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Farmer Field School (FFS) Specialists

Angola

  • Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  • Location: Angola
  • Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Agriculture and Forestry
    • Education, Learning and Training
    • FRANG
  • Closing Date: Closed

IMPORTANT NOTICE\: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

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FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and nationality

People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

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Organizational Setting

FAO's work in Angola is focused on three medium-term priority areas for technical support\: - strengthening smallholder production and productivity to improve food security and nutrition; - enabling farmers to apply improved production techniques through Farmer Field Schools; enhancing commercialization and value chaine approach family farmer capacity, strengthening sustainable management of natural resources; - increasing resilience of rural livelihoods to climatic shock and climate change, through the development and application of an integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan.

In the context of the activities implemented with Farmer Field Schools (FFS), the FAO experience in Angola started in 2005 with FAO’s Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS). The positive SPFS impact led the FFS approach to be recognized by the MINAGRIF as the preferred capacity building methodology for Family Farmers. FAO is currently the agency of reference in rural development and FFS recognized by public institutions, development partners and civil society organizations.

The FFS approach has been scaled up by several Projects such as\: the IFAD-funded Market Oriented Smallholder Agriculture Project (MOSAP I); the United States funded Disaster risk reduction/management to support agro-pastoral communities affected by recurrent droughts and other natural disasters in southern Angola and northern Namibia (PIRAN) and the GEF-funded Land Rehabilitation and Rangelands Management in Small Holders Agro-pastoral Production Systems in Southwestern Angola (RETESA). Those projects better defined FFS in the context of southern Angola, incorporating livestock related issues (pastures management, animal health, herbs managements, etc.) as a key resilience-enabling factor for communities.

Currently, an increasing number of projects are going to be included in the portfolio of the country. The main objective of these projects is to strengthen and to consolidate the FFS long-term interventions, which has been developed in Angola along these last years.

Under these premises, FAO Angola plans to receive expressions of interest to fulfil its roster of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) Experts


Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the Chief Technical Adviser (CTA), FAOR-Programme and the corresponding lead technical Unit (LTU) in SFS and/or the HQ Division, the FFS Specialist will be responsible for the overall supervision of FFS in the assigned project. He/she will present the daily summary activities in a monthly report template to FAOR - P and elaborate a 6 months and annual progress reports (in Portuguese and English) with the support of National Project Coordinator (NPC).

Technical Focus

The FFS Specialist will be responsible for the development of FFS training cycles and for the operational planning, management and monitoring of all FFS activities. He/she will provide technical support and ensure a good implementation of the activities in line with the national FFS methodology, in line with project work plan and approved budget.

Tasks and responsibilities
Technical guidance of Farmers Field Schools implementation\:
  • Prepare the program for the FFS implementation and supervision of FFS in the targeted provinces
  • Prepare and coordinate the implementation of the capacity building plan of FFS
  • Prepare, organize and facilitate the capacity-building plan on the field with family farmers, technical delegates from ministers, facilitator from family farmers among others.
  • Prepare and organize the material in coordination with other thematic experts to implement the capacity-building plan for the FFS.
  • Facilitate meetings with partners at the provincial level related to the climate resilience-FFS approach and best practices to achieve consensus and promote participation in the implementation of these activities;
  • Support the thematic Expert for the inclusion of nutrition sensitive, SLM, commercialization, value chain approach, gender approach and/or other relevant issues into the FFS curriculum.
  • Support and supervise the M&E of the FFS component with support of the M&E Expert,
  • Organization and/or supervision of the implementation of training of trainers based on the global work plan of the project in question;
  • Regularly coordinate project activities with technical support from other SPPS (communication strategies/inputs) and FAO projects linked with FFSs.
  • Support the identification, documentation and dissemination of good practices at different levels, and define and implement strategies for the management of inputs to avoid paternalism at FFS
  • Supervise and support the elaboration of nutrition and gender inclusion strategy in FFS
  • Prepare monthly, semester, annual report according to FAO format provided
  • Prepare aid memoires of the capacity building plan and other activities implemented on territories.
Other related tasks\:
  • Facilitate collaboration with research and training institutions and other organizations and projects;
  • Timely prepare technical progress reports and all monitoring reports, namely\: six monthly and yearly progress reports, Call for funds reports, and final report, with support of components of provinces supervised by FFS M&E and FFS Community Development experts
  • Provide technical advice and assistance to the mid-term and final evaluations of the project I the component of FFS curriculum implementation
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
  • Advanced university degree in a field related to agronomy sciences, rural development, food sciences, biology, natural resources management, environment management, economics, international relations and cooperation and/or other related areas
  • At least 5 years of experience (for Category B) and 10 years of experience (for Category A) in international cooperation, rural development projects, with local communities and/or in the agricultural sector
  • Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian).
FAO Core Competencies
  • Results Focus
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Building Effective Relationships
  • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Selection Criteria
  • Extent and relevance of experience in FFS methodology and curricula implementation
  • Extent and relevance of experience in project management and in particular results-based management
  • Demonstrated previous experience working with farmers field schools or similar extension approach
  • Familiarity with FAO strategic objectives and their alignment with SDGs
  • Knowledge of FAO’s project management systems is an asset.

Additional Selection Criteria

  • Knowledge of Portuguese is strongly recommended
  • Experience in more than one location and, in particular, in Portuguese speaking countries, including Angola, will be an asset.

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Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

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This vacancy is now closed.
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