Regional Local Consultant on Agricultural Advisory Services for Guba Office

Azerbaijan

Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Location: Azerbaijan
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Agriculture and Forestry
- FEAZE
Closing Date: Closed

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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 Settings

FAO Partnership and Liaison Office in Azerbaijan

Reporting Lines

Mr. Bariz Mehdiyev , Assistant FAO Representative (AFAOR) in Azerbaijan

Technical Focus

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative, programmatic supervision of the Assistant FAOR, technical supervision the project LTO, Team Leader and project coordinator and in close collaboration with the FAO-Azerbaijan office, national counterparts and stakeholders, the Regional Expert, Local Consultant will::

Tasks and Responsibilities

Assist the Project Team to design and update detailed overall plan for regional pilot project implementation;
Cooperate with the regional and local authorities in setting up the regional pilot project office and setting up regional network on AAS;
Assist the Team Leader and the project team in conducting policy dialogue and constructive working relations with all regional and district level stakeholders, relevant Azerbaijani authorities, FAO AZE, EUD and other projects and donors in the region;
Assist the long- and short-term international experts in the implementation of the project activities in the region and named districts;
Contribute to develop ToRs for recruitment of the local Sort Term Experts; Assist to the local authorities, SADCs and RASICs in the strengthening of institutional system for better responding to farmers’ needs;
Collect data for a local database with regional agricultural stakeholders and experts;
Contribute to the regional policy dialogues;
Contribute to the regional innovation market place;
Support local innovation processes;
Conduct discussions on the regional AAS model by identifying support mechanism including financial instruments;
Promote and develop a regional draft strategy and relevant action plan;
Assist and collect the best local AAS practices in the focus region and districts;
Contribute to the regional AAS strategy formulation as well to the country strategy;
Contribute to the preparation of the AAS skills framework and delivery of the training programme;
Contribute to the regional inventory, planning and innovation processes;
Contribute to prepare analytical reports on agriculture and country;
Perform any other tasks upon request of the Team Leader

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements:

Master’s degree in a relevant discipline such as agriculture, horticulture, agricultural economics or other relevant field related to this contract or a bachelor's degree in an above mentioned field and 3 years above the required general professional experience in a field related to this contract;
Excellent command of Azerbaijani;
Professional experience of at least 10 years but preferably 15 years working in the area of research and development or education & training or provision of advice in the agriculture and/or rural development sector;
In the past 5 years at least one assignment as an expert or one assignment as a key expert/component leader for agricultural advisory services in a technical assistance project or twinning;
National of Azerbaijan or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies:

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

Technical/Functional Skills:

Professional experience in developing training content and/or delivering training to agricultural advisors is an asset;
Professional experience in having developed and/or delivered strategic plans and pluralistic models for national agricultural advisory services targeting stallholder farmers or agricultural cooperation structures or farming communities is an asset;
Good networking skills and understanding of agricultural innovation system perspective.
Good spoken and written English;