National Irrigation Specialist

Overview

Support mapping irrigation potential sites and conduct feasibility studies

You have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Water/Irrigation Engineering
• 7 years of professional experience in designing, constructing, and managing irrigation systems
• Working knowledge (level C) of English
• National of Rwanda or resident of the country with valid work permit

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources of Rwanda is implementing the project aimed at reconsidering the potential of water resources development to expand irrigated land in Rwanda. The project aims to put more effort into increasing the area under irrigation by reconsidering all irrigation potentials, including medium, small, and micro sites. By reconsidering irrigation potential in Rwanda, the project will increase the total irrigated land to maximize crop production and productivity, sustainable land use and crop intensification, adaption to environmental degradation and climate resilience. Reconsidering irrigation potential will decrease the barriers to accessing water, impact poverty through different dimensions such as crop/animal production and productivity, on-farm and off-farm employment generation, income/consumption, vulnerability, food security, non-farm output, nutrition, multiple use of water (e.g. domestic and irrigation purposes).

Thematically the projects focus on two outputs:

(1) Analyse and review geographic data and prepare an inventory of national irrigation potential sites in Rwanda, (2) Conduct comprehensive preliminary feasibility studies and validate the identified potential sites.

FAO is now hiring a National Irrigation Expert to support mapping large, medium, small, and micro irrigation potential sites, to classify all sites and carry out pre-feasibility studies for the most suitable sites in consideration of easy implementation and cost efficiency.

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative in Rwanda, the direct supervision of the project Lead Technical Officer (LTO) in close collaboration with the Better Production Team Leader/ Senior Irrigation Specialist at FAO Rwanda, with the technical guidance from the Senior Water Development and Management Officer based in the Regional Office for Africa.

Technical Focus

The consultant will thoroughly use the existing geographical data and locate all possible water sources on the territory of Rwanda. S/he will identify all irrigable sites, including those that can get water through pumping less than 80 meters of maximum head. In collaboration with the national GIS expert, the national Irrigation Expert will identify water sources and propose its use for agriculture production through irrigation or other productive uses. S/he will propose the installation of water intakes, irrigation canals and irrigation pipes, potential irrigation schemes, potential sites for pumps and pumping stations/houses, water reservoirs (earth dams/dams’ flood plains and hillside tanks and reservoirs/irrigation ponds). The National Irrigation Expert will co-produce all maps and all characteristics required for, prefeasibility studies. S/he will produce the documents describing all technical characteristics of all identified sites. Where the topographical conditions may not be favourable for irrigation, the expert will propose other productive uses. Among the others uses, the expert may propose the installation of distilleries, coffee washing stations, water bottling, large scale livestock activities, aquaculture tank in greenhouse Etc. All the characteristics will be fed into a functional user-friendly GIS database allowing to navigate and consult the maps and related characteristics. The produced Database should be compatible with existing digital platforms (Agricultural Knowledge Information Systems, AKIS).

Tasks and responsibilities

The incumbent will specifically: • Based on all the existing geographical information, conduct a desk study to locate all possible water sources on Rwanda’s territory. At the same time, propose its use for agriculture production through irrigation or other productive uses. • Propose the installation of water intakes, irrigation canals and irrigation pipes, potential irrigation schemes, potential pumping schemes, water reservoirs (earth dams/damflood plains and hillside tanks and reservoirs/ irrigation HDPE ponds). • In collaboration with the GIS Specialist, co-produce maps and shapefiles indicating potential identified sites countrywide, • Fast-track sites against land use/cover and other strategic use, • Support to organize consultation and validation workshops that involve the government officials, private sector representatives, international organizations delegates, other stakeholders who intervene in irrigation sub-sector and others, • Conduct field visits to identify the physical and environmental characteristics of selected sites. • Collect non-spatial data from local farmers, farmers' cooperatives and authorities, using ODK (Open Data Kit) questionnaires. • Based on the climatic and rainfall data, propose potential crops, and relate cropping programs and rotations. • Based on available climatic data on rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures and proposed crops for the targeted sites, estimate irrigation needs to inform the size of required water transportation equipment. • Propose water intake, conveyance, storage, distribution, and application technologies as well as the drainage if needed. • Estimate the on-farm irrigation system and drainage required equipment for the selected schemes to enable costs estimates. • Where the topographical conditions may not be favourable for irrigation, propose other productive uses. Among the others uses, propose the installation of distilleries, coffee washing stations, water bottling, large scale livestock activities, tank aquaculture in greenhouse, etc. • Produce the document describing all technical characteristics of each identified site and compile them into one global descriptive volume. • Propose the total investment cost of every selected sites. • Organize the validation meetings for the feasibility studies of the potential sites, • Categorize and prioritize needed investments to develop the quick win projects that are promising. • Propose the Public Private Partnerships models that can be applied for the identified sites with emphasis on the implication of the youth and gender balance. • Propose the resource mobilization strategy for the identified potential sites. • Participate and contribute to organize the consultation workshops to inform potentials investors and donors for the identified sites.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Water/ Irrigation Engineering, • 7 years of professional experience in designing, constructing, and managing irrigation systems, • Working knowledge (level C) of English, • National of Rwanda or resident of the country with valid work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Proficiency in the study, design, and implementation of irrigation infrastructure development projects. • Knowledge of environmental and safety regulations and compliance. • Experience in feasibility studies. • Ability to use GIS based topographic software to produce the bill of quantities. • Excellent skills in analysis and report writing. • Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills in English. • Ability to effectively use standard Irrigation software such as Irrigation Model Maker Software, for designing irrigation potential sites and others. • Good command of computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Power point, Internet). • Capable to work independently and perform under tight deadlines. • Good interpersonal and teamwork skills, networking aptitude, and ability to engage effectively with policy and decision-makers. • Proven experience in project identification, formulation, design, and implementation

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: fao.org