Integrated natural resources management (nrm) Specialist

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FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.
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Qualified female applicants and qualified nationals of non-and under-represented member countries are encouraged to apply.

Persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
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Organizational Setting

The main objective of the FAO Country Office which is led by the FAO Representative is to assist governments and partners in developing policies, programs and projects aimed at to ensure food security and reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner. The FAO office is also committed to implementing field projects and programs to implement the policies, strategies and action plan mentioned above. The country office has an important role on support to the country and partners in increasing the resilience of livelihoods to food and agriculture threats and crises.

The position is located in the FAO Representation in Kenya.

Background

The Full-Size Project “Integrated Landscape Management for conservation and restoration of the Mt. Elgon in Western Kenya”, aims to promote the sustainable and integrated management of the Mt. Elgon landscape through the development of inclusive responsible coffee

value chain and sustainable staple food production systems. The project is a child project under the overarching Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Program funded by GEF7 which aims to: promote comprehensive land-use planning; improve governance and align incentives; scale up innovative and practical applications in commodity value chain partnerships; leverage investments through linkage with private and public partners; and promote institutional collaboration in integrated approaches at the global, country, and landscape level. The Impact Program targets large production landscapes that have the potential to deliver global environmental benefits at scale and can be sustained after the program concludes.

In line with the FOLUR program framework, the project’s interventions will be structured through four components: under the first, it will strengthen the “enabling” environment and the local capacity for the development of Integrated Landscape Management Systems; under the second it will support the promotion of sustainable food production practices (focus on maize) and the development of responsible and inclusive commodity Value Chains (focus on coffee); under the third it will enhance the capacity to restore degraded natural habitats and sustainably manage them; and under the fourth, it will ensure project coordination, collaboration with the Global Knowledge to Action (K2A) Platform for knowledge exchange and capacity development and M&E.

Project preparation activities will consist of desktop studies as well as multi-stakeholder consultations and workshops to ensure involvement of key stakeholders in project design processes and generate project ownership, and systematization of knowledge about needs, potential and commitments of actors and agents at national and sub-national levels (i.e., project sites at municipal level). The activities will contribute to awareness raising on the project and ensure active participation by technical sectors and political support to maximize design synergies and buy-in during the project development phase.

The main outputs that will contribute to the preparation of the full project document (FPD) will consist of relevant baseline data and information collected during the preparation period, workshop reports, consultant’s analysis and cost/efficient proposals, financing plan, risk analysis and mitigation measures and realistic targets and indicators. The final product will be the detailed design of project components, including Results Framework, budget allocations and co-financing mobilization, on the basis of which the FAO-GEF Project Document and the CEO Endorsement Request will be prepared. The GEF7 core indicators will also be completed as well as the Environmental and Social screening checklist and certification form in the FAO format based on the Environmental and Social Management Guidelines.

The project will focus specifically on two Counties surrounding the Mt. Elgon Water Tower: Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia. Within these localities, the nature and extent of the specific target sites for field-level activities will be confirmed during the PPG phase, based on considerations including the existence of globally important environmental values and addressable associated threats, community buy-in, and resource availability

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will work under the overall administrative supervision of the FAOR in Kenya, the technical guidance of the Lead Technical Officer from the FLRM, the FAO GEF unit, the International GEF design Expert and the FAOKE GEF focal point, and in close collaboration with other national experts and national and local authorities, the GEF-National PPG consultation Coordinator will be responsible for leading the national team in the consultation with stakeholders and the collection of baseline information needed to develop the Project Document. The consultant will be responsible to coordinate the implementation of the preparatory activities in collaboration with FAOKE office leading to the development of the full project document and provide expertise on Natural Resource Management.

Technical Focus

The objective of this assignment is to lead the national team in consultation with project stakeholders to develop the full project document and provide technical expertise on Natural Resource Management and Integrated landscape planning. The consultant will lead the formulation and completion of the outputs under component 1, 3 and 4 and work in close collaboration with other experts to formulate and complete outputs under component 2.

Outcome 1.1:

Mt. Elgon landscape managed sustainably with increased restoration for agriculture and provision of environmental services.

Indicators (and targets):

(i) # of ILM plans in place, informed by multi-stakeholders’ dialogue.

Outcome 3.1:

Increased Mt Elgon landscape area under conservation and restoration.

Indicators (and targets):

(i) Area of degraded farmland and forest under restoration/rehabilitation and improved management (10,000Ha).

(ii) Metric tons of CO2e of GHG Emissions Mitigated

Outcome 4.1:

Successful execution of the project in an effective manner, with knowledge shared through the FOLUR global platform.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Work package 1: Coordination PPG

• Support the design of a coordination mechanism including a multi-stakeholder working group with focal points of different institutions for the development of the Prodoc and later implementation of the project document
• Design a consultation and dissemination process for the PPG phase and also for the full project
• Develop a detailed stakeholder mapping of the project to nurture the project document and roles and responsibilities for project implementation accordingly;
• Lead the organization (and participate) of the inception and validation workshops (national and county level) and any other consultations needed (including Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for any indigenous peoples) as well as the preparation of any reports associated with all PPG activities
• Review and confirm co-financing scenario of the project aligning activities to ensure maximum synergies for each of the project components
• Support the international experts (liaise constantly with GEF design expert) in the production of the full project document and ensure timely completion and quality of reports from experts on the national team
• Support the development of the project capacity development plan including needs at all levels and in the key technical areas covered by the project
• Support the FAOR Kenya and the OPIM specialist in the development of project implementation agreements following GEF and FAO’s rules and procedures;
• Support the FAOR Kenya in the day to day management of the PPG team in close collaboration with National partners.

• Work package 2: Integrated Natural Resource Management and territorial planning

• In support to design of Component 1 and component 3, draft a short report on territorial planning and governance of NRM in project area, with the objectives to:
• Present baseline information on existing projects and programmes promoting an integrated landscape approach in targeted project sites and assess their strengths and weaknesses and propose recommendations how the project could build on ongoing or past experience and complement current efforts
• Propose criteria for project site identification and selection taking into consideration the overall scope in terms of GEBs
• Collect and analyse capacities at all levels through literature review and interviews with key stakeholders to promote planning and implementation of sustainable management across the landscape and identify knowledge and capacity gaps and propose capacity development modalities that could fill these gaps

• Collect and analyse existing participatory tools and approaches used by different stakeholders on ILM and propose best ways forward to deliver the anticipated results of the project
• Analyse different management systems (forest, agricultural, communal vs private lands, protected areas, county) and associated plans/strategies and propose recommendations how the project could improve synergies between the different systems and how they can be integrated taking into consideration the two targeted production systems (coffee and maize)
• Assess the existing coordination mechanisms (County and landscape level) and assess their strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations how they could be optimized to ensure inclusive and participatory coordination across the sectors
• Identify partners to support filling knowledge gaps and support capacity development of different stakeholders to be involved in ILM planning
• Identify Indigenous Peoples context and institutions working on improving IP’s involvement in NRM governance and analyse bottlenecks/barriers and recommend how project can integrate their concerns into territorial planning
• Identify existing cases within Kenya with similar ecosystems for potential exchange visits during project implementations
• Analyse trans-boundary management and monitoring systems and work in collaboration with Uganda child project to propose joint activities to avoid leakages and conflict across the landscape
• Analyse and propose list of species to be used for restoration in consultation with local stakeholders and identify roles and responsibilities at different levels
• Building in the above propose a set of detailed activities for component 1, 3 (output 3.1.1. and 3.1.2.) and 4 to guarantee successful implementation in the context of the project, and associated budget (following FAO budget lines) and corresponding output indicators.

• Draft an analysis of institutional priorities and opportunities for coordination relevant to the project with as objectives:

• Review and analyse relevant national, local and sector development plans, policies and institutional frameworks and budgets to (1) assess project consistency with national priorities. (2) identify key entry points for the mainstreaming of biodiversity and agro-ecological, SLM, SFM, climate-smart practices and approaches into agricultural production; (3) identify the technical, financial, policy, regulatory and other constraints, incentives and disincentives for the sustainable adoption of Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and biodiversity-friendly livelihood strategies related to the agriculture, livestock production and agro-forestry sectors and (4) align project interventions with government goals and priorities.

• Identify and analyse opportunities for coordination with other relevant GEF-financed projects and other relevant existing and planned initiatives, possibly negotiating partnerships to align activities and build synergies, and reflecting this in the project strategy

• Provide inputs to relevant sections of the full-sized project document and its supporting materials, including relevant baseline information, tracking tools, social and environmental assessments, results framework, national benefits, sections on gender equality, human rights based approaches (including right to food, decent work, accountability to affected populations), capacity development, etc. information, analysis, comments, and others related to issues of gender and livelihoods.

• Undertake field missions and participate in workshops/ meetings/ consultations as required, and complete and submit mission reports covering a brief summary of mission activities and conclusions, key persons/ organizations consulted and recommendations for the finalization of the project documents.

• Provide a preliminary outline, proposed methodology, draft and final copies of all expected outputs.

• Any other relevant duty as deemed necessary

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree or PhD degree from an internationally recognized university in environmental policy, forestry, environmental or natural resource management, development studies, or related disciplines;
• Ten years of relevant professional experience in Kenya with extensive working knowledge of natural resources management, at institutional and community levels
• Working knowledge of English and Kiswahili
• National of Kenya

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience working with FAO and/or UN on GEF projects (design of GEF projects desirable)
• Proven record of support to implementation of community based NRM projects in Kenya;
• Skills for leadership, communication, and flexibility and dynamism for the integration of suggestions and recommendations that seek to improve the quality of the final products
• Excellent communication skills (speaking and writing)

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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.