National Social Protection Consultant

Organizational Setting

Social protection has been recognized by FAO as a critical pillar to accelerate progress in the fight against hunger, food insecurity and rural poverty. The impact on enhanced access to more and better food is also contributing to address some of the underlying causes of malnutrition.

In Kyrgyzstan FAO works on strengthening cross-sectoral coordination through stronger policy dialogue and generated evidence on linkages between social protection and agriculture for FSN and increased productivity of poor rural households from pilot implementation. That has better positioned FAO agenda on nutrition-sensitive social protection in the country. The evidences have been generated from the social protection pilot “Productive social contract/Cash ” under the GCP/GLO/674/RUS project and the and TCP/INT/3701 “Enhancing regional capacities to design and implement nutrition-sensitive social protection programme to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition”.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative and direct supervision of the AFAOR and technical supervision of ESP and ESN the consultant will enhance FAO’s role in strengthening policy and programme linkages between social protection, agriculture, food security and nutrition, in particular in the context of the FMM/GLO/128/MUL project “Enhancing production of and access to nutrition dense food through social protection programmes”.

Technical Focus

Social protection in agriculture, national food security and nutrition.

Tasks and responsibilities

Support social protection activities under the FMM/GLO/128/MUL project “Enhancing production of and access to nutrition dense food through social protection programme”:

• Contribute to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the second phase of the Cash pilot based on the results of the assessments, recommendations and lessons learned, in close collaboration with ESP ESN, and NSP/NSP and FAO KG teams, by providing technical inputs and gathering information, secondary and primary data;
• Support the strengthening and facilitation of the Interagency working group (IAWG) on the Cash Plus pilot, which will include concerned ministries, agencies and development partners, through technical and logistic contributions’
• Develop the work plan and implementation schedule of the Cash Plus pilot project;
• Lead the implementation of the second phase of Cash Plus pilot, in close cooperation with FAP KG, ESP, ESN and NSA/NSP, the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, and IAWD by:
  1. Coordinating inputs for the design of the components of the intervention (social protection, agriculture, school feeding, nutrition education, social coaching, monitoring and evaluation) following the methodology developed for the previous base, and based on household and territorial analyses;
  2. Identifying, contracting and supervising service providers;
  3. Ensure local communities and potential participants voices and aspirations are included in the project design process;
  4. Liaising with local and regional authorities to ensure their full engagement in the pilot;
  5. Ensuring the timely implementation of activities and regular follow up of beneficiaries;
  6. Conducting frequent missions to the pilot areas;
  7. Support knowledge generation, including through developing assessment tools and participating in data collection and analytical work, and evidence-based policy development.
• Liaise with the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Agency for Local Self-Governance to provide frequent briefings and ensure their continuous engagement in the project implementation;
• Engage with other UN agencies and development partners to present the Cash approach and seek synergies with other interventions, and alignment of policy dialogue;
• Provide information for and contribute to the development of communication materials for advocacy and awareness raising about the project.

Support the FAO policy level dialogue in the area of social protection:

• Support technical and policy-level dialogue on nutrition-sensitive social protection and coherence between social protection and agriculture for poverty reduction and improved food security and nutrition of the rural poor, including through participation in thematic inter-agency working groups workshops, roundtables and other events;

Support the social protection programming at the country level:

• evidence generation and knowledge sharing on linkages between social protection and agriculture for rural development, poverty reduction, and food and nutrition security on the case of Cash pilot together with TCP/INT/3701;
• Policy dialogue to support integration of lessons learned from the pilot into future policies on social contract. Dialogue with sister UN agencies to coordinate approaches and messages including through joint work planning under UNDAF, developing joint position paper and policy briefs on social protection, bilateral coordination and programming, etc;
• Support linkages between social protection, school feeding and climate change adaptation, NRM and DRR at programme and policy levels;
• Support integration of social protection components in other programmes and projects implemented by FAO Kyrgyzstan, where relevant/feasible (e.g. aquaculture and fishery, livestock, GCF project);
• Support the identification of resource mobilization opportunities for FAO Kyrgyzstan on nutrition-sensitive social protection;
• Prepare monthly monitoring reports;
• Performs any other duties, as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

1. Advanced university degree in political and social science, economics, institutional development, social anthropology, rural development or any other field related to the work of the Organization
2. 5 year of relevant experience in socio-economic analysis, policy formulation and capacity building in relation to any of the following areas: rural employment, food security and nutrition, poverty reduction, social protection.
3. Working knowledge of Russian; Kyrgyz and English.
4. National of the Kyrgyz Republic

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Demonstrated capacity to communicate and write technical contributions in English and Russian. Working level of Kyrgyz.