Cooperatives Business Development Consultant

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Coordination Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip Programme is currently implementing the project entitled “Support Economic Growth through Optimized Agricultural Value Chains in the West Bank OSRO/GAZ/406/CAN” funded by Global Affairs Canada. This project seeks to support the objective of agribusiness sustainably contributing to economic growth and the welfare of the Palestinian people. In particular, the project will contribute to sustainably improving income and labor productivity in agribusiness.

Within the framework of the mentioned project, and under the following activities: (i) “Provision of technical support to improve farmers’ practices throughout the value chain”, and (ii) “Supporting 15 women’s cooperatives' capacity to improve quantity, quality and safety of the food processing”, FAO is seeking to hire a cooperative's business development consultant to support the 40 farmers and women’s cooperatives/associations targeted under the mentioned project, to efficiently and sustainably develop and roll out their collective agro-food businesses and other cooperatives services and activities capitalizing on the co-investment, technical and institutional development support they received from FAO

Reporting Lines

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Head of Office, and direct supervision of the Head of Programme in close collaboration with the in charge Deputy Project Manager.

Technical Focus

The consultant shall provide day-to day field advisory, guidance and mentoring support to the farmers and women’s cooperatives targeted under the mentioned FAO project to enable them achieving the intended economic and institutional sustainability which will support a smooth and successful achievement of FAO project exist strategy.

Tasks and responsibilities

The consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Conduct at least 80 field mentoring visits to the 40 farmer and women’s cooperatives/associations to support them optimizing their business management and operation capacities and practices so as to ensure their efficient utilization of the FAO support delivered under the mentioned project;
• Develop an efficient and user-friendly documentation system for the cooperatives’ businesses and services, to support in measuring the economic and social impacts of FAO support;
• Support the cooperatives to monitor, measure and document the changes and improvements in their businesses achieved from FAO’s in-kind and technical support including the improved management and operation capacities;
• Collect data on the cooperative’s key performance indicators, disaggregated by gender & age, to inform the cooperatives and FAO on the achievement progress of FAO project related indicators;
• Identifying further needs and opportunities for developing the cooperatives businesses

Through performing the above mentioned tasks, the consultant is expected to achieve the following main deliverables:

• 80 mentoring visits are conducted to the 40 cooperatives targeted by the project, to support them in optimizing their business management and operation capacities and practices.
• A documentation system for the cooperatives is developed, and the 40 cooperatives are efficiently using it.
• A monthly report capturing the field visits conducted and summarizing the main achievements & recommendations.
• The report should capture the achievements against the baselines and targets related to the cooperatives with special focus on gender and youth socio-economic empowerment and environmental sustainability.
• A detailed list of opportunities for the cooperatives capitalizing on the support provided by FAO.
• Final comprehensive report.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in agricultural science/engineer, agricultural economics or related field.
• At least 8 years of relevant experience, in working with agricultural cooperatives development and support, this includes at least 3 years of experience in implementing/coordinating agricultural value chains development projects (in local or international NGOs).
• Working knowledge of English and Arabic Languages.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Excellent communication skills.
• Excellent analytical and reporting skills.
• Excellent computer skills.
• Ability to travel to and within the West Bank
• Experience in working with the UN is an advantage