Junior National Specialist on gender equality, rural women’s economic empowerment - SB-3

Organizational Setting

The FAO Representation in Cambodia is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for addressing country food, agriculture and rural development priorities. It develops and maintains relations with country-wide institutions including Government Institutions and Development Partners.

Rural women play a central role as agricultural producers, including in processing and marketing agricultural produce, and as consumers, thereby providing essential functions in food systems and contributing to rural livelihoods. However, they tend to have insufficient access to key productive resources, rural services and local institutions and policies. They also face further deprivation due to gender-based discrimination, cultural norms and gender prejudices. The Global FMM project on “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition” will contribute to closing the gender gap in agriculture in the target countries including Cambodian by enhancing rural women’s economic empowerment and strengthening their crucial role in rural development, decision-making and in resilience building, as agents of change.

The project combines various interventions: (1) enhancing capacities of member states to design and implement gender-sensitive agricultural, food security and nutrition policies, strategies and programmes; (2) Enhancing rural women’s agency, participation and voice in community and producer organizations to boost their agency and capacity for collective action; (3) enhancing women’s productive potential by increasing their access to productive resources, knowledge, information, technologies, rural services and social protection; and, (4) increasing rural women’s income-generating capacity by enhancing their roles in agro-food value chains and rural labour markets.

Reporting Lines

In Cambodia, the specialist will support the implementation and monitoring of the FMM Project in Cambodia under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative and direct supervision of Assistant FAO Representative (Programme).

Technical Focus

The specialist will perform tasks under technical guidance of the Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting Consultant based in HQ/Rome, and in collaboration with Gender/PACT and the Dimitra Clubs programme teams at FAO headquarters to support the effective field level implementation of the project in liaison with the SDC funded project GCP/CMB/047/ SWI and the TCP/CMB/3803 as well as the government partners such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry of Women Affair (MoWA).

Tasks and responsibilities

• Technical assistance:
  • Support the development of knowledge products, capacity development materials and project proposals on gender equality and rural women’s economic empowerment, building on the work of the FMM project.
  • Work with the FMM and FAO country team to provide backstopping support to MAFF and MoWA in implementing the project activities in the field and ensure the smooth delivery of the Letters of Agreement (LoA) signed under the FMM project.
  • Participate in field missions and provide technical backstopping in collaboration with the FMM team
• Communication and partnerships, working in close collaboration with OCC branches and focal points, and knowledge manager of the FMM project:
• Liaison with the Office of Communication (OCC) will be maintained, either directly or through an agreed focal point/coordinator, to ensure compliance with OCC standards, appropriate review and clearance processes.
• All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including:
• FAOSTYLE Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.; French; Spanish; Arabic; Chinese);
• FAO terminology http://www.fao.org/faoterm;
• FAO Names Of Countries https://www.fao.org/nocs/en;
• Story guidelines http://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/UPDATED-Digital-Storytelling-Guide-EN-FINAL.pdf;
• Story template http://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/FAO-Stories-Template-UPDATED.pdf;
• UN map standards (available to staff);
• FAO Brand and policy book (available to staff).
• Further guidance regarding FAO communications, policies and procedures can be found through the FAO intranet, OCC section.
• Work in liaison with the communication officer at the Representation and the FMM Knowledge Management Expert in FAOHQ to support the development communication materials such as articles, photo stories, videos, content for social media (Facebook and Twitter) as needed
• Assist the communication and information sharing between different actors of the project (FAO and government counterparts and local authorities of all levels, national to sub-national levels, local partners and communities).
• Assist the organization of meetings, trainings and workshops at the provincial level and the development of informative materials (e.g. opening remarks, speaking points, info notes and presentations) on the FMM project
• Monitoring and reporting:
  • Support to Master Trainers from MAFF and MoWA as well as Provincial Facilitators in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey on the data collection, monitoring and documentation of the FMM experience in Cambodia, especially with regard to the pilot implementation of the Women’s Empowerment Farmer Business School (WE-FBS)
  • Support in gathering documents, communications, and supporting materials for monitoring and reporting purposes, transcribe them from Khmer to English and translate from Khmer to English
  • Populate the FMM shared folder for Cambodia, organize and maintain it up-to-date
  • Organize and participate in regular weekly team meeting within the FMM team of Cambodia and prepare the minutes to be shared with the team members and the FMM programme specialist; and uploaded in the FMM shared folder for Cambodia
  • Work with FMM team, MAFF and MoWA to provide a brief (half page) paragraph every week summarizing the progress made in the implementation of the FMM project in Cambodia, highlighting challenges, opportunities and lessons learned when discussed
  • Support to MAFF and MoWA in the preparation of clear and concise interim and final reports;

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University or specialized degree in social sciences, natural sciences, gender studies, rural sociology, agriculture economics, social anthropology, rural development, communications or other relevant disciplines;
• At least two years of relevant experience in the implementation of gender focused activities in the context of agriculture, rural development, food security and nutrition;
• Working knowledge (level C) of English;
• Cambodian Nationality or residence with work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience and knowledge of capacity development programmes and tools;
• Experience in implementing development programmes and projects on gender equality, women’s empowerment and agricultural activities;
• Gender mainstreaming across large organizations including monitoring and evaluation;
• Relevant experience in a communication, media relations, knowledge of a wide range of multimedia
• Ability to organize and coordinate meetings and training activities;
• Good command of computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Power point, Internet)

Selection Criteria

Candidates will be assessed against the requirements listed above.