National FIRST Policy Associate

The Food and Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation (FIRST) is an FAO and European Union partnership programme with the purpose of providing a policy assistance mechanism for improved food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (FNSSA). FIRST is designed to strengthen the enabling policy and institutional environment for food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture in a number of selected priority countries, and is directly related to food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture policy and governance related results envisioned under FAO Strategic Objectives 1. ‘Help Eliminate Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition’ and 2. ‘Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable’.

This position is located in the FAO Sindh provincial office in Karachi, with travel to other parts of Sindh. Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Pakistan, this position reports to the International FIRST Policy Officer, with very close coordination and consultation with the Chief Economist, Planning & Development Department, Government of Sindh.

The Policy Associate will provide research, analysis and operational support for result-based policy assistance, governance, capacity development and the facilitation of policy dialogue around food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture in accordance with the Government of Sindh’s overall vision for economic growth, poverty reduction and rural development.

• Organize and lead in-depth assessments of policy and institutional frameworks, interventions, mapping and information management for FNSSA in Pakistan that relate to Sindh initiatives. Analyse Sindh-specific requirements, human resource and organizational capacity gaps and budgetary allocations, and identify areas for strengthening and prioritisation.
• Support the Chief Economist and P&D Board by providing analysis of new development project proposals that concern FNSSA, water or climate; finding areas of concern or inconsistency in budgetary, coordination, duplication, monitoring & evaluation, gender, sustainability, or technical feasibility aspects. Develop proposal checklists against which alignment with government objectives such as poverty reduction, women’s inclusion and rural development can be assessed.
• Contribute to the medium-term planning and forecasting function of the P&D Department through support for analysis of the agricultural/rural economy and future scenarios, and assist with formulating input to the federal planning process, and analysing how Government of Sindh programs and policies will interact with and reinforce relevant Government of Pakistan programs and policies.
• Work in collaboration with the FIRST Policy & Strategy Advisers for the Agriculture, Supply & Prices Department and the Livestock & Fisheries Department, and with relevant officials in any related agencies, to identify cross-cutting issues and opportunities for joint programs, communication activities, cost-savings and efficiencies in delivering policies and programs relating to the food and agriculture system of Sindh.
• Provide policy and program support for the holding of the second Sindh Development Forum, in particular, for any Agriculture & Food Security, Nutrition, Poverty, Climate or Water working groups, including development and dissemination of working papers to support technical discussions.
• Provide assistance to the Government of Sindh in the FNSSA sector by 1) contributing to meetings, workshops and seminars related to FNSSA at the provincial level; 2) organizing and contributing to meetings and conferences around FNSSA to promote evidence-based policy dialogue and develop effective working relationships/ consensus with partners; and 3) participating in resource mobilisation activities for institutional capacity building in the province.
• Assist the objective, under the FIRST Graduation Strategy, of institutionalising policy analysis capacity within government by working alongside the international FIRST Policy Officer and the Sindh FAO team as time permits on such activities as policy dialogues and training of government officials in line agencies, covering a range of subjects including drought management, disaster preparedness, poverty reduction, land access and tenure security, gender, nutrition, and climate-resilience.
• Contribute to the update and maintenance of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in place in the Government of Sindh, and suggest any modifications to design or new M&E systems required in order to accurately and usefully report on implementation efforts of policies and programs concerning FNSSA.
• Any other relevant policy assistance requested from the Government of Sindh’s Planning & Development Board and approved by FAO that will contribute to deepening the FNSSA context in Sindh.
• Any other task assigned by the FAO Representative in Pakistan.