National Project Personnel - District Field Technical Facilitators (8 Positions)

Organizational Setting

These positions are located in FAO district sub-offices in Tharparkar and Umerkot districts of Sindh province, Pakistan, as per the needs of the project. The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Pakistan and in close coordination with the Provincial International Program Coordinator, these positions will directly be supervised by the Project Coordinator of the relevant project.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Participate in the identification of project villages and development of resilient agriculture village plans
• Identify potential participants for farmers training program in the assigned areas
• Under the lead of the of the Agriculture Extension Specialist, organize and mobilize farmers into groups for the establishment of farmer groups and sustainable agriculture practices sites;
• Arrange & organize consultative meetings with farmer groups on their roles and responsibilities.
• Work directly with farmers and help them discover important concepts/ issues in crops farming through practical learning.
• Develop and organize crop-based training and implement its all stages and components with regular field follow-up; Responsible for collection and compilation of all the information concerning the men and women groups established and trained in the district;
• Document and develop a database, based on beneficiaries’ information and also to identify and develop case studies and success stories for periodic reports;
• Responsible for establishment, formation, and facilitation of farmer groups/farmer marketing groups in the target villages/communities;
• Implement integrated sustainable agriculture practices and NRM initiatives, and undertake distribution of smart subsidies (various agriculture inputs) in the selected villages,);
• Organize capacity development initiatives and other field-based activities i.e. farmer consultative meetings, monitoring visits and field days;
• Conduct follow-up and monitoring visits to the participating farmers for the provision of timely support and guidance.
• Keep close collaboration with FAO’s project team for implementation of the training program for the targeted beneficiary farmers;
• Liaison and coordination with district Agriculture Department and relevant key stakeholders working in the target districts;
• Assist Project Coordinator in the day-to-day monitoring of the training program and compile monthly monitoring sheets (online/offline);
• Ensure timely submission of the farmer training program monthly work plan and progress reports (monthly, quarterly, and final);
• Perform any other associated task as required

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advance University Degree in in Agriculture, Agribusiness/ Natural Science with Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) experience. Preferably Farmer Field School/Women Open School/Training of Facilitators (ToF) graduate.
• Minimum 03 years Farmer Field School (FFS) /Women Open School (WOS)/Farmer Business Schools relevant experience.
• 1 to 2 Years sustainable and climate smart agriculture relevant experience will be an asset
• Working knowledge of English, Urdu, Sindhi and other languages used in Sindh province is essential.
• National of Pakistan

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Remain open to change and ability to manage complexity.
• Ability to work and act under pressure and with discretion in multicultural environment.
• Demonstrate capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time to meet goals in a high-pressure environment.
• Familiar with FAO procedures, and administrative protocols used in the United Nations system
• Possess strong supervisory, communication, team building and computing skills (word processing, spreadsheets and data-bases).

Selection Criteria

Candidates will be assessed against the requirements listed above. Preference should be given to local candidates.