Sustainable Food Value Chain Specialist

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST – VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: 2101870

Sustainable Food Value Chain Specialist

Job Posting: 24/Jun/2021

Closure Date: 14/Jul/2021, 4:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit: ESF

Job Type: Non-staff opportunities

Type of Requisition: Consultant / PSA (Personal Services Agreement)

Grade Level: N/A

Primary Location: Home-Based

Duration: 11 months

Post Number: N/A

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

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 member nations, 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 our values. FAO has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and FAO, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination

All selected candidates, therefore, will undergo rigorous reference and background checks

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 member states, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide. We believe that everyone can play a part in ending hunger.

The Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) supports a coordinated approach to the development of food systems, including inter alia, (i) the development of sustainable food value chains (SFVC) and sustainable investments across value chains (VC); (ii) the strengthening of food safety and quality at national, regional and international levels, (iii) the reductions in food loss and waste, (iv) the implementation of the urban food agenda and (v) the engagement in global level dialogues, platforms and initiatives

Reporting Lines

The International Value Chain Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Deputy Director of ESF and the direct supervision of the Economist Officers. The selected consultant will initiate his/her tasks with the preparation of the VCA and Development Strategy for the soybean sector in Zambia under the 2-year Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM) project, FMM/GLO/131/MUL (“Sustainable, resilient and inclusive food systems development”).

Technical Focus

The Sustainable Food Value Chains (SFVC) analysis and development has been identified as one of the key entry points towards sustainable development. To advance towards nutritionally, socio-economically and environmentally sustainable VCs, policy makers and VC’s actors require information on inclusive and sustainable food value chains and market systems, in line with the three pillars of sustainability:

Economic: inclusive incomes, jobs and livelihoods; commercial and fiscal viability of activities conducted by each system actor and the benefits and costs to society as a whole; effectively linkages among small and medium agricultural producers and processors to end markets through value addition.

Social: equity in the distribution of added economic value and benefits for society at large, taking into account vulnerable groups categorized by gender, age, ethnicity, income/wealth and socioeconomic status; supply higher-value, nutritious and differentiated food and feed to improve diets and nutrition; and decent employment (in particular for rural women and youth).

Environmental: reducing contamination, managing waste effectively and ensuring that the impacts of VCs’ activities on the surrounding natural environment are neutral or positive, taking into consideration biodiversity, water, soil, animal and plant health, the carbon footprint, the water footprint, and food loss and waste; utilize natural resources in a sustainable manner, including environmentally sustainable practices through climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.

It also requires sustainable investments along the VC. This would involve overcoming the bottlenecks and risks that discourage investments through participatory processes (including with small and medium enterprises – SMEs –, development and commercial financial institutions; domestic, regional and global investors; and the governments), technical assistance and awareness of existing tools that enable private investment in agriculture sector. In addition, strengthening value chains’ governance, stakeholders’ interactions, collaborations and engagement and understands interconnectedness and trade-offs between social, economic and environmental impacts are crucial for the way forward.

Tasks and responsibilities

The successful candidate will support the above areas of work, and in particular will:

Lead, operationally and technically, the Value Chain Analysis (VCA) and the preparation of its Development Strategy, including Investment and Action Plans for upgrading the selected VC in a country.

Write the VCA Report and the Development Strategy (including the Investment and Action) plans. Among others, the report will cover the functional, sustainability (socio-economic and environmental) analysis, the financial accounts for value chain actors, including international competitiveness and calculation of value-added (direct and indirect); Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis; upgrading strategy, investment plan to upgrade and an action plan.

Plan, oversee, support and provide quality control to the data collection, data analysis and lead the report-writing process.

Lead the national team engaged directly in the primary data collection by coordinating timely inputs from all members of the team, preparing semi-structure interviews, facilitating visits, focus groups, and individual meetings with key informants, including producers, traders, processors, input suppliers, service providers, banks, ministries, other government institutions, etc.

Facilitate two multi-stakeholder workshops: (1) VCA’s validation workshop and (2) Development Strategy and Investment and Action plan workshop, and preparing and (co-) presenting the findings from the analysis and development (investment plan). The consultant will also plan and facilitate inter-ministerial and public-private sector value chain stakeholder meetings

Contribute and support the activities related to identifying investment opportunities and de-risking schemes through blended financing along the VCs; customizing investments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), establishing VCs’ multi-stakeholders platforms; facilitating policy dialogue; and disseminating knowledge & best practices.

Map and build synergies with parallel projects focused on SFVC and food systems within FAO and in consultation with UNIDO.

Support project management activities, including publication of the Value Chain Analysis and Development Strategy, updating website pages and progress communications.

Provide any other support to ESF projects as indicated by ESF management.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

University degree in, agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, business, economics, food systems, food science and technology, rural finances or other related discipline.

At least twelve years of relevant experience in one or more of the following areas: value chain analysis and development, rural finances, agribusiness and market development, agro-food processing, post-harvest handling, and agro-food industry technologies.

Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another official language of the Organization (Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Arabic) .

FAO Core Competencies

Results Focus

Teamwork

Communication

Building Effective Relationships

Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

Demonstrable experience in VCA and research, particularly in the soybean VC

Familiarity with project reporting.

Demonstrable experience in engaging with a variety of stakeholders of the value chain.

Demonstrable experience at a UN agency level working closely with external partner organizations and country offices.

Familiarity with FAO areas of work (sustainable food value chains, food systems, food safety, food security, nutrition, climate change, etc.).

Proven experience with FAO’s remote working tools, namely Zoom, MS Teams, One Drive and MS Office.

Demonstrated capacity to work under stringent time pressure and prioritise tasks.

Selection Criteria

Extent and relevant experience with VCA and research, rural finance as well as with stakeholder mapping and strategic analysis for the agricultural sector.

Demonstrable experience analysing the soybean value chain and related sub-sectors (e.g. poultry, dairy and aquaculture, etc) is highly desirable.

Extensive experience leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams and in providing training and guidance on the data collection process and data processing and analysis work.

Experience in organizing and facilitating workshops, meetings, seminars, and training courses in the technical general area of value chains development.

Knowledge and familiarity with rural finance, the green agenda, climate change mitigation and adaptation and climate smart agriculture is highly desirable.

Experience working in UN agencies is desired and experience in the private sector working at different stages of the food value chain is a plus.

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

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FAO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)

Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list

If you are in possession of language certificate/s from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT), please attach the certificate/s when submitting the application.

For more information, visit the FAO employment website

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered.

We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline

If you need help please contact: [email protected]

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