Senior Animal Health Officer (ECTAD Regional Manager for Asia and the Pacific)

The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) is responsible for leading FAO's response to regional priorities for food security, agriculture and rural development through the identification, planning and implementation of FAO's priority activities in the region. It ensures a multidisciplinary approach to programmes, identifies priority areas of action for the Organization in the Region and, in collaboration with departments and divisions at Headquarters, develops, promotes and oversees FAO's strategic response to regional priorities. RAP also advises on the incorporation of regional priorities into the Organization's Programme of Work and Budget and implements approved programmes and projects in the region, monitors the level of programme implementation and draws attention to problems and deficiencies. RAP develops and maintains relations with region-wide institutions including the Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs). The Regional Office supports regional policy dialogue on food security, agriculture and rural development issues, facilitates the emergence of regional partnerships, and supports capacity development and resource mobilization for food security, agriculture and rural development in the region.

The post is located in the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Disease (ECTAD) in the RAP office. ECTAD RAP is dedicated to working with the governments in the region in preventing and controlling emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases working closely with national stakeholders in the animal production and health sector.

The Senior Animal Health Officer reports to the Assistant Director-General (ADG) RAP under the technical guidance of the Senior Animal Health Officer (Head of Global ECTAD) in Animal Production and Health Division (AGA) at headquarters.

Manage and oversee the regional portfolio of the ECTAD programme with a focus on regional capacity building for the control of high impact animal diseases in the Asia Pacific region,in close cooperation and coordination with RAP livestock officer and other regional animal health programmes.

Leadership and technical policy expertise for the planning, development and implementation of Regional Programmes of work, projects, products, services in accordance with regional and FAO’s Strategic Objectives and in alignment with the Organization's Gender Policy.

• Plans, manages, or leads highly specialized or multidisciplinary teams, leads, coordinates, and/or participates in regional committees, project teams, and working groups, and/or provides technical leadership/secretariat services on technical networks and/or international technical policy and standard setting bodies;

• Analyses global and country specific requirements and relevant technical issues to provide critical input into the FAO’s Strategic Objectives, Programme of Work, work plans and the supporting budgets and/or resourcing strategies;

• Implements and monitors programmes of work involving the development of the approach, evidence based strategies, and related tools, methodologies and the supporting system/database, monitoring and reporting frameworks;

• Conducts, designs and oversees research and analysis activities to support the development of technical standards, international instruments, innovation, technical reports, publications and/or ongoing programme development as well as the provision of technical and/or policy advisory services;

• Provides technical and policy advice to Members and technical support to decentralized offices in the development and implementation of their programmes;

• Leads and/or collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development and knowledge sharing activities within member countries such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events including preparation of related information, learning, online tools;

• Represents the Organization at international meetings and conferences, identifies and implements strategic partnerships, advocates best practices and increased policy dialogue and develops and negotiates effective working relationships/consensus and agreements with international and national stakeholders;

• Leads and/or participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO’s Corporate strategy.

• Management of ECTAD-Asia and the Pacific;

• Represents the Chief of Animal Health Service (Chief Veterinary Officer of FAO) and the Senior Animal Health Officer (Head of Global ECTAD) in the Asia and the Pacific region where appropriate;

• Provides technical leadership and coordination on regional animal health portfolio which includes USAID multiyear funding, bilateral donor and South South Cooperation.

• Leads the regional and country ECTAD teams in Asia and the Pacific region in managing a significant shift of the programme primarily focused on avian influenza (AI) to transboundary animal diseases (TADs) and emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of regional and global significance;

• Provides supervision and technical backstopping to all team leaders and chief technical advisers (CTAs) and other technical staff and consultants based in the Regional ECTAD office in Bangkok and various ECTAD Country Offices in Asia and the Pacific region;

• Manages in consultation with the Budget Holder ECTAD human resource issues at the regional and country levels;

• Prepares Terms of References (TORs) and participates in interviews for recruitment of senior technical staff (Team Leader, CTAs, consultants) for the ECTAD RAP and the Country Units in Asia and the Pacific;

• Reviews and clears all the back-to-office reports (BTORs), ToRs, end-of-assignment reports (EOAs), consultant reports and all donor supported project reports from ECTAD RAP and all the country ECTAD Units in Asia and the Pacific;

• Coordination, delivery and establishing linkage to FAO's strategic framework at global, regional and country levels\:

• Develops and produces strategic technical and policy position papers for FAO on TADs and EIDs;

• Develops the FAO's regional strategy and policies on Al, TADs and EIDs and ensures synergy with the FAO' s strategic framework, AGAH's long term vision, and aligned with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) Regional Strategy and other regional strategies relevant for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and SPC;

• Integrates the regional ECTAD programme with the regular programme activities of FAO RAP with efficient coordination and collaboration with the Senior Animal Health and Production Officer based in Bangkok and the Secretary of Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia and Pacific (APHCA);

• Plays a leading role in developing and implementing AGAH's Action Plan on TADs and EIDs in Asia;

• Supports advocacy work related to HPAI, TADs and EID in addressing the needs of the region;

• Develops clear plans for engaging high level policy makers in animal and human health sectors and other disciplines including environment, forestry and promoting the adoption of the One Health approach to support efficient prevention and control of TADs and EIDs;

• Coordination and support to regional organizations, regional commissions, and other international organizations\:

• Organizes strategic partners' meetings and expert consultations to seek inputs in new directions in AI, TADs and EIDs;

• Ensures close collaboration, provision of technical guidance, and policy options for ASEAN and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), SPC, and key countries in South, Southeast and East Asia;

• Maintains close cooperation and coordination of regional ECTAD program with all the GF-TADs activities the Asia Pacific Region, as well as close collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Sub-regional office as appropriate;

• Maintains close ties with the veterinary and public health sectors, academia and research institutes in the region in supporting and advising governments of the countries in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and the regional organizations (SAARC, ASEAN, ASEAN 3, SPC, and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)] and FAO decentralized offices on AI, TADs and EIDs policies;

• Maintains close links with the key international technical agencies (OIE, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)) to ensure harmonization and coordination of programmes related to AI, TADs and EIDs;

• Leads resource mobilization efforts with Multilateral Partners, Financial Institutions and the Private Sector for new programmatic support that fits within the mandate of the ECTAD programme, particularly in the formulation of concept notes and proposals.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Advanced university degree in animal science, veterinary science, veterinary medicine or a related field;

• Ten years of relevant experience in animal health, infectious disease management, including regulatory aspects, standard setting, and animal health strategy development;

• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

• Results Focus

• Leading, Engaging and Empowering

• Communication

• Partnering and Advocating

• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

• Strategic Thinking

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is essential;

• Extent and relevance of knowledge and/or experience in infectious disease management and control at regional level, in multidisciplinary approaches (theoretical and practical) to disease prevention and management;

• Extent and relevance of experience in planning and implementation of programmes related to animal health in development organizations;

• Demonstrated ability to mobilize resources;

• Extent and relevance of experience in organizing international meetings, seminars and training courses;

• Ability to organize emergency and large-scale animal health strategies and campaigns.