GEF International Waters (Project Development and Program Management) Specialist

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Application deadline 3 years ago: Sunday 15 Nov 2020 at 22:59 UTC

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Organizational Setting

The FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific (RAP) is building an ambitious programme of transboundary water management projects in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters portfolio. FAO seeks an experienced International Waters specialist to lead the programme, both in terms of managing the active projects and developing new project opportunities, from within the RAP Natural Resources Management (NRM) Group.

Reporting lines

The incumbent will work under the overall managerial administrative leadership of the Assistant Director-General (ADG) for Asia and the Pacific, direct supervision of the NRM Group Leader, RAP and in close collaboration with the GEF Technical Officer, RAP, the GEF International Waters (IW) Technical Officer, GEF Unit, the Country Support Group, RAP and the NRM Group, RAP.

Technical Focus

  • Water resources management for sustainable agriculture in Asia Pacific, including irrigation, climate change, water-food-energy trade-offs, water quality and agrochemicals, water and food security, source to sea management, etc.
  • Transboundary water management, law and negotiation processes.

Tasks and Responsibilities

  • Lead the development of new GEF Project Identification Forms (PIFs) to augment the IW programme in Asia, including liaison with country teams and help drive the required national political negotiations.
  • Secure Letters of Endorsement and donor approval for the existing PIFs (
  • Respond to requests for further information from GEFSEC and GEF Council Members and updating documents accordingly
  • Seek opportunities for new projects (new transboundary water bodies and/or thematic issues) to continue to augment the RAP program
  • Ensure a coherent and consistent technical and socio-political approach to the IW portfolio in Asia, utilising economies of scale where possible
  • Utilise the existing IW projects to help countries leverage new resources from bilateral and multilateral donors;
  • Contribute to evolving RAP and FAO GEF policies, strategies and procedures (from the perspective of IW and including for GEF-8);
  • Provide specific IW inputs to RAP work planning processes for 2021
  • Undertake all activities required of FAO Lead Technical Officer for the existing IW programme, meeting all GEF and FAO requirements and deadlines, including:

    • Initiate the full-sized Song Ma Song Ca project in Lao PDR and Viet Nam.
    • Lead the on-going GEF Project Preparation Grant (PPG) process for the Mekong Delta Aquifer project (Cambodia and Viet Nam) including supervising international and national consultants, technical oversight of all documents and working closely with the Budget Holder in RAP on implementation arrangements.
    • Lead the transition from PIF to Project Preparation Grant phase for the Panj River Basin project (Afghanistan and Tajikistan) including supervising international and national consultants, technical oversight of all documents and working closely with the Budget Holder on implementation arrangements.
    • Lead the transition from PIF to Project Preparation Grant phase for the Pacific volcanic groundwater project (Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) including supervising international and national consultants, technical oversight of all documents and working closely with the Budget Holder on implementation arrangements.
  • Provide technical oversight as Responsible Officer for ongoing Letters of Agreement (LOAs) with partners in the IW programme portfolio and support development of new LOAs as needed;

  • Work closely with the RAP Country Support Group to help develop new operational processes suitable for executing transboundary IW projects;
  • Support the GEF International Waters (IW) Technical Officer, GEF Unit to work with IW LEARN to ensure high awareness and regional level learning from the RAP programme.

    CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Requirements

  • Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Management, Hydrology, International Law, Environmental Science or any related discipline;
  • At least five years’ experience working with GEF IW projects and programmes, including experience designing and implementing GEF IW projects, including a good understanding of the required language, project taxonomy, core indicators and financing required for successful GEF IW PIFs.
  • Working knowledge of English, and limited knowledge of one of the other UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish).

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

  • In-depth knowledge of the GEF IW funding mechanisms including extensive experience in project design and projects implementation;
  • Demonstrated experience working in Asia-Pacific on water resources management for sustainable agriculture and good production (eg. water accounting, basin planning, water policy reform, water allocation);
  • Proven track record of advising and collaborating with government institutions and other stakeholders such as NGOs in developing countries;
  • Strong inter-personal skills and excellent oral and written communication skills.
  • Proven capacity to conduct fieldwork and ability to work in teams and establish working relationships central and local government institutions and civil society organizations;
  • Ability to use standard office software such as MS-Office;
  • Experience working with FAO internal processes is an asset.
  • Experience working on water resources management for sustainable agriculture in Asia-Pacific;
Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: fao.org