities. As per design, in the SSFSNP nutrition will be a cross-cutting, not a stand-alone theme tacked on to other activities. The key objective is to improve people’s diets during the life cycle, with a particular focus on the 1,000 day window, with foods sourced from own production, wild food collection and purchases.
4. This will be, in part, achieved through the development of sustainable, climate-adapted, nutrition-rich upland crop and livestock farming systems (nutrition-sensitive agriculture) as well as through the roll-out of nutrition programmes at village levels for women. The design of the SSFNSP is aligned with the Government’s National Nutrition Strategy to 2025 and Plan of Action 2016 – 2020 (NNSPA) and the MOH will take the lead in rolling out the nutrition activities in close partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), the Ministry of Education and Sport (MoES) and the Lao Women’s Union (LWU). For the implementation SSFNSP will hire/support local officials at District levels as well as provide stipends to local facilitators or volunteers at village and/or kum ban level.
5. The National Nutrition Committee (NNC) and the National Nutrition Secretariat (NNS) will provide strategic guidance for operation and will be responsible for the monitoring of the SSFSNP nutrition activities. For the monitoring activities the Multi-Sectoral International Nutrition Advisor will closely work with NNC and NNS as well as with the World Food Programme (WFP) who takes the technical lead for monitoring reports to the GAFSP Coordination Unit in Washington DC. The Advisor will also consult with the Nutrition Advisors at IFAD Office in Rome for internationally acknowledged best practices.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The Chief of Technical Advisor will advise the Project on all aspects of coordination, management and technical issues as requested by the Project Coordinator (PC) and the overall programme management including:

1. Budget and Programming

• assist the PC in developing the AWPB for submission to NPSC and IFAD Lao PDR, including relevant updates and revisions;
• develop and regularly update the Project multi-year work plan based on the approved budget and the project document; and
• present the annual operational plan (detailed by semester) and financial programming to the NPSC and PPSCs and obtain their validation

2 Coordination and Implementation of Activities

• provide oversight and periodically analyze progress of implementation and suggest recommendations to PC for solving any emerging issues;
• assist the PC in the coordination of the implementation of the Project tasks and activities detailed in the Project document;
• assist the PC in preparation of TORs, tenders and contract documents for equipment, works and professional services;
• coordinate with Development partners to synergize project implementation;
• support the PC and WFP in identifying activities  related to component 2 to fill potential gaps identified during project implementation  or  support activity revisions in line with supervisory and oversight mission recommendations.

3 Financial Performance: Commitment, Ordering, and Payment, within the Limits of Signature Authorities

• assist the PC in establishing and maintaining an adequate financial management and procurement system under IFAD and WFP guidelines and following the GoL regulations;
• ensure that financial operations are transparent, sufficiently documented and follow the approved Project procedures;
• facilitate the work of auditors during their visits to the Project and ensure that audit recommendations are taken into account in daily management. 

4 Monitoring, Reporting, Communication

• assist the PC in establishing and operating the current monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and knowledge management (KM) systems under IFAD and WFP guidelines, in close coordination with the MAF ProMIS and Project national M&E and KM advisors;
• assist the M&E & KM teams in implementing the defined capacity building programme related to M&E & KM and engage in on-the-job coaching of assigned M&E and KM staff at all levels;
• assist the PC in providing and submitting bi-annual progress reporting; 

5 Human Resources Management

• assist the PC in establishing an overall HR plan for the AFN Project staff;
• assist the PC in establishing a systematic staff performance evaluation system and support its implementation; and
• identifying and communicating training requirements.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

Thematic Specialist. As a sector specialist in participatory planning and climate-adapted nutrition-sensitive agriculture, the CTA also carries responsibilities in the transfer of skills. The CTA will also link coordination between bottom-up participatory planning processes with the national level and maintains oversight of the implementation performance as identified by achievement milestones. 

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

Masters degree or higher level in development, agriculture or related field.

Minimum 10 years professional experience managing government-led agriculture and rural development investment projects in South-east Asia. Proven experience managing complex projects with nutrition-sensitive agriculture investments.

Familiarity with processes for linking household nutrition with agriculture and farmers to markets.