National Senior Economist

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative (FAOR), is to assist governments to develop policies, programs 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 is currently supporting the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in piloting Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks. The Government of Ethiopia identified the creation of agro-industrial parks as one of the key mechanisms for accelerating the development of the agro-industrial sector in Ethiopia, and it expects this sector to play key role in economic growth of the country over the Second Growth and Transformation Plan 2015/16-2019/20.

Since 2021, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is implementing the Ten-in-Ten program, a ten years program targeting to accelerate development of ten commodities with objective of satisfying the local market and the export market demand and import substitution. The program is developed at national level. Within this framework, FAO is supporting acceleration of implementation of the two programs (agro industry parks development and the Ten-in-Ten program) with financial support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation through the project GCP/ETH/095/ITA “Technical Assistance for inclusive and sustainable development in Oromia and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR)”. To ensure adequate support to the planned project activities and the MoA program, FAO is seeking to recruit a Senior National Economist, who will be based in Addis Ababa.

Reporting Lines

The position is under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative in Ethiopia, and the technical supervision of the International Agribusiness Specialist.

Technical Focus

The incumbent will provide technical and operational support, management and coordination to project GCP /ETH/095/ITA and other projects related to Agribusiness development and the Ten in Ten programme in Ethiopia.

Tasks and responsibilities

The main objective of the mission is to assist FAO Ethiopia to promote business orientation of different beneficiaries of the project including Government technicians (federal and regional staff), cooperatives managers, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) along the different agriculture value chains, and other value chain actors as per the needs. The incumbent will be in charge of the following specific tasks: The National Senior Economist will take the lead in preparing the Investment Cases to be presented under Hand-in-Hand (HiH) Ethiopia. He will provide required technical support to FAO Ethiopia to ensure that Investment Cases of high quality are delivered to the Investment Forum in a timely manner, and that MoA officials are conversant with the Cases and the key assumptions there within. Specific activities include:

• Collaborate with FAO Ethiopia and FAO Head Quarter Investment Centre to develop the Four Investments notes that have been proposed by MoA; • Develop an outline (layout and content, including underlying analysis) of the Investment Cases, to be agreed upon by the HiH Ethiopia team and MoA focal points. The Investment Cases must be based on Economic and Financial Analysis at territorial level; must include Ex-ACT analysis; and must estimate social impact (for example income of smallholder farmers as well as job creation); • Model the Investment Cases which ensures that the business models proposed are inclusive, sensitive to food security an nutrition national strategies and policies; • Collect required data and agronomic assumptions and advice from industry expert, farmers, or through desk review as relevant; • Undertake required analysis; write and present models in a technical, yet simple and coherent manner, as per the agreed formats, and with presentable layout, formatting and editing; • Throughout the process, support the MoA to ensure that they are fully involved in the technical elaborations and in agreement with the methodologies deployed; • Provide technical assistance to different cooperatives and value chain actors to review their strategic plan and elaborate bankable business plans; • Train FAO staff and selected FAO partners on business planning tools and agriculture rural small enterprises management; • Perform other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Candidates should be national of Ethiopia or legal residents in the country; • Advanced university degree in agriculture, agricultural development, agricultural economics, or closely related field; • At least ten years of relevant experience in the fields of agribusiness, rural development, value chains, support to producers’ organizations, and market linkages development; • Excellent knowledge of English and good knowledge of the local language (s) used at the duty station is required.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus • Teamwork • Communication • Building effective relationships • Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions • Demonstrated experience in dealing with government officials, development partners and other stakeholders in Ethiopia • Demonstrated capacity to write technical reports in English

Selection Criteria

• Extent and relevance of experience in technical fields related to agribusiness, agro-industry and value chain development • Familiarity to work with UN agencies in general and FAO similar assignment, Government and other partners; • Quality of both oral and written communication skills.