National Project Mid-term Review Assistant

Organizational Setting

FAO’s approach to development assistance in Mindanao focuses on supporting the rehabilitation of agriculture and fisheries-based livelihoods, accelerating agriculture-based enterprises and increasing access to sustainable energy, and resilience to risk in municipalities affected by natural disasters and conflict. FAO interventions will include, among others:

• Introduction of various productivity enhancing technologies to improve household incomes and promote sustainable agricultural practices.

• Technical assistance to government in reviewing existing policies that promote equitable agribusiness venture arrangements between farmers and agribusiness firms and capacity building activities for farmers that are anchored on the value chain approach.

• Capacity building on enterprise development and agribusiness that will allow farmers, fisherfolk and local government units to maximize potential market opportunities.

• Restoring and increasing the productivity of agriculture and fisheries-based livelihoods of smallholder farmers and marginalized fishers, decommissioned Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants and their families

Enhancing the competitiveness of farm households, particularly women, to establish and manage microenterprises

• Facilitating the establishment of agribusiness enterprises with production-market contract agreements or similar arrangements

Reporting Lines

The National Project Mid-term Review Assistant will be under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative and Assistant FAO Representative (Programme), and direct supervision of the National Project Mid-term Review Team Leader.

Technical Focus

FAO has been implementing various projects in Mindanao which are guided by the FAO Mindanao Strategic Programme for Agriculture/Agribusiness and an emergency/rehabilitation project for Marawi City and other affected municipalities. The MSPAA strategies for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are in line with the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP, 2015) which FAO has also provided technical assistance in crafting the Economy and Livelihood component of the BDP. FAO will provide support to BARMM Ministries in areas related to our technical fields of expertise, including provision of technical support to the sectoral planning, capacity building for officials and local extension workers, and the development/implementation of socioeconomic packages and job generation/quick impact agricultural and environmental livelihood interventions for affected population and combatants.

Tasks and responsibilities

The National Project Mid-term Review Assistant contributes to the review of the overall MTR TORs, to the Review team’s activities as per the tasks assigned by the Review Team Leader, ensures that the methodology foreseen in the TORs is fully implemented, and provides his/her timely inputs to the MTR report.

The National Project Mid-term Review Assistant will carry out the following tasks:

1. Review relevant documentation provided by the Project Management and Coordination Unit, including project documents, log-frames, projects progress and final reports;
2. Participate in meetings with government officers and FAO staff during the review mission;
3. Provide inputs for the definition of the review methodology based on the review questions, and contribute to the finalization of the MTR TORs;
4. Contribute to the preparation of review tools, including theory of change, questionnaires, key informant interview questionnaires, and focus group guides as appropriate;
5. Contribute to the collection of primary data through, inter alia, interviews and meetings (face-to-face or virtual), with key stakeholders, coordination and implementation partners, programme participants and non-participants as appropriate;
6. Contribute to the collection of relevant secondary data, in addition to the initial desk reviews carried out as required and identified in the review matrix/outlines;
7. Contribute the analysis of the data to produce inputs for the review findings;
8. Contribute and participate in the presentation of review findings to key stakeholders during all planned debriefing sessions, as required;
9. Prepare all deliverables assigned to him/her by the Team Leader and contribute to the draft and final Review report including drafting specific sections of the MTR Report as requested by the MTR Team Leader.

Minimum Requirements

• The candidate must have an Advanced University Degree in Agriculture Economics, Rural Development, Economics or related fields
• The candidate should have at least 5 years practical experience in strategic planning, programming, or results review/monitoring and evaluation related to Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Natural Resources Management, Peace and Development
• A national of the Philippines or with a regular working permit in the Philippines.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Must be familiar with the local rural setting in Central Mindanao and Bangsamoro areas
• Project and process management, with technical understanding on development of agriculture and agribusiness as strategy for poverty reduction and promotion of inclusive growth
• Project and program evaluation, review of agriculture, value chain development, gender and conflict-sensitive programming is an asset
• Language requirement: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Tagalog
• He/she must have intermediate to advance computer skills in the use of standard office software, such as MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point