Programme Support Associate, Food Systems

UNDP´s Green Commodities Programme (GCP) is one of UNDP´s global projects in support of implementing UNDP´s FACS strategy. GCP’s global targets, objectives and delivery strategies are based on inclusive and sustainable growth and development – combining governments and markets in agriculture through public-private partnerships and democratic dialogue processes. GCP’s focus on strengthening the livelihoods of smallholder producers within commodity supply chains and reducing environmental footprints, particularly deforestation, through public-private partnerships can be key for UNDP’s ambitions to reduce poverty, reduce deforestation and engage the private sector in SDGs.  

Through the GCP project, FACS intends to improve the national economic, social, and environmental performance of agricultural commodity sectors. GCP works within agricultural commodity production in countries of UNDP operation where the programme can have significant impact on rural livelihoods, mitigate climate change, and maintain the ecosystem services and resilience of landscapes and seascapes.

GCP has different sources of funds including the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) which mainly supports the development of tools and resources, and the delivery of capacity building around effective collaborative action and systems change. In November 2021, UNDP launched the Effective Collaborative Action (ECA) guidebook, which gathers key principles and practices for accelerating the transformation of food systems. In addition, GCP supports the World Bank with the implementation of the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Program (IP), financed under GEF-7. The Programme is designed to promote sustainable integrated landscapes and efficient food value chains at scale. The GCP coordinates the Good Growth Partnership coalition, whose support focuses on the global platform with the objective of contributing to transformational shifts in the use of environmentally sustainable practices and policies for priority global value chains.   

The FACS Programme Support Associate will provide support to the implementation of the different projects and initiatives under the FACS Practice including the GCP Project.

The FACS Programme Support Associate will be assigned the following duties:

• Organizing meeting calls, taking minutes of these calls with key actions needed and following up on necessary actions as applicable. Support in meetings arrangements, including Project Boards/Steering Committee meetings, Coordination calls, including scheduling, agenda drafting, delivery, minutes taking and report drafting.
• Support in annual planning and reporting processes; including coordination of data collection, development and analysis, interpretation and presentation in flowcharts, tables, reports, or slides, as needed for project management.
• Assist in preparing and reviewing draft reports, knowledge products (including communications strategy and dissemination), presentations and materials. Support in maintaining all project /initiatives documents in a shared repository.
• Assist in organizing events, workshops, and training.
• Prepare presentations, briefing notes, and reports. Help with translation, proofreading and editing of documents.

Institutional Arrangement

The Programme Support Associate will be supervised by the FACS Global Project Manager. He/she will liaise with the UNDP FACS team members, other UNDP staff both at global and country office levels, partners agencies focal points, and donors.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
3. Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experiences, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.