Junior Veterinary and Extension Specialist

Organizational Setting

The position is located at the FAO Representation in Georgia. The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by the FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Reporting Lines

The Junior Veterinary and Extension Specialist shall operate under the overall guidance and responsibility of the FAO Representative in Georgia; direct supervision of the International Agronomist & Capacity Building Specialist, and in collaboration with other international and national consultants.

Technical Focus

Improve Food safety in Dairy Production to comply with Georgian legislation while increasing productivity and household income.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Take part in planning and implementation of field activities related to dissemination of information to dairy farmers and using resources for interacting with them through Farmer Field School group work, mass campaigns, individual activities, etc.
• Participate in the elaboration of the Annual Extension Workplan
• Supervise directly in the field and through consultations on phone the demonstration dairy cuisines in 4 different municipalities through field visits and direct work with farmers. All standard Demonstration Plot practices should be implemented in each demo: Good Manufacturing Practices, when applicable, HACCP, etc.
• Provide technical assistance to 150 farmers on their processing sites/homes in each location assigned or to a total of 100 farmers minimum in several locations. The assistance can be provided through local Lead Dairy Farmers who would become Master Trainers. The technical assistance will focus on Food Safety in Dairy Processing-Good Manufacturing Practices and HACCP and some practices that farmers can implement which can improve yield and quality of their dairy products, including animal feed and animal health. Visits to groups have to be performed at least on a fortnight frequency for a 3-month period, period in which they will be graduated. The Jr. Veterinary should have a fortnight schedule of visits in an Excel Sheet which should be shared with supervisor and team.
• Organize logistics of FFS meetings in demonstration cuisines to train farmers on topics to be defined after initial assessments.
• Work on a regular basis, including joint field visits, with the local Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) ICC agronomy personnel, NFA’s veterinary in the location, etc.
• Collaborate with team members working in related functional areas such as Climate Smart Agriculture, media extension, Value Chain Analysis, Grants;
• Interact with local Input and Service suppliers in related efforts to provide dairy farmers with technical assistance, supply quality and registered dairy tools, feed, medicine, etc.
• Interact with farmers and agribusinesses during meetings and field visits; identify Lead Farmers and Value Chain gaps that could be filled to strengthen required productivity and value addition based on market needs
• Collaborate with Monitoring & Evaluation staff to plan and organize monitoring activities. Support M&E with information requested.
• Keep good communication with other team members, responding promptly to others’ requests
• Other duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• A university degree in Food Technology or Veterinary
• At least 1 year of experience in field work in agriculture/veterinary/rural development projects
• National of Georgia or residence in the country with a regular work permit.
• Very good knowledge of the MS Office package.
• Working knowledge (Level C) of English and Georgian; Working knowledge (Level C) of Russian will be considered an asset

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Good written, oral, and analytical skills;
• Demonstrated ability to work as an effective team member;

Selection Criteria

• Applications will be evaluated against this VA Minimum Requirements.