Agricultural Programme Coordinator

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. The organization supports countries, farmers’ organizations, Regional Economics Communities (RECs) towards this objective. Within the strategic priority “Promoting inclusive, competitive, sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food systems”, the subregional office for West Africa (SFW) is working on the transition to sustainable crop production systems, increasing of agricultural productivity and resource use efficiency, promoting integrated pest management, conservation and management of the continuum soil-plant-atmosphere, enhancing resilience to climate change and improvement of livelihoods and governance.

The Agricultural Programme Coordinator will oversight the projects, programmes and initiatives of SFW Agricultural Unit and supports the development and delivery of products and services related to sustainable crop intensification, inputs access and affordability, good agricultural practices, soil nutrient efficiency use and integrated pest management.

Reporting Lines

The Agricultural Programme Coordinator reports to the SFW Agricultural Officer, under the overall guidance of the FAO Sub Regional Coordinator for West Africa.

Technical Focus

Team leadership, technical expertise for the appropriate planning, development and implementation of the FAO projects and timely delivery of the project outputs and strategic capacity development.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Provides effective team leadership of the Agricultural Unit, supporting, coordination and facilitation of technical inputs, providing overall management support and technical oversight • Implements and monitors the Agricultural Unit work programme involving the conception and development of projects, strategies, technical notes, policy brief, etc. • Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives and provides technical backstopping to field projects. • Supports capacity development activities in Member Countries involving the provision of advice, technical assistance projects, training workshops, seminars, and meetings as well as oversees the development of related materials, on-line tools and information kits. • Contributes in the technical support to the decentralized offices in the development and implementation of the projects and programme assigned to the Agricultural Unit. • Manages the implementation of the Agricultural project portfolio in consultation with the country offices • Leads the implementation of the Agricultural Unit programme in consultation with the Agricultural Officer; • Manages and oversees the work of the Agricultural Unit consultants, ensuring quality assurance activities • Participates in programme formulation team, meetings, and conferences preparation and reporting • Promotes country and regional-level partnerships as a mechanism to increase capacity to deliver high-quality products; • Oversees the development and production of capacity-building and communication products. • Reports on progress against plans, agreed outputs, and challenges;

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in agronomy or a related field • Five years of relevant experience in programme coordination in both development and research contexts • Working knowledge (level C) of French and limited knowledge (level B) of English, For PSA, working knowledge of English or French.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is essential • Extent and relevance of experience in developing and delivering programmes of work or projects related to sustainable plant production • Extent and relevance of knowledge of the linkages between field, national and regional programs as a basis for community development for sustainable production systems; • Demonstrated experience in collecting, analyzing and disseminating technical information and data. • Experience in the preparation, editing and revision of technical/scientific documents and in organizing meetings and workshops. • Extent and relevance of experience in managing and promoting multi-stakeholder initiatives and partnerships