National Technical Assistant for FO4ACP Programme

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.

• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination　　
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

Organizational Setting

This position will be related to LAC’s Regional initiative “Hand-in-Hand towards prosperous and inclusive rural societies”, which seeks to eradicate hunger and poverty in rural areas, stimulating the development of new economic opportunities in lagging territories. Under the framework of this Initiative, FAO promotes a prosperous, inclusive and resilient rurality, through four key actions: the Hand-in-Hand global initiative, social protection and economic inclusion, the Decade of Family Farming and new opportunities for economic growth with innovation.
Reporting Lines
The incumbent will report to the Lead Technical Officer of the FO4ACP Programme in the Caribbean, in close coordination with the Project Coordinator.

Technical Focus

Under the Programme Farmers’ Organization for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (FO4ACP), which has as its goal to increase income and to improve livelihood, food and nutrition security and safety of the ACP family farming in the Caribbean Region, this consultancy will support compilation of statistical and normative data that position the current state of the institutional framework available for family farming, as well as characterize the concept together with the territorial actors, looking for common elements that allow defining the sector in the Caribbean region. Also, it will set the conditions for initiating the FO4ACP training programme.
The FO4ACP Programme will also support producers’ organizations and rural associations interested in establishing, expanding and / or consolidating their capacities to provide services and technical advice to their members aimed at improving their participation in value chains. This will be achieved through training and mentoring under each of the components of the Programme. Together with the Project’s Regional Team and the Project’s Regional Steering Committee and national counterparts, Component II of this position will determine the basis of the selection process, develop the selection criteria and prepare a national workshop to launch the competition and support the selection process of small scale producers’ groups.

Tasks and responsibilities

A) Review of normative and institutional frameworks towards the Family Farming sector in Saint Lucia

• Identify common criteria that characterizes the sector of the Family Farming in the country;
• Compile and systematize main public investment initiatives related to family farming in the country based on a review of primary (interviews with national officers and other relevant stakeholders) secondary sources such as the FAOLEX platform, sector studies, FAO reports, among others.
o Gather information and data related to coverage and magnitudes of public support services and programs for the Family Farming sector and looking in more detail at the specific instruments and services for associative and business development
o Recompile information and availability of services linked to the prioritized value chains in each country, such as: technical advisory services and business development, financing, markets and agricultural and commercial innovation (ict, , new products and derivatives, etc.)

• Identify the presence of institutional elements linked to family farming at the national level (legislative frameworks, definition, registry, responsible institution, plans, policies, programs or strategies, instances of dialogue, public procurement initiative, financing, among others).
• Identify sources of statistical information regarding the family farming sector through the review of databases (agricultural censuses, household surveys, agricultural surveys, among others), information portals and platforms (FAOSTAT, World Bank Data Bank, web pages of national statistics and information institutions, among others) and reports of the main institutions linked to the sector;
o Conduct interviews with key stakeholders and informant identified by the country office

• Carry out the systematization and consolidation of indicators for family farming regarding various topics (general characteristics, work and labor, productive chains, access to services, technology and inputs, organizations, among others) in an Excel document, documenting the data source, date, identification of family farming, and other pertinent methodological details
• Conduct interview Farmers Organizations representatives and systematize the information about the bottlenecks or restrictions or policy contexts that affect their creation, development and sustainability of Farmers Organizations, such as: (i) associative development; (ii) economic formalization; (iii) labour legislation; (iv) tax frameworks (taxation); (v) technological innovation; etc.
• Prepare report of findings of institutional initiatives, information and statistics for family farming and recommendations

B) Develop the initial strategy for the FO4ACP Training and Technical Assistance Programme
• Establish the terms of reference for the selection process, identifying the criteria and the information to be provided by the applicants;
• Elaborate the concept note for a national workshop to share the results of the Report on the review of normative and institutional frameworks towards the Family Farming sector;
• Prepare the list of participants;
• Support any logistic arrangement necessary for the organization of the workshop;
• Systematize the information of the activity in accordance with the requirements established for the FO4ACP Programme;
• Support the selection process diffusion, providing information for the organization where needed
• Provide the report of the FOs that are participating and facilitate the selection panel.
• Organize the initial workshop with the selected FOs to prioritize topics and build synergies;
Identify potential partners to implement some of the capacity building activities

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Development Studies, Food Security, Agriculture, Fisheries, Gender Studies, Economics, Political Sciences, or other relevant field.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in rural development and work with producers and civil society organizations
• Working knowledge of English
• National of Saint Lucia 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

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.