National Legal Specialist on Agro-industrial clusters and Geographic Indications (GIs)

Organizational Setting

The main aim of FAO Country Office, headed by an 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. FAO Kyrgyzstan assists the Government to develop policies, programmes and projects to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, to develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors and to use environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner. FAO participates in the development and implementation of field projects in the sectors of food security, agriculture and rural development. This requires the integration within the broader framework of sustainable food and agriculture that aims at increasing production and productivity, addressing climate change, and managing natural resources; and enhance rural livelihoods.

In this context, the FAO is implementing in collaboration with the Government of Kyrgyzstan (GOK) and the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund (RKDF), the Project “****Promoting accelerated green investment in agriculture through capacity building of national financial institutions” (TCP/KYR/3805). Project activities are aligned to the immediate needs, particularly those associated with the post-COVID socio-economic rehabilitation framework, as well as longer term development challenges associated with Agenda 2030 and beyond. This assignment will contribute to project outputs: 1: International best practices in establishing agro-industrial clusters; Policy, regulatory and institutional framework for establishing and development of agro-industrial clusters; and Proposal on legislation and marketing strategies provided to improve legal and administrative system for GI’s managing and administrating in Kyrgyzstan.

Reporting Lines

The national legal specialist on agro-industrial clusters and GIs will work under the overall supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative in Kyrgyzstan and direct technical supervision of the Legal Officer and the International Legal Consultant on Agro-clusters and GI. He/she will work in close coordination with the Project Lead Technical Officer (LTO), and in cooperation with the national counterparts, the National Project Coordinator (NPC), and with other project international and national consultants. The consultant will undertake the following duties:

Technical Focus

Legal framework of Agro-industrial clusters and Geographic Indications (GIs) in Kyrgyzstan.

Tasks and responsibilities

The National Legal Specialist will provide high-level support by stimulating the establishment of agro-industrial clusters and geographic indications (GIs) in Kyrgyzstan and by achieving the project objectives and outputs, mainly :

Outputs 1: Agro-industrial clusters’ international practices

• Collect and analyse all legislation relevant for the development of agro-industrial clusters and related areas: Collect international good regulatory practices for the development of agro-industrial clusters. Develop a chapter with good regulatory practices to launch agro-industrial clusters in Kyrgyzstan;
• Analyse the national legislation relevant for the development of agro-industrial clusters and prepare a national legal report identifying main gaps and weaknesses, with recommendations for legal reform. Present and discuss with the national stakeholders the legal framework for agro-industrial clusters; the best legal shape for agro-industrial clusters to be registered under the existing legal framework (if any) and the options for legal clusters’ set-up (or reform) and registration
• Provide recommendations to national stakeholders (Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Melioration, Central Bank, and RKDF) to enhance regulatory environment for development of agriculture clusters. Support their registration as necessary throughout the process. Support the Round Table Workshop to present the Good Practices and the Generic Guidelines on Agro-industrial Clustering.

Outputs 3

• Analysis of national policies and regulatory acts to launch two pilot agro-industrial clusters in Kyrgyzstan and provide the International Legal Consultant with the results
• Propose the regulatory/legal frameworks and legal instruments/acts to launch two pilot agro-industrial clusters (The development of specific legislation in Project year 2 could be considered upon request of the government and depending on the availability of additional funds)
• Provide advice as necessary to key national stakeholders (Ministry of Economy, Central Bank, RKDF, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Melioration) on legal and regulatory environment for the development of these two agro-industrial clusters

Output 4 on legal and administrative system for managing and maintaining of the GIs in Kyrgyzstan

• Develop a national legal report on GI legislation and identify potential regulatory options to improve GI improvement. For this, he/she will: (i) Review the draft GI legislation and provide comments; (ii) Conduct a legal assessment and identify possible interventions/gaps for improvements; and (iii) Make recommendations to improve GI legislation;
• Provide support to the MoA's GI National Working Group to revise and discuss the legal framework;
• Support the organization and participate in a national awareness-raising workshop to present the work completed and prepare a short report of the workshop

Perform any other duties when required.

Support the development of the end-of assignment report and the terminal report.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Master degree in Agricultural law
• At least 5 years of working experience in agricultural legal and regulatory frameworks, in preparing draft law’s Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) and Regulatory acts;
• Knowledge and experience working in legal issues regarding agro-industrial clusters and Geographic Indications would be a strong asset.
• Working knowledge of English and Russian
• National of Kyrgyz Republic or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Overview legal world practice in the agriculture sector; particularly in agro-industrial clusters and GIs;
• Reporting on existing regulatory acts in Kyrgyzstan, covering gap analysis; and proposing enhancement of regulatory acts and drafting the new ones; RIA on proposals of changes into regulatory acts; preparing draft of agriculture policies, of Regulatory acts, etc
• Regulatory Impact Assessment in the agriculture sector; research, data analysis, analytical and reporting skills
• Liaise and networking in the governmental agencies, mainly Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Economic and Finance (responsible for daft law’s Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA)), Ministry of Justice.
• Demonstrated capacity to communicate and write technical contributions in English and Russian.

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing).
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help, or have queries, please contact: iRecruitment@fao.org
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
• Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications.
• For other issues, visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/

• For further information on categories, contract duration and honoraria, please refer to the Conditions page.

  HOW TO APPLY

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered.

Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile.

Vacancies will be removed from the recruitment portal at 23:59 Central European Time (CET) on the deadline for applications date. We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.

If you need help, or have queries, please contact: iRecruitment@fao.org

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