Regional Coordinator (GEF DSL IP – Southern Africa Cluster)

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was selected to lead the GEF-7 Sustainable Forest Management Impact Programme on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes (GEF DSL-IP). The overall objective of the DSL-IP is to “maintain the ecological integrity of entire biomes by concentrating efforts, focus, and investments, as well as ensuring strong regional cross-border coordination”, in order to transform the course of development and produce multiple benefits towards biodiversity enhancement, climate change and land degradation reduction and overall improvement of livelihoods. Furthermore, the SFM IP “will support a multi-country collaboration on management challenges faced by countries across borders and identifying this during the design process.”

The DSL IP will implement the Child Projects across 11 countries: 8 in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe), one in West Africa (Burkina Faso) and two in Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Mongolia). The DSL IP Global Coordination Project (GCP) will not directly participate in the IP but will coordinate and support the implementation and engagement of these country-specific Child Projects.

Based on the geographic distribution of the DSL IP countries, three regional platforms (Regional Exchange Mechanisms, REM) are envisaged under the GCP for Central Asia, Sahel/East Africa, and the Miombo/Mopane Ecoregion of Southern Africa. Under the GCP, the REMs will facilitate the collaboration and exchange both within and between regions as needed.

The purpose of this position is to coordinate the REM for Southern Africa (Miombo/Mopane Cluster), ensuring multi-country collaboration and synergies, capacity development, technical support, knowledge exchange, monitoring, outreach and scaling out.

Reporting Lines

The Regional Facilitator (RF) reports directly to the Senior Natural Resources Officer - Global Programme Coordinator of the GEF DSL-IP and to SFS Forestry Officer and will work under the overall guidance of the Director of Forestry and Sub-Regional Coordinator for Southern Africa (SFS). A sub-regional steering committee (SRSC) will be established comprising of the Lead Technical Officer for the DSL IP Child Projects (in Southern Africa), the coordinator for the Great Green Wall Southern Africa, the FAO country office focal points, the national project coordinators and the representative of the GCP project management unit. The SRSC members will meet once a month.

Technical Focus

In close consultation with the GCP, lead and coordinate the technical and operational support function of the DSL IP REM Southern Africa in order to achieve the following core results: (i) Increased collaboration and coordination among the 7 DSL IP country projects (Angola, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe) and regional structures (such as SADC); (ii) Improved availability and delivery of demand-driven technical, methodological, financial and other capacity development support to the Child Projects; (iii) Tailored knowledge access and knowledge exchange on evidence based good practices; (iv) Scaling out efforts to neighbouring countries; and (v) Regional level M&E for adaptive management responses to regional impacts and trends.

Tasks and responsibilities

1. Increased collaboration and coordination among the 7 DSL IP country projects

• Establish a regional country exchange interface by building upon existing structures and programmes, in particular SADC GGWI and FAO’s support thereof;
• Take lead in a prioritization process to identify evidence-based regional trans-boundary management challenges and opportunities for investment in Sustainable Land and Forest Management in Southern Africa;
• Assist countries in identifying, developing and applying solutions to the identified common management challenges/barriers;
• Support/ensure linkages to regional value chain opportunities (analyse and overview cross border forest and agricultural trade initiatives, supporting regional business development);
• Support and assist national focal points in engaging with their national ministries and departments, and other relevant organizations involved in program implementation on sustainable land, forest and rangeland management, and agroecology.

2. Improved availability and delivery of demand-driven technical, methodological, financial and other capacity development support to the Child Projects

• Identify Child Projects’ capacity needs, based on the results of the capacity needs assessment that were conducted during the project design;
• Develop and oversee a targeted regional capacity development programme based on the identified country needs and the key technical contributions embedded in the country projects design;
• Support countries to carry out harmonized LDN assessment and monitoring in accordance with integrated tools and approaches used during the project preparation period phase;
• Participate in country and sub-regional missions as needed and ensure timely delivery of technical assistance to field activities where required;
• Facilitate and support cluster countries in developing private sector engagement models around key dryland commodities (e.g. sustainable charcoal and other wood related products, non-timber forest products, phyto products, and wildlife and range related products), including value chain development and market generation strategies.
• Channel financial support options to target projects/countries (including mapping suggested pathways to ensuring access to finance beyond and outside the DSL IP for long-term sustainability).

3. Tailored knowledge access and knowledge exchange on evidence based good practices

• In line with DSL-IP Knowledge Management Strategy, direct and oversee knowledge management activities of the programme in the SADC region, in particular, content for technical working papers, communication materials, policy briefs, web pages and articles, information materials, workshops and seminars, and other outreach events as required;
• Facilitate the establishment of a two-way knowledge management system to effectively capture and share lessons learned and evidence good practices;
• Ensure alignment in results-based management, communications, and knowledge management across cluster countries;
• In line with the DSL-IP Stakeholder Engagement Plan, develop and maintain close working relationships with key partners involved in co-implementation of the Program, particularly among government institutions, regional inter-governmental agencies, civil society, private sector, along with international agencies involved in the programme.

4. Impact is scaled out to neighbouring countries

• Facilitate engagement of other SADC countries that are not directly participating in the DSL IP Program through training, joint field activities, lessons learned, outreach, knowledge management and sharing, etc., in order to identify and realize opportunities for scaling out and for the mutual exchange of knowledge.
• Drive engagement with key stakeholders working across the target region (in IP and non-IP countries) by connecting these actors and promoting discussion and sharing of best practices related to DSL and from other dryland initiatives;
• Liaise with other DSL Regional Exchange Mechanisms in West and/East Africa and Central Asia to ensure alignment with the overall program and facilitate collaboration.

5. Regional level M&E for adaptive management responses to regional impacts and trends

• Facilitate countries in the formulation and application of project specific M&E plans and the linkage to the global M&E dashboard;
• Ensure that countries report timely on project related progress and support countries in the identification of adaptive management options;
• Compile and collate the results of child-project specific M&E systems and gather data for regional indicators that are beyond the scope of the individual child projects;
• Support the review and quality assurance of project progress reports, including annual project implementation reviews;
• Perform duties as secretary to the SRSC Sub-regional Program Task Force (Miombo and Mopane Cluster), and report regularly on progress to the DSL Global Programme Task Force.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in natural resources, environment science, agriculture, forestry or a related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of work experience – preferably in natural resources management or related area.
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of French for COF.REG. Working knowledge of English is sufficient for PSA.SBS.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Strong knowledge of and experience in multi-stakeholder environmental programme coordination, facilitation and management at different scales (local, national, regional).
• Degree of demonstrable experience in participatory stakeholder engagement approaches and methodologies at different scales (local, national, regional) as well as in the organization of multi-stakeholder meetings, trainings, workshops or similar events.
• Extent and relevance of experience in facilitating organizational change and multi-stakeholder platforms, partnerships and processes.
• Experience working with inter-governmental organizations and regional economic communities (such as SADC, COMESA, EAC) and working experience in Southern Africa is considered a strong asset.
• Extent of experience in organizational knowledge management approaches, including capturing, systematising and sharing good practices.
• Degree of experience with monitoring and evaluation, results-based management and theory of change developments.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, particularly with regard to technical reports, project documents, briefs, and effective oral presentations.
• Excellent interpersonal relations and communications skills.