National Gender Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO is implementing a Global Environment Facility project entitled "Facilitating agrobiodiversity (ABD) conservation and sustainable use to promote food and nutritional resilience in Tajikistan". The project aims to conserve, sustainably use and safeguard Tajikistan's nationally and globally significant agrobiodiversity and associated knowledge and cultural aspects of traditional agroecosystems. This includes the evaluation and conservation of crop landraces, crop wild relatives and associated knowledge and cultural practices within the traditional agro-ecosystems of Tajikistan. The project will support the development of an evidence-based approach to conservation planning, including the establishment of diversity inventories, the mapping of hotspots, the identification of stakeholders and the promotion of linkages between them. The project is divided into 3 components:

- Component 1: Agrobiodiversity conservation and policy improvement for the benefit of local communities; - Component 2: Strengthening the capacity of local communities and the breeding sector to harness the breadth of indigenous agrobiodiversity and ensure climate resilience; - Component 3: Support for policy development, knowledge management, improved financing, monitoring, and evaluation.

The project builds on existing initiatives and processes and involves multiple stakeholders, including farmers, NGOs and the private sector, to ensure sustainability after the project ends. The project also promotes gender equality and women's empowerment by supporting women's participation and decision-making, improving access to resources and technologies, and creating financial opportunities for income-generating activities.

From October 2021, FAO SEC will implement a three-year project entitled "Leaving no one behind: greater involvement and empowerment of rural women in Turkey and Central Asia (GCP/SEC/018/TUR)", funded by the Government of Turkey. The project aims to improve the socio-economic status of rural women by developing their entrepreneurial skills, while providing policy advice to government institutions involved in formulating and implementing agricultural and rural development policies and programmes.

Reporting Lines

The National Gender Specialist will work under the overall supervision of the FAOR in Tajikistan, and under the technical guidance and supervision of the Project Lead Technical Officer (LTO) and in collaboration with the National Technical Officer and/or National Project Coordinator, and relevant technical and programme units of the FAO Representation in Tajikistan.

Technical Focus

Support the national team in promoting gender mainstreaming in projects and to play a leading role in the implementation of activities under the Leaving No One Behind project activities.

Tasks and responsibilities

The National Gender Specialist will be responsible for the following:

• Provide technical guidance on project implementation to ensure women's participation throughout the project, ensure gender mainstreaming in project activities and specifically in policy related activities. • Provide guidance on gender screening in value chain analysis and technical guidance on policy assessment to identify gaps in agrobiodiversity; • Implement the activities related to women's participation throughout the project, gender mainstreaming and gender sensitive policies. • Follow IC guidance for preparation of gender-sensitive training content and knowledge products. • Conduct a gender screen in the value chain analysis. Support the definition of specific criteria to ensure that women have access to the credit line. • Support the production of gender-sensitive catalogues, leaflets, posters and content for radio and TV programmes, and contribute to awareness packages for district school classes on the value and knowledge of agrobiodiversity conservation; • Organise all local logistics, e.g. workshops, and relevant meetings with key stakeholders and other UN agencies and international organisations based in the country, as required; • Contribute in organisation of a national workshop and other events with the respective Ministries of Agriculture, with the participation of all relevant stakeholders, as required by the agreed work plan; • Assist in the collection of baseline data as required; • Support the FTPP LNOB team in identifying, inviting and ensuring the active participation of relevant stakeholders in the project's regional workshops; • Ensure timely preparation, translation and dissemination of all knowledge products, information materials used and/or produced by the project in relevant national forums and professional networks. • Ensure the implementation of the project in the country, making all necessary logistical and travel arrangements for the experts, consultants and other relevant stakeholders involved; • Ensure the collection of all essential documents and materials relevant to project implementation and M&E; • Support the consultants and counterparts in the implementation of the planned project activities; • Ensure media visibility of project activities; • Facilitate coordination between national counterparts, FAO national and international project experts and FAO staff (e.g. by facilitating communication between FAO experts and national institutions, organising regular project staff meetings to discuss tasks, maintaining a common work plan); • Ensuring project reporting and providing FAO with progress reports on project activities in English; and • Contribute to the project terminal statement with the support of the LTO, international and national FAO experts.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree/ University degree/technical diploma/high school diploma on social science, gender, agriculture, economy, physiology, philology, environmental sciences or any other relevant fields • 5 years of relevant experience in relevant projects and programmes • Working knowledge of English, and limited knowledge of Russian • Working knowledge of the official language of the country • National of Tajikistan or a legal resident in the country with a valid work permit

FAO Core Competencies

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