Technical Specialist - Establishment of Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund for Eswatini

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• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
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Organizational Setting

Through FAO support, Eswatini has now begun a process of reviewing its Agricultural Investment plan (E-NAIP Process) as an initiative to support Government to achieve the goals of the CASP and its strategic plan. It is envisaged that the E-NAIP will feed from the Agrinvest process and its associated network of institutions aimed at achieving the vision for the agricultural and natural resources sector and food security in the country within the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa (NEPAD) Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Reporting Lines

Under the overall leadership of the FAO Representative for Eswatini, technical guidance by FAO Project Lead Technical Officer the Technical Adviser will perform the following tasks:

Technical Focus

The incumbent will be responsible for providing practical day to day technical advice to the interim EADF Fund Manager in the Establishment and operationalisation of the Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund EADF

Tasks and responsibilities

Establishment and operationalisation of Corporate Governance Systems for the Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund (EADF)

Assist EADF Fund manager to review and understand national and international examples on the modus operandi of secretariats of agricultural development funds and /or other similar funds
Assist EADF Fund manager to consult through strategic engagements with Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, FAO, and other key stakeholders to get input on specific issues related to establishment and operationalization of the EADF secretariat
Assist EADF Fund manager to structure and establish all Corporate Governance structures and systems for the ADF building on the input by experts recruited by FAO on specific aspects including on including Human Resources systems, administrative systems, fund accountability systems (accounting and financial controls systems), procurement, asset management, communication etc
Support the Fund manager to operationalise the systems, including coming up with standard related organisational design documentation which identify with the EADF
Support fund manager to develop and operationalize corporate accountability mechanisms for EADF to ensure the ADF meets international best practice standards and reinforce its Prudential Financial credibility, a strong financial rating and profile to meet its policy and contractual obligations.

Establishment and operationalisation of Standard operation Procedures for the Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund (EADF)

Assist EADF Fund manager to review the Sector Development Plans Agreements, draft ADF instruments produced by FAO experts and retrieve the scope of state aids/state support that will be required in each agricultural value chain in Eswatini to inform pragmatism in design and roll out of financial instruments
Assist EADF Fund manager to analyse global and African experience with respect to financial instruments that are applied successfully including the Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrower’s Programme (ABP) and the Bank of Uganda Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) models
Assist EADF Fund manager to review the financial instruments contained in the SADC ADF, NEPAD/FAO Smart Policy Instruments platform documents and other continental financial instruments deployed through various multilateral and global development partners
Assist the EADF fund manager to consult with key value chain players including commodity associations, farmer organizations business sector representatives, financial sector representatives to acquire solid stakeholder buy in the scope of state aids/state support that will be required in each agricultural value chain in Eswatini to inform pragmatism in design and roll out of financial instruments

Support fund manager to develop and operationalize procedures and mechanisms for processing EADF financial instruments targeted at different players in the value chains including:

Part 1 – Instruments (assistance) granted out of Aggregation schemes

General provisions (processing of applications, processing time of applications, deadline to submitting the applications to the one-stop-shop, monitoring, and control of achievements.
Specific provisions dispositions (request for prior approval, particular cases of submission of applications for subsidies, achievement report, and particular cases of eligibility to state financial assistance…)

Transitional provisions

Part 2 – Aid (assistance) granted to aggregation schemes (farmer companies, clusters and other value chain players).

Processing of applications (application for prior approval of aggregation scheme (cluster), application for a subsidy, monitoring, and control of tools,
Assist fund manager to define and operationalize SoPs relevant procedures for processing applications for GoE financial assistance distributed through the EADF.

Operationalisation of a Sustainable Public resourcing system of the Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund (EADF)

Assist the fund manager to conclude and confirm through consultations with MoF, MoA and related state institutions (NAMBOARD, ESWADE, Dairy board, Cotton Board) to ascertain the public sources of finance available for the fund and develop and structure a concrete fiscal public policy instruments to crowd in public resources into the Agricultural Development Fund
Assist the fund manager with guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Finance to operationalize the mechanisms/processes/instruments of financing the EADF from the public sector
Assist the fund manager to simulate and project the various alternative sources and mechanisms that the public sector (such as levies in agricultural sector and outside the sector, fiscus and other potential public sources) can use to finance the EADF and develop relevant scenarios with respect to the future streams of the fund, its sustainability and impact on the economy.
Assist the fund manager to design, operationalize/activate processes for collecting the financial resources from the various public sources with the correct GoE instruments

Operationalisation of a strategy for mobilisation of additional Resources from other sources for the Eswatini Agricultural Development Fund (EADF)

Assist the fund manager to develop a strategy for mobilisation of capital, resources and funds from other players such as development finance institutions, climate funds, Foundations, private sector and other sources
Create a database /inventory of all development finance institutions, climate funds, Foundations, private sector and other sources with contacts, type of institution, type of funds/calls and areas of focus.
Develop funding concepts notes and proposals for submission to relevant institutions, in response to calls and for strategic solicitation.
Assist the fund manager to kick start /operationalise/activate the RM strategy strategic engagements for opening processes for submission of the proposals

Capacity Building for EADF secretariat, MoA and Key stakeholders

Assist fund manager to develop and roll out a comprehensive capacity development programme which reaches all stakeholders of the fund including:
MoA officials and at different levels and other key state agricultural sector service providers in the hierarchy of government for their full acquaintance with the operations of the fund and for them to be able to provide services which align to the requirements of the fund.
Value chains players including commodity associations, private companies and financial services providers for them to access specific instruments deployed by the agricultural development fund.
Establish, operationalise and build capacities for application of a user friendly digital financial information management system through installation of the appropriate hardware and software capable of managing the ICT needs of a world class EADF
Assist fund manager to design and operationalise a digitalised M&E mechanism which systematically collects, synthesizes and reports specific parameters which indicate in real time the performance of the fund on a dashboard to enable the Government of Eswatini to monitor progress in the activities of the fund

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced University degree in financial services, organizational design, Financial Engineering, Banking, Micro Finance, Finance or closely related fields.
• 10 (Ten) years or more of concrete experience in finance and banking, financial organizational design in Southern African and Global context. Experience and strong knowledge of national context with reference to development of food, agriculture sector and rural development.
• Working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of one of the other languages of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish). For PSA, only working knowledge of English is required

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