National Specialist on PPB and resilience

Organizational Setting

FAO is implementing a Global Environmental Facility project, jointly with IOM, UNICEF and UN Women, titled “Facilitating agrobiodiversity (ABD) conservation and sustainable use to promote food and nutritional resilience in Tajikistan”. The project objective is the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Securing of the national and globally significant agrobiodiversity and the associated knowledge and cultural aspects of traditional agro-ecosystems of Tajikistan. This encompasses the valuation and maintenance crop landraces, crop wild relatives and their associated knowledge and cultural methods within the traditional agro-ecosystems of Tajikistan.

The project supports building an evidence-based conservation planning approach that includes the production of inventories of diversity; mapping hotspots; the identification of stakeholders and the fostering of linkages between them. The project is organized into 3 components:

Component 1: Agrobiodiversity conservation and policy enhancement to benefit local communities; Component 2: Strengthening local community and breeding sector’s capacity to use the breadth of indigenous agrobiodiversity and ensure climate resilience; Component 3: Support policy development, knowledge management, improved financing and monitoring and evaluation.

The project is built on current initiatives and processes and involves several stakeholders, including farmers, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to assure its sustainability after the project is over. Furthermore, the project promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment by supporting women’s participation and decision-making capabilities; improving access to resources and technologies; and, creating financial opportunities for income-generating activities.

Reporting Lines

The National Specialist on PPB and resilience will work under the overall supervision of the FAOR in Tajikistan, and under the technical guidance and supervision of the Project Lead Technical Officer (LTO) and National Technical Officer and/ or National Project Coordinator, and relevant technical and programme units in FAO Representation Office in Tajikistan, Sub-regional Office (SEC) and Regional (REU) and at Headquarters in Rome. He/She will co-operate closely with national counterparts, including local authorities (Hukumat/ Jamoat), local farmers and national consultants, as well as with local/ regional branches of Ministry of Agriculture, CoEP, Forest Agency, Protected Areas, and the joint PUNOs implemented this project.

Technical Focus

• Survey assessment carried-out on crop landraces held / cultivated on-farm. ADB diversity threatened by climatic change identified; and List of cultivated varieties that have potential to resist to climate change developed; • Training programme developed and professional training courses provided to breeders involved in breeding crop improvements, support the use of conserved accessions; • Participatory plant breeding (PPB) activities to improve the climate resilience of landraces designed and implemented among local farmers; • Project PPB team with farmers facilitated crossing between local indigenous landrace and exogenous germplasm known to have climate change resilience traits. • Various modelling developed and applied to find which landrace are most vulnerable to climate change and participatory plant breeding (PPB) to ensure those landraces are crossed with material that has drought or heat stress tolerance. • The next generation of local indigenous landrace monitored to see if climate resilience has been transferred to indigenous landrace. Monitoring reports developed and submitted to FAO. • Landrace maintainers 4 target districts approached and offered the opportunity to collaborate in PPB activities and improved the climate change resilience of at least 24 local landraces through PPB; • At least 50% of women participate in PPB activities to enhance their skills in climate smart landraces

Tasks and responsibilities

The National Specialist on PPB and resilience will be responsible for the below mentioned: • Implement survey assessment on crop landraces held / cultivate on-farm, to identify which diversity is vulnerable and threatened by climatic change; and, develop list of cultivated varieties that have potential to resist to climate change, and especially those local landraces that contain greater inherent diversity need to become more resilient. • Develop training programme and deliver training content to breeders involved in breeding crop improvements, support the use of conserved accessions. • Design participatory plant breeding (PPB) activities to improve the climate resilience of landraces. • Facilitate crossing between local indigenous landrace and exogenous germplasm. • Monitor second generation of LR to see if climate resilience has been transferred to indigenous landrace. • Use conserved CWR material in crop pre-breeding to produce pre-bred lines containing the CWR derived adaptive traits. • Use pre-breeding to produce pre-bred lines in further crop varietal improvement. • Use conserved CWR material in crop pre-breeding takes into consideration the IPR of the donor and Nagoya Protocol to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefit from exploitation.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree(s) in biology, agriculture (agrobiodiversity), natural resources management, endemic genetic resources (CWR, landrace, germplasm), or related fields. • A minimum of 5 years work experience on planning, coordination and implementation of PPB activities to improve the climate resilience of the landraces on-farm level; conducting survey assessments of existing ADB diversity/ verities held/ cultivated on-farm with high consideration of impacts of climate change; develop training programme and deliver professional trainings to local farmers and breeders in breeding crop improvements and pre-breeding techniques, as well as crossing of indigenous landraces with germplasm, etc.; • Working knowledge of Tajik and Russian, English is an asset; • National or Resident of Tajikistan.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience in the gap analysis, assessment, formulation, analysis, planning and/or implementation of projects related to agrobiodiversity conservation and sustainable development of ADB production and marketing; • Relevance of experience in the field of the planning, coordination and implementation of PPB activities to improve the climate resilience of the landraces on-farm level; conducting survey assessments of existing ADB diversity/ verities held/ cultivated on-farm with high consideration of impacts of climate change; develop training programme and deliver professional trainings to local farmers and breeders in breeding crop improvements and pre-breeding techniques, as well as crossing of indigenous landraces with germplasm, etc • Relevance of knowledge and experience in climate reliance and natural resources management (land, water, forest, pasture); and breeding and production of agrobiodiversity crop products/ food crops, on-farm and in wild landscapes. • Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions within Tajikistan. • Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered an asset; • Proficiency in Tajik is an strong asset and an advantage.

Selection Criteria

• Prove professional education degree on biology, agriculture (agrobiodiversity), natural resources management, endemic genetic resources (CWR, landrace, germplasm), climate resilience, or relevant fields; • Demonstratable experience (5 years) in the planning, coordination and implementation of PPB activities to improve the climate resilience of the landraces on-farm level; conducting survey assessments of existing ADB diversity/ verities held/ cultivated on-farm with high consideration of impacts of climate change; develop training programme and deliver professional trainings to local farmers and breeders in breeding crop improvements and pre-breeding techniques, as well as crossing of indigenous landraces with germplasm, etc.; • Skills such as preparation of policy gap analysis, analytical and evidence-based reports/ technical assessment/ survey; • Experience on development of training programme and delivery training courses on plant breeding/ crop pre-breeding (LRs/CWR) in the face of climate change and from increasing climate resilience perspective; • Knowledge on the project areas of intervention; • Excellent working knowledge of Excel/ Word and other software (PowerPoint, etc.). • Capacity for data collection and for information management system (database)/ exchange/ networking; • Analytical and report writing skills (including technical reports, statistical reports); • Experience on Monitoring and Evaluation of plant breeding, crop pre-breeding, crossing of landraces with germplasm; etc. • Experience on survey assessment on indigenous ABD diversity, including endemic LR/CWR.