International GEF Project Design Specialist

Organizational Setting

Through its Country Offices and FAO Representations, FAO assists governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to address hunger and malnutrition, and provides technical support for the sustainable development of their agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors. The activities of the FAO County Offices include design and implementation of targeted and tailored programming, serving national commitments to specific, multi-lateral environment agreements that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) financial mechanism serves. GEF approved the project “Strengthening Capacities for Prevention, Control and Management of Invasive Alien Species (SMIAS) in Indonesia” in December 2020. The full-sized project, CEO endorsement request and tracking tools need to be submitted to GEF for approval by December 2021. FAO-Indonesia (FAOID) requires an International GEF Project Design Specialist to lead the design of the GEF-7 full-sized SMIAS project (FSP).

The International GEF Project Design Specialist reports to the FAO Representative for Indonesia as the Budget Holder, and work under the technical supervision of the FAO Lead Technical Officer (LTO), FAO HQ Technical Officer, the FAO-GEF Coordination Unit and in close collaboration with the lead Executing Agency (the Ministry of Directorate of Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Environment and Forestry), Technical Advisory Group, Project Task Force National Project Preparation Coordinator and other experts.

Reporting Lines

The International GEF Project Design Specialist works under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative (FAOR) the technical supervision of the FAO Lead Technical Officer (LTO), FAO HQ Technical Officer, the FAO-GEF Unit.

Technical Focus

• Development of the project’s full design, aligned to carefully meet country needs and capacities, GEF project design standards and FAO’s Strategic Framework
• Development of FAO -GEF Project Document using the latest template provided by FAO, and the GEF tracking tools/core indicator sheets
• Development of a fully-elaborated coherent project theory of change, strategy and design
• Development of baseline and incremental reasoning, project components, budget, project results framework, project risk management framework, monitoring and evaluation plan and budget, and institutional arrangement for project execution

Tasks and responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative (FAOR), the overall supervision of the Budget Holder and the technical supervision of the FAO Lead Technical Officer (LTO), FAO HQ Technical Officer, the FAO-GEF Coordination Unit and in close collaboration with the lead Executing Agency (the Ministry of Directorate of Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Environment and Forestry), Technical Advisory Group, Project Task Force, National Project Preparation Coordinator and other experts, the consultant will conduct the following tasks:

• Develop the Project’s Theory of Change
• Develop a first draft of FAO-GEF Project Document, GEF-7 Biodiversity Focal Area Tracking Tool for, as well as the GEF-7 Core Indicator Sheet with information from the PIF and other updated sources.
• Develop the Project Preparation Grant (PPG) phase work plan, budget, and timeline of deliverables; prepare consultant TORs and assist in their selection.
• Guide the project preparation process and deliverables, including data collection, analysis and ensuring (and documenting) highly participatory consultations with the lead Executing Agency (EA), partners and stakeholders;
• Identify technical expertise needs for project design, potentially including experts in policy, legal, regulatory and related governance frameworks; institutional coordination and capacity for IAS prevention and management; socioeconomic aspects and gender; stakeholder and indigenous people’s engagement; communication; climate risk, social and environmental safeguard framework development, and; access, benefit sharing and NTFP development.
• Coordinate inputs, organize, and participate in the project’s PPG Inception Workshop;
• Support FAOID to determine the direction of Operational Partnership Modalities and execution arrangements.
• Conduct missions (if possible, tbd) for consultations, national ownership building, data gathering, and participation in meetings;
• In close cooperation with PPG team, develop methodology/process for stakeholder consultations (including gender and IP analysis) to ensure project ownership and buy-in at national level and in target landscapes;
• Coordinate, manage and collect inputs and baseline information (to establish relevant project co-finance commitments), and incorporate them under relevant project components and Project Results Framework and related project risk management framework; Develop co-financing structure and support FAOID in securing co-financing commitment letters, building upon baseline projects, and in determining project related budgets;
• Provide recommendations critical to project design and budgeting including unit costs and develop the detailed project results-based budget table as per FAO-GEF requirements, and review;
• Review and validate with the FAO project task force, lead EA and relevant partners the products prepared by the PPG team members; respond to requests for revision (and addressing GEF Sec and STAP comments on the PIF and PPG).
• Revise and update PPG documents;
• Perform related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in forestry, agriculture or other biological sciences, or related disciplines;
• Minimum of seven years combined experience in developing, executing and/or evaluating complex international and multi-lateral funded projects, especially for GEF;
• A proven track record in project design, development of team work plans, logical frameworks and results-based management and demonstrated ability to lead GEF project development teams resulting in approved and effective GEF CEO Endorsement Requests and UN Agency Project Documents;
• Working knowledge of English language and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian).[TR1]

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience in project formulation with GEF agencies and the GEF project cycle, and demonstrated ability to formulate UN Agency Project Documents and GEF CEO Endorsement Request Forms;
• Extent of working knowledge on sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and community involvement, including experience in implementing field projects;
• Demonstrated competencies in delivering results as planned adhering to deadlines, leadership, communication, and flexibility and dynamism for the integration of suggestions and recommendations that seek to improve the quality of the final products;
• Extent and relevance of experience in coordinating with government bodies in Indonesia is desirable;
• Understanding of national execution modality would be an asset.
• Strong analytical, communication, documentation and presentation skills with experience in facilitating and chairing meetings with multiple stakeholder groups.
• Ample experience working with government agencies and regional governance bodies, specifically in the region;
• Knowledge of Indonesian would be an asset.

[TR1]The requirment for consultants is the knowledge of 2 languages.