National Project Personnel - Project Assistant

Organizational Setting

The unsustainable management of globally traded commodity crops (cacao, coffee, rice and oil palm), and their expansion into forest areas, are leading to major impacts on globally important biodiversity, the degradation of soil and water resources, the loss of carbon stocks, and the degradation of watersheds that are vital for maintaining water flows to rice production areas. Rice production is itself a source of globally significant environmental impacts, in the form of the contamination of soil and globally- important aquatic ecosystems due to excessive and inappropriate use of agricultural chemicals, and the generation of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) from flooded paddy systems.

A narrow focus on the production of globally-traded cash crops by farmers is environmentally and socially unsustainable – even in the case of perennial crops such as coffee and cacao that have the potential to yield environmental benefits if appropriately managed – because of the volatility of global markets for these crops and their vulnerability to the effects of global climate change. A large number of major global value chain actors have committed to sustainable sourcing of the products that they trade, in order to comply with corporate social and environmental responsibility goals and to satisfy consumer requirements for sustainable production. This presents farmers with a major potential source of market-based incentives for sustainable production, but at present their ability to take advantage of this opportunity is constrained by their disconnection from these “green” value chains and their limited technical capacities to satisfy their requirements in terms of environmental standards, product quality and reliability of supply.

Despite significant policy commitments to sustainability by the Government of Indonesia, capacities, knowledge, tools, regulatory instruments and incentives for putting these into practice are still inadequately developed, and the agricultural and environmental sectors continue to be highly compartmentalized, lacking the integrated vision that is required if social and economic development and landscape management are to be sustainable.

With the funding support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Indonesia, led by the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs (CMEA) and with technical support from UNDP and FAO is preparing the full-size project implementation entitled “Strengthening sustainability in commodity and food systems, land restoration and land use governance through integrated landscape management for multiple benefits in Indonesia (FOLUR)”. The project aimed to ensure sustainable value chains of palm oil, coffee and cocoa via application of a comprehensive land use approach linking biodiversity conservation, restoration and production at scale. The project will assist the country to address above-mentioned development challenges through four areas of interventions as follow:

1. Development of integrated landscape management systems.
2. Promotion of sustainable food production practices and responsible value chains.
3. Conservation and restoration of natural habitats.
4. Management, Coordination, Collaboration, and M&E.

The project will be implemented in 5 provinces (jurisdictions) and 5 districts (pilot landscapes); comprising Aceh (in Central Aceh), North Sumatra (in Mandailing Natal), West Kalimantan (in Sanggau), South Sulawesi (in Luwu) and West Papua (in Sorong). The project will be commenced for full implementation in January 2022 and for 72 months.

FAO and UNDP are seeing for Procurement Clerk for this FOLUR Project.

Reporting Lines

The PA will support National Project Manager (NPM) to consistently implement UNDP, FAO, and/or project’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as well as the Government of Indonesia’s rules and regulations.

Technical Focus

Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Livelihoods, Integrated Landscape Management, Value Chains, Project Management.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Project Assistant (PA) is responsible to support the project on a day-to-day basis to cover administrative function such as Finance, Admin, HR, general office and general project administration. Specifically, the PA will:

1. Support on facilitating and providing:

• Providing effective evidence-based research, analyses and administrative support for programmatic related for FOLUR project.
• Assist team in supporting the engagement, advocacy, and implementation on the national procurement and supply chain management timeline, including FGDs, data Support any related activity for FOLUR project activities.
• Working closely with related sub-directorate for FOLUR project and strategic partners at any other related ministries.

2. Support the project team to ensure effective project planning and implementation focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Compile, summarize, and present basic information/data on specific project and related topics or issues.
• Review project documents for completeness and compliance with relevant rules and procedures prior to submission for final approval and signature; identify inconsistencies; distribute project documents to relevant parties upon approval.
• Implement project standard operating procedures in line with the government and UNDP’s regulations.

3. Support to the effective reporting on progress of project implementation

• Support the administration in preparing work plans as well as meetings, audit, operational and financial administrative project.
• Support to the preparation of project reports as requested and presents it to the project assurance team on a timely manner.
• Provide administrative support for preparation of results-oriented progress reports.

4. Provides administrative support to the Project Management Unit focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Support the focal point for Administrative and office coordination of project implementation activities to process and follow-up on administrative actions, e.g. recruitment and appointment of personnel, travel arrangements, training/study tours, authorization of payments, disbursement of funds, procurement of equipment and services, security compliance, etc.
• Provision of general office assistance such as response to simple information requests and inquiries; reviews, logs and routes incoming correspondence; establishment of filling system and maintenance files/records; organization of meetings, workshops; routine administrative tasks, including maintaining attendance records, assessing telephone billing, etc.

5. Support strategic partnerships, communication, and support to the implementation of resource mobilization

• Support in updating database of the relevant public and development partners private sector, civil society and other stakeholders who are counterparts for the project;
• In coordination with UNDP/FAO’s Communication unit and other relevant counterpart communications department, support documentation of the project activities as a tool to communicate results, deepen stakeholder knowledge and buy-in to the project, and resource mobilization for the project.

6. Support knowledge building and knowledge sharing focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Participation in the trainings for the operations/ projects staff.
• Contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice
• Ensure active participation in learning and knowledge sharing in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming

7. The incumbent of the position should avoid any kind of discriminatory behaviour including gender discrimination and ensure that

• Human rights and gender equality is prioritized as an ethical principle within all actions.
• Activities are designed and implemented in accordance with “Social and Environmental Standards of UNDP and FAO”;
• Any kind of diversities based on ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability, religion, class, gender is respected within all implementations including data production.
• Inclusive approach is reflected within all actions and implementations, in that sense an enabling and accessible setup in various senses such as disability gender language barrier is created.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or other relevant fields of study would be desirable, but it is not a requirement.
• Minimum 3 years of professional experience, preferably in the field of development for candidates with Bachelor’s degree and 5 years for candidates with Diploma Degree.
• Nationality of Indonesia.

Language: English and Bahasa Indonesia

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

Meeting/workshop/training organizing, facilitation skills, administrative support, project planning and implementation, project monitoring, reporting, knowledge management.

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity.
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Building and promoting effective teams, including working in teams and empowering project staff to create an enabling gender equality environment on non-hierarchical bases.
• Self-development, initiative-taking.
• Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork.
• Strong leadership and managerial skill with track records of management roles in a team of multi-diversity background.
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.
• Creating synergies through self-control.
• Managing conflict.
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member, including Ability to transfer knowledge and motivate people and to build relationships with colleagues, partners, beneficiaries, government authorities, donor organizations and other stakeholders.
• Informed and transparent decision making.
• Communication skills to exchange information, and key ideas in a manner that engages the audience and helps others to understand and retain messages about gender equality and parity.

Desired additional skills and competencies:

• Knowledge of and experience in supporting administration of Government and FAO/UNDP development projects dealing with environmental issues will be highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge and experience in project management support are essential as well as ability to draft correspondence on budget-related issues, briefing notes, graphic and statistical summaries, accounting spreadsheets, etc.
• Good inter-personal communication skills.
• Full time availability for project management support duties is essential.
• Familiar with Government and UN/UNDP procedures would be desirable.
• Up-to-date computer skills required, knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
• Experience in handling of web-based management systems would be preferable.

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 please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/