International Specialist on Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSA10, Duty Station: Quy Nhon, Viet Nam)

As a result of many years of war, the land and people of Vietnam are affected by landmines and other Explosive Ordnance (EO). According to the results of the project named "Vietnam National Explosive Remnants of War Contamination Surveying and Mapping" from 2010-2014, EO contamination remain in all 63/63 provinces/cities across the country. According to the Government of Vietnam, the total area of contamination is 6.13 million ha, accounting for 18.82% of the country's area, and provinces located in the central part of Vietnam are among those most affected. The 15 most contaminated provinces according to the Landmine Impact Survey are also among the provinces that have a high ratio of poor and near-poor households, especially the provinces in the Central region.

In recent years, the Vietnamese Government has paid special attention to perfecting management and coordination system, funding and providing guidelines for the effective implementation of mine action operations. Substantial amounts of funds are spent each year on ERW clearance in order to release and recover land for cultivation, ensure safe livelihood activities, as well as provision of emergency treatment to ERW victims and support to their reintegration into communities and educating these communities about the risk to further reduce accidents and prevent casualties.

Building on the lessons from the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project (KVMAP)[1], the Korea-Vietnam Peace Village Project (KVPVP) was developed and founded on the close collaboration between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This project started early 2022 with the aim to enable inclusive, safe and resilient local development by reducing the impact of Explosive Ordnance (EO) on local communities and supporting them to stably improve livelihoods, housing and health, is structured around two main outcomes and four related outputs. This phase targets three provinces in the most affected area of central Viet Nam, namely Thua Thien - Hue, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh.

The International Agriculture and Rural Development Specialist is expected to carry out key tasks as below:

Support effective implementation of the KVPVP projects in Thua Thien – Hue, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh provinces:

• Identify and develop the clear and concise work plans including activities, deliverables, outputs with deadlines and responsible persons/organizations) after consultation with UNDP and provincial partners and which are relevant to the workplans under Outcome 2 of the KVPVP: Enhancing sustainable agriculture and rural development through increased resilience of livelihoods for farmers and infrastructure of target communities;
• Draft relevant documents (concept notes, bidding packages, TORs for hiring consultants and firms for related project activities, technical work packages, training, workshops, etc.);
• Proactively contribute technical inputs to the implementation of project activities;
• Provide technical strategies and advices on all project intervention areas (climate agriculture, climate resilient housing and climate resilient commune health station construction);
• Provide technical inputs to project communication materials, briefs, standees, speeches, social media campaigns, etc.;
• Attend required meetings with KOICA, UNDP, relevant provinical partners and others if appropriate to develop and update the yearly workplan;
• Support Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) in A Luoi district (Thua Thien – Hue), Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh provinces in safeguard (settlement, social, gender, ethnic minorities, environment) and prepare safeguard reports;
• Support UNDP and PPMUs to deal with project implementation issues, safeguard policies and issues arising during implementation;
• Manage project risks, including timely implementation of mitigation measures, updating risk log and integrated work plan (IWP).

Take lead in quality assurance, M&E of project implementation, monitoring and evaluation:

• Establish the Quality Assurance mechanism for KVPVP project in 03 provinces; 
• Support UNDP and three provinces to design, plan and manage effectively monitoring and evaluation activities;
• Undertake baseline data studies and periodic monitoring of KVPVP in 03 provinces based on the approved project document and the Annual Work Plan (AWP). Monitor the project activities from gender and social inclusion perspective and provide timely feedback to all staff and partner organisations.
• Review and provide comments on TORs, Request for Proposal/bidding packages,  peer review/comments, approve of technical reports and products;
• Manage, provide technical inputs to and participate in the mid-term and final evaluation of the KVPVP project;
• Work with UNDP and PPMUs to prepare quarterly, annual and final project reports, also include the result, effectiveness and impact evaluation of the project, drawing lesson leant of the project implementation

Contribute to the agriculture and rural development area of the Government of Viet Nam and UNDP:

• Contribution to the development of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s policies/regulations in term of the integrated rural development in the context of climate change;
• Contribute technical inputs to UNDP’s agriculture and rural development portfolio:
• Briefly describe the required activities and other information;
• Take lead and contribute to researches, policy papers, briefings, advocacy messages, and keynote speeches for policy dialogues and high-level events;
• If applicable, include any relevant literature/data/information/policy framework that may be required for each activity.
• Facilitate, participate and contribute to knowledge management, knowledge networks, including communities of practice and knowledge management networks;
• Promote and experiment innovative approaches in collaboration with global and national think tanks and with other team members and colleagues within UNDP.

Perform other activities related to agriculture and rural development areas as required.

Core competencies: 

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management competencies:

• UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies  

Engagement and Effectiveness

• Effectiveness: Performance analysis on programming; Performance and data analysis and sharing lessons; Programmatic Risk Management and Analysis; Project Quality Assurance; Systems and tools for managing risk

People

• Gender: UNDP's Gender Equality Seal Initiative; Climate Change and Risk Management of Disasters with a Gender Perspective; Women's Economic Empowerment, including labour issues

Planet

• Nature, Climate and Energy: Climate Change Adaptation: agriculture/food security; Climate Change Adaptation: coastal resilience; Climate Change Adaptation: livelihoods

Communications

• Advocacy strategy and implementation: Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change

Partnership

• Relationship Management/ Strategic engagement: Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding; Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives.

Ethics:

• UN policy knowledge – ethics: Knowledge and understanding of the UN Staff Regulations and Rules and other policies relating to ethics and integrity

• Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture, Rural Development, or related fields; Master’s Degree or higher degree is preferable.

• At least seven years (with Bachelor’s Degree) or at least five years (with Master’s Degree or PhD Degree) of relevant experience in Agriculture,  Rural Development, or related fields (Climate Smart and Resilient Rural Development fields);
• At least 5 years of field-based experience with progressive responsibilities
• Demonstrate management, capacity building and development expertise;
• Experience working in Agriculture, Rural Development programmes or related programmes (Climate Smart and Resilient Agriculture and/or Rural Development programmes) in developing countries - preferably in Southeast Asia, experience in Viet Nam is a strong asset;
• Experience working with the application of climate smart and resilient agriculture and rural development programmes; Previous work experience with UNDP, ADB or other international partner is an asset.
• Good analytical, conceptualization and communication skills to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change;
• Knowledge of UNDP and UN system policies, programming and operational issues, as well as UN/UNDP experience is desirable;
• Experience to work as team member in a multicultural environment;
• Experience of UNDP’s gender equality seal initative, Women's Economic Empowerment and civil society participation are advantageous;
• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding;
• Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives.

Required Languages:

• Excellent command of English is required
• Knowledge of Korean language is an asset
• Willingness and ability to learn Vietnamese language in absence of Vietnamese language capacity is required.

Professional Certificates

• Master's Degree or PhD Diploma and relevant professional certificates.