ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL RISK ASSESSMENT SPECIALIST

Organizational Setting

FAO's office for Yemen is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing, and implementing agreed strategies for addressing countrywide food, agriculture, and rural development priorities under Yemen. It develops and maintains relations with the relevant Ministries at the country level. The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programs, and projects to achieve food security and reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries, and forestry sectors and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner Over the years, the World Bank has been financing several complementary projects implemented by FAO in the agriculture, rural livelihoods, and social protection sectors in Yemen. Yemen Food Security Response and Resilience Project (YFSRRP) and the Yemen Desert Locust Response Project are two multi-year projects financed by the Bank currently implemented by FAO. The WB has recently approved for FAO and UNDP additional financing (AF) that will scale up several activities of the FSRRP to increase the focus on resilience to food crises. The broad range of interventions under these projects includes desert locust control, input, and technology support and training to farmers, herders, and fisher folk, asset transfers, sustainable environmental and natural resource management, and value chain development, to restore livelihoods, build resilience and improve food security and nutrition. They also include the generation of learning and knowledge as well as the strengthening of agricultural extension systems.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative, and the direct supervision of the Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development sector of FAO Yemen, and with technical support from the Senior Natural Resources Officer OCBD, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

Technical Focus

The incumbent will ensure compliance of the projects with Environmental and Social Standards (ESS) of donors and FAO, acting as a focal point within the Projects Management Units and coordinating the required inputs from the Project Implementation Teams.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Ensure the update of environmental and social safeguards (ESS) instruments such as ESCP, ESMF, PMP, RPF, LMP, SEP, GBV action plan, Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM), Social Inclusion and Citizen Engagement in collaboration with partners. • Ensure the disclosure, implementation and compliance of safeguards instrument,, sustainable performance, and quality assurance of all safeguards through project site visits and formulation of appropriate mitigation measures • Strengthening the technical capacity of the local safeguards team on safeguard implementation through continuous training and coaching • Coordinate the environmental and social impact assessment exercise of sub-projects to check the activity is permissible (as per the legal and regulatory requirements of the projects); determine the level of environmental and social assessment required based on the level of expected impacts and establish where ESMP will be required, providing estimate costs of implementation. • Coordinate the monitoring and reporting of safeguards tools during the projects implementation to ensure the safeguards performance is regularly reported. • Compile information from quarterly reports received related to safeguards to feed in the six-month report. • Lead the compilation of pre-implementation environmental and social safeguard documents for sub-projects prior to the implementation of activities, that include a description of the implementing sites, the activities to be carried out, aggregated results of the environmental and social screening checklists per sub-project and Environmental and Social Management Plans identifying mitigation measures, indicators, responsibilities and timeframe. • Supervise the establishment of adequate multiple access points to receive complaints from stakeholders, ensure they are known to beneficiaries and act as focal point to receive and file claims accordingly and monitor the effectiveness of the access points, proposing any improvement needed in order to resolve and handle complaints at site; • Communicate to the Chief Technical Advisor and guide on addressing concerns brought to the attention of the focal points regarding any safeguards issues due to subprojects activities

Minimum Requirements

• University degree or Advanced degree (Master) in Environmental Science, or closely related fields. • At least 5 years of relevant operational experience and proven track record in working on projects covering a broad range of environmental and social issues • Knowledge and understanding of international environmental and social standards and practices. • For COF working knowledge of English and a limited knowledge of another FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French or Russian). • For PSA working knowledge of English

FAO Core Competencies • Results Focus • Teamwork • 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 desirable • Skills in monitoring capacity development activities of project • Good interpersonal and networking skills with partners at all levels (ministry, NGOs and local community based • organizations);

Selection Criteria/ Technical/Functional Skills

• Demonstrated capacity to plan, advise and guide compliance with environmental and social safeguards, including compliance with stakeholder engagement requirements • Demonstrated ability to liaise with multiple agencies, effectively building an understanding and partnership with other UN bodies, NGOs, and governmental agencies. • Ability to plan, organize, implement and report. • Demonstrated experience in the field working on implementation of safeguards instruments for development projects. • The incumbent must have the ability to build effective working relationships with national and international colleagues, with different cultural and technical background • Proven experience of successful implementation of safeguards for investment projects based on internationally recognized standards (e.g. IFC Performance Standards, etc.) • Demonstrated ability to lead and manage a team • Excellent communication, writing and presentation skills in English. • The incumbent must possess teamwork spirit, ability to work under minimum supervision. • Understanding of complex emergencies; experience working in insecure and crisis environment. • Proven strong communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills; Analytical skills and experience. • Ability to keep sensitive information as confidential; • Fluency or working proficiency in English (oral and written); • Fluency or working proficiency in Arabic (both written and oral) is desirable; • Experience working in conflict zones and/or with projects implemented in conflict zones/areas of protracted crisis is desirable.