GFOI Secretariat Specialist

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• 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

Organizational Setting

The Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) is a partnership for coordinating international support for improving forest monitoring capacity in tropical countries. Through collaborative action, GFOI partners support countries to identify their needs for operationalizing or improving their national forest monitoring systems (NFMS) associated emissions measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) procedures. The Initiative seeks to deliver a larger and more targeted package of support for countries across the three major forested regions (Africa, Asia and Latin America), than any one development partner could provide alone and ultimately help countries to inform their national decision making, international commitments, and track progress in climate action.

To achieve focused and efficient coordination, GFOI’s work is divided into four central components: i.) Capacity Building, ii.) Data, iii.) Methods and Guidance and iv.) Research and Development (R&D). The Initiative is overseen by the GFOI Leads Group which includes representatives from the Governments of Australia, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States; the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank. It coordinates the collaborative activities of these partners and many other organizations and individuals to help developing countries address decisions taken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in a manner that is consistent with the good practice guidance set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). GFOI was established under the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in 2011 and continues as the global flagship for forest monitoring through the use of Earth Observations.

The GFOI Office is hosted by FAO to provide secretariat services to the Initiative; its partners, components and activities. The Office provides day to day oversight of the broader GFOI on behalf of the Leads Group, including managing GFOI’s products and platforms which includes the Methods and Guidance Document (MGD), REDDcompass platform, Registry of Tools (RoT) and OpenMRV repository for instructional materials. Together these four products and platforms constitute the GFOI Family of Resources (GFoR) which exist as interlinked suite of online resources. The GFOI Office will employ a GFOI Content Manager to manage the production of new content and review existing content as necessary for the GFoR and other GFOI products. The GFOI Content Manager’s tasks are described below:

Reporting Lines

The GFOI Office’s Secretariat Specialists will work under the overall supervision of the NFO Director, the technical supervision of the FRA Senior Forestry Officer/Team Leader, take day-to-day guidance from the Manager of the GFOI Office and work in close collaboration with the GFOI team.

Technical Focus

Progress the work programme of the GFOI Office and its overall responsibilities to support the day-to-day implementation of the GFOI partnership. This includes providing overall secretariat services to the broader GFOI community and supporting the (i.) technical, (ii.) administrative, (iii.) coordination, (iv.) collaboration and (v.) communication of GFOI partners, components, products and activities.

Tasks and responsibilities

The position(s) will be responsible for providing overall secretariat services to support the smooth operations of GFOI activities. In some cases, selected candidates will be responsible for taking on more discrete technical tasks in forest carbon monitoring and associated MRV procedures to support the implementation of GFOI and partner activities. Tasks and responsibilities include the following:

• Provide support to the operations of the GFOI Leads Group, Components, partners and other collaborative activities
• Support and/or lead the delivery of collaborative technical products and support to tropical countries in forest carbon monitoring and associated MRV procedures
• Support the ongoing development, operations and maintenance of GFOI’s products, including IT products and platforms
• Manage the implementation of the GFOI’s new Country-Led Planning (CLP) process, including developing and delivering capacity building materials through workshops, meetings and online environment
• Develop and deliver targeted communications products and procedures
• Organize and host GFOI events and activities, including workshops, annual Plenaries, regular meetings and frequent virtual events and/or:
• Other secretariat services to support the operations of the broader GFOI partnership and the delivery of globally coordinated support in forest carbon monitoring and MRV support to tropical countries.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree or relevant educational background in International Relations, Development Studies, Environmental Sciences/Engineering, Forestry, Geography, IT, Software and Systems Engineering, Project Management, or closely related discipline
• At least 3 years of relevant experience working on climate change, REDD , forestry, sustainability issues, communications and/or project management for an international organization, development partner, government, NGOs, CSO, academia or the private sector.
• Strong working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of French or Spanish; any other language spoken in tropical forested countries is an asset.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Expertise in climate change, REDD and associated MRV procedures
• Familiarity with the UNFCCC and associated processes to address international climate change.
• Experience in international cooperation and coordination, including partnerships and ideally in a secretariat
• Familiarity with the international development sector, ideally with members of the GFOI community
• Ability to work as part of a global team through largely virtual means but also willing to travel
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, including ideally tropical country(ies)
• Sound oral and written communication skills in English. French and Spanish also highly valued.
• Ability to work under pressure and availability to travel developing or transition countries.

Selection Criteria

• Relevance of working experience
• Demonstrated understanding of GFOI and the role of the GFOI Office as its secretariat
• Personable nature and demonstrated ability to work as part of a team.
• Academic qualifications
• Performance in the interview
• Languages spoken

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