Forestry Officer (Technical Advisor)

Organizational Setting The main objective of the FAO country offices, headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments in developing policies, programs, and projects aimed at achieving food security, reducing hunger and malnutrition, developing the agricultural, fisheries, and forestry sectors, and sustainably utilizing environmental and natural resources. The need for current forest resource data is increasingly important for the development of national forestry policies and management actions, as well as for a wide range of international reporting requirements. The Forestry Division (NFO) of FAO has been supporting countries in developing their national capacity to collect, analyse, and report forestry data for decades through various initiatives and projects. In this context, the Government of Sierra Leone has requested additional technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to strengthen and consolidate its National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS), including its first National Forest Inventory. As a result, FAO is seeking to recruit an International Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) to provide technical guidance to national and sub-national experts in carrying out all project activities. The post is located in FAO Representation in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Reporting Lines The Forestry Office (Technical Advisor) reports to the FAO Representative (FAOR) in Sierra Leone, with direct supervision and support of the Forestry Officer/Lead Technical Officer based in the National Forest Monitoring Team (NFOM) of the Forestry Division at FAO headquarters.

Technical Focus The Forestry Officer (Technical Advisor) reports to support technical oversight and capacity development related to all project activities, including the implementation and technical delivery of field projects related to national forest monitoring and forest management guidelines. The Forestry Officer responds to country requests for technical assistance, contributes to solutions, and provides technical backstopping to forest monitoring projects as requested.

Key Results Research, technical analysis and project related services to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services.

Key Functions • Researches and analyses technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional, and technology related information, data and statistics and/or related policy issues to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services; • Produces a variety of technical information, data, statistics and reports as well as input for technical documents and web pages; • Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives and provides technical backstopping to field projects; • Collaborates in the development of improved/updated tools, systems, processes and databases; • Participates on multidisciplinary teams, and/or leads working groups/teams collaborates with other divisions and agencies on work groups and committees and promotes best practices; • Collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development activities within Members such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events including preparation of related information, learning materials, on-line tools; • Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at international meetings and conferences and influences partners in stakeholder consultations; • Supports resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Corporate Strategy.

Specific Functions • Contributes to the technical implementation of all project activities in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator (NPC), Government counterparts and technical partners and FAO technical experts such as Lead Technical Officer (LTO), international Remote Sensing (RS) experts, national RS consultants, and other Non-Staff Human Resources (NSHR); • Contributes to capacity development activities related to project activities to strengthen Government autonomy in Forest Monitoring, Forest Management and Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV); • Supports the implementation of the project technical activities, in close collaboration with the NPC and the International and FAO Remote-Sensing; Sustainable Management of Forest (SMF), Land Cover Classification System (LCCS), Carbon, Collect Earth Online (CEO)/ System for Earth Observation, Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL), Forest Reference Emission Level (FRELS)/ Forest Reference Level (FLR), National Forest Inventory (NFI) experts. • Ensures technical quality assurance and quality control of the technical outputs of the project (National Forest Monitoring - NFM/MRV systems, NFI); • Supports smooth project implementation through coordination of regular project task force meetings; • Prepares detailed work plans for the project in collaboration with project staff and stakeholders and makes implementation arrangements for the field activities and trainings; • Drafts Terms of Reference (ToR) for affiliate workforce and follow up on their recruitments and assignment in a timely manner; • Provides ongoing support to the NPC in preparing work plans and reporting on project activities; • Liaises weekly with the Project's LTO and relevant FAO experts to inform on progress and obtain technical clearance on key technical work and outputs; • Undertakes ad-hoc supervision missions in collaboration with the NPC; • Monitors the work of short-term affiliate workforce and review their reports; • Supports the NPC in organizing and conducting consultation of the project activities; • Ensures that field teams provide monthly reports of progress and assists in resolving bottlenecks, in close collaboration with the NPC; • Communicates regularly with FAO external technical partners; • Prepares and submits regular periodic and other reports as deemed; • Performs any other related tasks as and when requested.' ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements • Advanced university degree in forestry, forest economics, forest engineering or another related field. • Five years of relevant experience in forestry development, natural resources management, or other related field in developing countries. • Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate - level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

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. • Extent and relevance of experience and knowledge in forest assessment and monitoring issues. • Extent and relevance of experience in land and forest resources tenure, participatory forestry, forest policy, forest assessment and monitoring. • Depth of familiarity with assessment issues in forestry, and experience with MRV. • Extent and relevance of experience in the analysis and formulation of policies for sustainability improvement in the forest sector. • Ability to analyse complex forestry data and information.