National Agricultural Policy Analyst

Organizational Setting

The main aim of FAO country offices, which are headed by FAO Representative, is to assist government 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 resource in sustainable manner.

The Agrifood Economics Division (ESA) conducts economic research and policy analysis related to all five of the Organization's strategic objectives (food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture, poverty reduction, inclusive food systems and resilient livelihoods). ESA provides evidence-based analytical support to national, regional and global policy processes and initiatives related to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture; and leads the production of two FAO flagship publications: The State of Food and Agriculture and The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. ESA also leads large programmes at country level on agricultural and food policy monitoring, climate smart agriculture (CSA), agribusiness and food value chains, rural poverty, and food security information and analysis in support of national policies.

Within ESA, the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme seeks to establish country owned and sustainable systems to monitor, analyse, and reform food and agricultural policies to enable more effective, efficient and inclusive policy frameworks in 8 developing and emerging economies. MAFAP works with government institutions, research organizations and other partners to create sustainable policy monitoring systems and carry out a consistent set of policy and public expenditure analyses across a wide range of agricultural value chains. MAFAP analyses are used to inform targeted food and agricultural policy reforms that will result in a more conducive environment for agricultural investment and productivity growth, especially for smallholder farmers. As such, MAFAP supports most of FAO strategic objectives, and in particular those of enabling inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems and helping eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

Reporting Lines

The Policy Analyst will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Ethiopia, the direct supervision of the MAFAP Coordinator for Ethiopia and liaising with the MAFAP Secretariat in headquarters, the agricultural policy analyst will perform three main set of activities related to MAFAP analytical work, institutional engagement with policy partners in Ethiopia and outreach/engagement around MAFAP activities and results.

Tasks and responsibilities

The specific tasks include the following:

Institutional Engagement:

1. Develop, in partnership with the national counterparts, a commonly agreed yearly workplan to define and prioritize objectives, activities, and outputs of the MAFAP programme in Ethiopia;
2. Coordinate the day-to-day activities of the MAFAP programme in Ethiopia and liaise with relevant counterparts to implement the yearly work plan;
3. Together with the national counterparts and, in coordination with the MAFAP secretariat, identify prioritized policy issues with the higher potential impact on agricultural transformation and facilitate the discussion around the implementation of the related policy reform options;

Analytical Contribution:

1. Support data collection activities to implement the Policy Priority Approach in Ethiopia. This includes collection of unit costs, coverage ratios and evidence on the returns of public investments on different outcomes of interest;
2. Support the MAFAP team in the assessment of the costs and benefits of the alternative policy reform options identified and agreed with the Government of Ethiopia, by using the most appropriate ex-post and/or ex-ante analytical tools;
3. Coordinate the activities required for the production of selected policy monitoring outputs, including the updates of the MAFAP indicators on price incentives for all MAFAP Ethiopia commodities and public expenditure on food and agriculture, as well as the drafting or the update of the country policy monitoring review;
4. Support the country office on relevant topics related to strengthening business-enabling environment and/or cost-effectives analysis for livelihoods and FSN pathways in relation to HiHi and other flagship programs that FAO supports.

Outreach & Communication

1. Coordinate the dissemination of the MAFAP results through the presentation of ex-post analysis results, policy dialogue and high-level consultations with key government institutions;
2. Carry out capacity-building activities on methodologies used by MAFAP for the policy prioritization, policy monitoring and the analysis of specific policy issues;
3. Collaborate and liaise with other government institutions, donors, international financial institutions and private sector organizations involved in agricultural policy debate, including through participation in meetings, workshops and other events:
4. Perform any other duty as requested.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Candidates should be nationals of Ethiopia;
• Advanced university degree in agricultural economics, development studies, political science or related fields. A PhD degree will be an asset but is not required.
• Five years of relevant experience in agricultural research or agricultural policy in Ethiopia.
• Working knowledge of English and Amharic. Working knowledge of French will be an asset but is not required.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience informing and supporting agricultural policy processes in Ethiopia. Participation in the design of agricultural policies would be an asset but is not required.
• Strong knowledge of agricultural policy formulation processes in Ethiopia, including good knowledge of key stakeholders from Government, academia, private sector, donors, civil society organizations.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to interact with senior policymakers and agricultural policy stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of agricultural policy analysis methods and state of the art.
• Ability to communicate policy analysis technical results to policymakers and policymakers’ research needs to researchers.
• Good writing skills in English Good writing skills in Amharic an asset.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION