International Information Technology Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO Pakistan under the Green Climate Fund is implementing a project called Transforming Indus Basin with Climate Resilient Agriculture and Water Management in Punjab and Sindh Provinces. The project aims to develop the country’s capacity to get and use the information it needs to cope with the impacts of climate change on agriculture and water management. The overall goal of the projects is to enhance the capacity of agricultural and pastoral sectors to cope with climate change, by up scaling farmers’ adoption of climate change adaptation technologies and practices through a network of already established Farmers Field Schools, and by mainstreaming climate change adaptation concerns and strategies into on-going agricultural development initiatives, policies and programming.

Modelling of climate change scenarios for Pakistan shows that if agriculture and water management in the Indus River Basin continue along a ‘business as usual’ pathway, increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation will pose serious threats to the future livelihoods of farmers and to the Pakistani agricultural sector. In response to this challenge, the project will help shift Pakistan and Indus Basin agriculture from its current situation of high vulnerability toward an alternative paradigm wherein better information and farming practices will significantly increase resilience to climate change. To do this, the project will develop the country’s capacity to get and use the information it needs to cope with the impacts of climate change on agriculture and water management by putting in place state-of-the art technology (Component 1); building farmers resilience to climate change through skills, knowledge and technology (Component 2), and creating a wider enabling environment for continuous adaptation and expanded sustainable uptake of climate-resilient approaches (Component 3).

Subcomponent 1.3 aims to improve availability and use of information services. The incumbent will mainly work on this subcomponent. The project will develop Agriculture, Climate, Water (ACWA) information portal where data and information provided various organizations will be shared. Also the project is planning to provide series of training on FAO’s software/tools that will produce inputs to ACWA, such as Agriculture Stress Index System (ASIS), Collect Earth/Collect Mobile, Earth Map, Aquacrop, and Modelling System for Agriculture Impacts of Climate Change (MOSAICC). This subcomponent also includes formation of consortium of stakeholders consisting of governmental organizations and academic institutions, which will manage the ACWA portal.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAOR, direct supervision by Technical Advisor and guidance by Lead Technical Officers of the project, and in close consultation with DFAOR, AFAOR Programme, RAP, OCB, national IT specialist and other Project Team members, the incumbent will:

Technical Focus:

• Experience in of Geo-data portal dealing with climate, agriculture and/or water data and Remote Sensing data is strongly desired
• Experience in development of technical contents of contracts (ToRs for staff, service agreements, and letters of agreement) is strongly desired
• Experience of involving stakeholders is a plus
• Experience in development of information tools for farmers is a plus

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Review existing relevant data portals globally and in Pakistan.

• Guide the process of development and deployment of ACWA portal, in close collaboration with the national IT specialist and the project team.

• Coordinate with project team members working on information services to ensure the ACWA portal and other information service products being produced under the project are compatible

• Review past workshops’ reports on ACWA Portal Design and hold follow-up meetings with relevant stakeholders and technical experts of FAO to develop a design of ACWA Portal. The portal design should be agreed by consortium of stakeholders, which will manage the ACWA portal.

• Conduct needs assessment on 1) upgrading of existing data portal such as Pakistan Climate Agriculture Info System, 2) training on tools/software that will provide input to ACWA, and 3) ACWA portal design

• Based on the assessment(carried above), develop (or modify existing ones) implementation, procurement, and budget plans of the project’s subcomponent 1.3: improving availability and use of information services

• Based on the assessment, develop Terms of reference and letters of agreements needed for 1) upgrading of existing data portal such as Pakistan Climate Agriculture Info System, 2) training on tools/software that will provide input to ACWA, 3) ACWA portal development.

• Organize the training events identified in the assessment with service providers and/or with the FAO project team in Pakistan, Regional Office for Asia Pacific, and Headquarters.

• Support the development of terms of reference to procure service providers, letters of agreements, etc.,

• Provide technical guidance during the technical evaluation of bid offers to procure service providers under subcomponent 1.3

• Participate in project meetings and events related to subcomponent 1.3.

• Coordinate with the consortium and FAO project team members working on development of consortium to ensure that their needs are reflected in the design of ACWA

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in IT, GIS, Computer Science or related field.

• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish); Working knowledge of English for PSA.SBS.

• At least 5 years of relevant work experience.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus

• Teamwork

• Communication

• Building Effective Relationships

• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Ability to plan and organize own work, deliver results and meet deadlines

• Extent and relevance of experience in the preparation and revision of technical/scientific documents and in organizing training events

• Ability to write clear and concise technical documents (in English)

• Excellent oral and written communication skill in English,

• Experience of engaging actively with key stakeholders

• Excellent communication and presentation skills and working in multicultural environment

• Experience in using IT in the context climate, agriculture, and/or water data.

• Experience in data portal development

Selection Criteria

Candidates will be assessed against the requirements listed above.