Project Assistant for TEFSO, Royal Forest Department, Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand has initiated the negotiation of a bilateral trade agreement of Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union. This VPA negotiation is part of the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the EU which aims at improving legality and governance in the forestry sector in general and the timber industry in particular. A Thailand-EU FLEGT VPA Secretariat Office (TEFSO) has been established under the Royal Forest Department (RFD). The general mandate of the TESFO is to provide secretarial support to Thailand’s National FLEGT Committee, for which the RFD Director General serves as the Secretary and TEFSO Director as the Assistant Secretary. TEFSO provides the needed secretarial and technical support to the Thailand-EU VPA negotiation process and assists with the Thai Government’s correspondence with the EU and EU Delegation. It also provides coordination assistance to the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) established under the National FLEGT Committee, the multi-stakeholder Ad Hoc Working Group on FLEGT and other parties relevant to the FLEGT VPA.

Reporting Lines

Under the direct supervision of the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme Forest Officer based in the Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, the incumbent will provide a range of administrative services in support to efficient project implementation, operations and coordination of FLEGT VPA activities of TEFSO, RFD.

The Project Assistant will be hired to provide services for the Government of Thailand (represented by Royal Forest Department). The overall approval of the outcomes of the work by the Project Assistant will be based on the satisfaction of completion of work by the assigned Forestry Officer, FAO RAP; the Project Assistant will work in close collaboration with permanent and temporary TEFSO staffs, and the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme. The Project Assistant is responsible for all tasks and products outlined in the terms of reference. All tasks will be considered complete after approval by the assigned Forestry Officer, FAO RAP.

• Provide administrative and operational support during the preparation of formal and informal meetings organized by TEFSO and/or relevant parties;
• Provide secretarial support to ensure effective implementation and coordination of stakeholders engaged in the participatory process, i.e. taking note, minute report, meeting arrangement, sharing information, etc;
• Organize a communication workshop/training and develop tools for the workshop/training;
• Assist with the preparation of documents and presentations for meetings and dissemination to all participants in a timely manner;
• Maintain communication of the stakeholder working groups to ensure effective information sharing and collaboration in the groups;
• Maintain and improve TEFSO communication channels (i.e. website, Facebook, newsletter, etc.) and ensure effective communication to the public;
• Maintain and improve the Thai-EU FLEGT Secretariat Office (TEFSO) database (i.e. stakeholder contact list, relevant FLEGT document list, Library, photo gallery, etc.) and ensure that TEFSO staff have effective access to the data in the cloud system;
• Analyze the effectiveness of TEFSO’s data management systems, and provide a necessary plan in terms of modifying the systems as appropriate;
• Provide and ensure effective documentation of incoming and outgoing official communications between TEFSO and FLEGT stakeholders in Thailand (e.g. the EU, national counterparts and civil society organizations);
• Prepare a meeting reports in Thai and/or English of FLEGT national committee and negotiation meetings with the EU and disseminate to participants and/or relevant FLEGT stakeholders in a timely manner as appropriate;
• Prepare monthly reports in Thai and English for dissemination via the TEFSO website;
• Provide translation services between Thai and/or English as requested, for written documents and verbal translation during meetings and events;
• Provide support to TEFSO staff to ensure all equipment works effectively;
• Other duties related to FLEGT and the VPA as assigned by the line manager;
• In regular consultation and coordination with the Regional Communication Officer, FAORAP, the incumbent shall ensure coherence with FAO’s corporate communication policy and operational guidelines for all communication and information outputs.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

• University degree in Communications, Public Relations, Political Sciences, International Relations or other related fields
• Thai national.
• Working knowledge of Thai and English
• Minimum 2 years of relevant work experience, or at least 1 year experience working directly with the Thai Government