Technical Assistant to support the design of National Forest Inventory (NFI)

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.

• 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
• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

Organizational Setting

This position is located in the national forest monitoring (NFM) team, who is providing support to Ghana’s Forestry Commission on REDD through the UN-REDD programme. Ghana’s involvement in REDD and the development of a national REDD strategy for Ghana effectively commenced in 2008 when Ghana enlisted on the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) REDD Readiness Programme. With funding from the FCPF, implementation of readiness activities commenced from 2012. The Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD Programme (GCFRP) is the first program to be developed under REDD in Ghana and emission were successfully reduced in this programme area. The National REDD Secretariat (NRS) of the Forestry Commission (FC) has submitted emission reductions for the year 2019 with technical support of FAO, which have been verified and validated and awarded emission reduction payments under the FCPF Carbon Fund. Technical support to FC is continued under the UN-REDD programme, under which FC is being supported to monitor, report and verify (MRV) emission reductions for the Architecture for REDD Transactions’ The REDD Environmental Excellence Standard (ART-TREES) programme.

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will be under the direct supervision of the FAO Rep in Ghana, and the direct technical guidance of the forest inventory specialists of FAO, HQ.

Technical Focus

The incumbent will assist to design a national forest inventory, which serves the purpose (among other) to provide updated emission factors (EFs) for REDD reporting. Ghana’s current EFs are based on a 2012 Forest Inventory. This inventory had the objective of estimating carbon stocks in different ecological zones of the country and was centered around capacity development but not necessarily targeting balanced country representation; the area of influence of the 2012 Forest Inventory had a regional scope, since it was carried out mainly in the south-western part of the country. The 2012 forest inventory data was also used to fit a LiDar-based carbon model. Though the inventory data does meet the minimum requirements for TREES participation, this is an important area for future improvement. Areas for improvement are increasing the plot size, a nationally representative distribution and a more accurate land-use classification.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Technical Assistant will contribute to the design preparation phase of the Ghana National Forest Inventory, serving as a liaison between FAO technical staff, the Forestry Commission and any other relevant national actors, such as the Forest Research Institute of Ghana.
Heshe will support the preparation of a new design for the National Forest Inventory. This product will be generated through various activities, but in particular through the collection and compilation of information that can help to design the National Forest Inventory of Ghana. Specific tasks to be carried out include the following:
• Support the technical and logistical organization of 2 workshops to establish a list of indicators and key questions to be evaluated in the National Forest Inventory.
• Support the data collect from previous forest inventories realized in the country, permanent plots, etc., this activity include reports, electronic files, databases, etc.
• Provide technical support to collect information about costs in the NFI (administrative and field work activities).
• Support the preparation of the NFI design document and its validation and approval.
• Support the preparation of the field manual to collect data according with the new design.
• Explore the possibility of collecting relevant information for estimating an emission factor for degradation with the NFI.
• Accompany and support technically the validation of the new field data collection methodology.
• Support the technical and logistical organization a workshop to present the process and results of the design of the NFI.
• Perform other related duties, as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Forestry or related field
• 5 years of relevant experience in the forest sector (government or private)
• Working knowledge of English
• National of Ghana or a legal resident in the country with a valid work permit

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Due to the technical complexity and innovation of the forest inventories design, the position requires extensive technical skills related to forest inventories
• Extent and relevance of experience in management of statistical databases.
• Extent and relevance of experience in management of computer programs such as Excel, Word, Power Point and statistical software.
• Familiarity with the forest sector in the country
• The candidate must demonstrate high communication skills, both verbal and written, negotiation, leadership, vision, strategy, coordination and teamwork.

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