Specialist in Crop and Livestock Statistics

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is implementing the Country Programming Framework (CPF) for Namibia which sets out four government priority areas to guide FAO partnership with, and support to the Government of the Republic of Namibia. The Government of Namibia have recently taken significant actions to strengthen its national statistical systems. The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) is in the final stages of developing its National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) covering the period 2022/23-2026/27 and an Agriculture Sector Statistics Plan (SSP). Provision of reliable and timely data for informing national policies in the agricultural and rural sector is however prompting the need to have a strategic plan for agricultural and rural statistics (SPARS) in place that fully integrates but goes beyond the SSP. To this end, FAO is collaborating with the NSA on the implementation of the Technical Cooperation Project: Development of Strategic Plan for Agricultural and Rural Statistics (SPARS) in Namibia and the Development of the Namibia Census of Agriculture Project Document.

The development of such SPARS will require:

• the buy-in of all relevant stakeholders in the Agriculture National Statistical Systems and the data users community; • the creation of an inter-agency technical working group in charge of supporting the SPARS development process; • the definition and endorsement by national authorities of the SPARS roadmap; • the assessment of the rural and agriculture statistical needs (agriculture statistics being defined in a broad sense covering

not only statistics related to crop, livestock and livestock products but also forestry, fishery and aquaculture statistics) taken into consideration national, regional and international data demands, in particular for SDG monitoring;

• the assessment of the current capacity of the NSS to produce the needed statistics; • the identification and prioritization of data, skills, governance and infrastructure gaps that needs to be addressed, and their delineation into strategic objectives and expected results; • the development of an overall action plan and budget for the implementation of these objectives and results; and, • the final endorsement of the SPARS document by national authority and the mobilization of adequate resources for its implementation.

Reporting Lines

The work will be under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Namibia and under direction supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative (Programme), as well as the National Project Coordinator, reinforced with advice and guidance from the Lead Technical Officer, the FAO SFS Team at the FAO Sub Regional Office, and NSA in Namibia.

Technical Focus

The Specialist will support the development of the SPARS (crop and livestock component) according to the principles and workplan as established by the Project Steering Committee.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Specialist will perform the following tasks: -

• Define, in close collaboration with the technical working subgroup on [crop and livestock] statistics, the roadmap for the assessment of the capacity and the statistical programmes and outputs of Namibia’s agriculture statistical systems related to [crop and livestock] statistics;
• Carry out, in close collaboration with the technical working subgroup on [crop and livestock statistics, the assessment of the capacity and statistical programmes and outputs of Namibia’s agriculture statistical systems related to [crop and livestock] statistics based on the methodology defined in the roadmap. In particular, the Specialist will:
  • Partake in a consultative mission, of two weeks in duration to:
  • Support the sectoral technical working subgroup in evaluating – through deskwork analysis and interview with key stakeholders - Namibia’s [crop and livestock] statistics, governance and statistical capacity based on national, regional and international priority data needs and commitments, including the 21 SDG indicators under FAO custodianship within the scope established in the roadmap
  • Support the sectoral technical working subgroup in analysing and reviewing the evaluation and present results to the technical working group for discussion and insertion in the assessment report.
  • Support the technical working group in preparing a synthesis report of the overall assessment of the national system of agricultural statistics based on the various sectoral assessments;
  • Support the national team in preparing the workshop presenting the assessment and presenting the main results of the assessment;
  • Participate (virtually) in the workshop in which the evaluation is presented;
• Identify, in close collaboration with the technical working group and relevant subgroup, the national priorities for the production of [crop and livestock] statistics.
• Support the technical working group in preparing summaries on the definition of the main strategic directions and relevant action plans, in particular by coordinating closely with the technical subgroup on [crop and livestock] statistics to provide necessary sectoral inputs;
• Support the technical working group in elaborating a vision, a mission, as well as mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation and reporting;
• Prepare, with the technical working group, an integrated budget for the action plan;
• Support the technical working group in consolidating the final document of the strategic plan;
• Support the technical working group in preparing the validation workshop of the strategic plan and finalizing the document based on comments received;
• Participate (virtually) in the high-level policy dialogue and round table for mobilizing funding for the implementation of the SPARS;

Perform additional related tasks as needed

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• An University degree in statistics, agriculture economics, crop and livestock, or related field
• At least 5 years of professional experience in organizing national statistics systems.
• Working knowledge of English.
• National or Resident of Namibia.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience of natural sciences, statistics and economics.
• Familiarity with Namibia’s policy landscape in crop and livestock, Statistics and Agriculture.
• Sound and extensive knowledge of [Agriculture/ Crop and livestock and natural resources] statistics, preferably in the African region.
• The capability to work in a multidisciplinary team and to draft reports clearly and concisely
• Good oral and written communication skills.