Junior Professional Officer (Land and Water)

Overview

Support water resource development and management in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

You have:

• Advanced university degree in natural resources management, environment, hydrology or related fields.
• Three years of relevant experience in land and water resources and environmental related activities, including water resources/ecosystem assessment and management.
• Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).
• Be no more than 32 years of age on 31 December of the year of application.
• Exclusively addressed to nationals of specific partner countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania.

Organizational Setting The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind. FAO’s work in West Bank and Gaza Strip is guided by its Country Programming Framework for Palestine (CPF). The overall objective of the CPF is to contribute to the wellbeing of Palestinians – making the agrifood system more inclusive, sustainable and resilient. To this effect, the CPF adopts a nexus approach to bridge humanitarian and development interventions, recognizing the centrality of environmental sustainability and market led development and their dependence on the enabling environment put in place by the public sector policies and investment priorities. More specifically, the CPF sets out four priority areas for FAO partnership with the Palestinian Government for the period 2018-2022 in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as follows:

Priority 1: Sustainably managed natural resources in the agrifood value chains. Priority 2: Increased competitiveness of the agrifood value chains. Priority 3: Enhanced protection and inclusion of highly vulnerable groups in agrifood value chains. Priority 4: Improved safety, quality, nutritional value and sustainability of food consumption.

The position is located in the FAO Office in West Bank and Gaza Strip, based in Jerusalem.

Reporting Lines The Junior Professional Officer (Land and Water) reports to the Senior Technical Officer under the overall supervision of FAO Head of Office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with day- to-day interaction with the programme and operations team members. Technical support will also be provided by staff at FAO headquarters and Regional Office for the Near East in Cairo (RNE)

Technical Focus The Junior Professional Officer (Land and Water) will team up with FAO staff in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) seeking to define and introduce innovative and adaptive approaches to water resource development and management in the WBGS. This will be done through conducting evidence-based analysis that feeds into effective emergency and development programming taking into account best practices and sustainability dimensions in water utilization and management in agriculture and food value chains.

Key Results Collection and analysis of information, data, statistics and project/meeting services to support programme projects, products and services.

Key Functions • Collects and analyses relevant technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional and technology related information, data and/or statistics to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services. • Undertakes analysis, provides technical input for plans and reports and edits/revises technical/scientific documents. • Participates in the development of improved work methods, tools and systems. • Updates databases and web pages. • Participates in multi-disciplinary project/work teams. • Collaborates in the development of training tools and materials and the organization of workshops/seminars, etc. • Participates in the organization, conduct and follow-up of meetings, consultations and conferences, the development/production of required materials and the provision of information and assistance to partners.

Specific Functions • Analyses the potential for applying climate-smart agriculture in the Palestinian context through an economic, technical and environmental lenses, identifying gaps and key good practices and approaches to address barriers and drivers of success; • Examines and supports the identification of priority areas, key activities and indicators in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the actions to address land and water management challenges in light of climate and its impact on agriculture and food value chains; • Supports, based on the analysis above, the mainstreaming of land and water management, environmental sustainability and climate change adaptation/mitigation considerations in FAO’s programming for the WBGS; • Supports FAO’s programme development aiming to improve climate-resilience of Palestinian farmers and to support the transformation of agricultural value chain development towards more sustainable pathways. This can include: 1. assessment of the current patterns of land and water use for agriculture (vegetables, date palm, high value crops, fodder crops) in the WBGS; 2. assessment of the current water supply and demand management in agriculture; 3. assessment of current land and water management practices at the farm level; 4. situation analyses and identification of gaps, threats, challenges and opportunities (with economical, technical, environmental lenses) to inform FAO programming vis-à-vis optimizing land and water use and management for agriculture and value chain development.

The above will be conducted through defining case studies on certain agricultural systems/patterns/geographical areas. • Supports and contributes to programme and project formulation and implementation in relation to land and water management, climate change and sustainable agrifood system development. • Assists the Senior Technical Officer in providing capacity development and policy formulation support to the Ministry of Agriculture and related institutions concerning land and water resource management and sustainable gender equitable agricultural value chain development; • Contributes to draft information materials and technical papers capturing the above mentioned areas; • Reviews and improves the quality of reports and communication materials (including FAO’s projects) and documents as required.

---

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in natural resources management, environment, hydrology or related fields. • Three years of relevant experience in land and water resources and environmental related activities, including water resources/ecosystem assessment and management • Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

• Age requirement: Be no more than 32 years of age on 31 December of the year of application.

This vacancy is sponsored by the Government of Belgium and is addressed exclusively to nationals of the following partner countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Guinee, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania. Please refrain from applying if you do not comply with this requirement.

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, is desirable. • Extent and relevance of experience in collecting and analysing technical information and data. • Extent and relevance of experience in ecosystem assessment/management, including adaptation to the climate change and sustainable food production. • Extent and relevance of experience in the preparation, editing and revision of technical/scientific documents and in organizing meetings and workshops. • Extent and relevance of experience' in the use of land and water resources assessment/management tools and methods.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: fao.org