TECHNICAL PROJECT COORDINATOR

Organizational Setting:

For more than four decades, FAO has been working with the Government of the Philippines, civil society, community-based organizations and the private sector to address challenges in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector. Joint efforts have included increasing sustainability in agricultural production, promoting value-adding practices, improving post-harvest management, enhancing productivity and increasing the resilience of agriculture-based livelihoods to natural disasters, climatic hazards and armed conflict.

FAO is an active contributor to the sustainable peace and development efforts in Mindanao, especially in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Since its creation through the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in January 2019 and then during the start of its transition phase, FAO has been working with partners to extend support on institutional capacity building and resilient agri-based livelihoods development for BARMM, among others.

Reporting Lines:

The Technical Project Coordinator reports directly to the Head of Mindanao Sub-Office.

Technical Focus:

FAO Philippines, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has requested for support from the Finnish Centre of Expertise in Education and Development (FinCEED). Specifically, the purpose of the FinCEED support is to implement the Finnish National Development Policy priorities, especially to advance high quality and inclusive education. School feeding is a crucial social protection program and an important nutritional support in developing countries, and for many children the school meal is their only substantial meal of the day. In middle and low-income countries, every dollar invested in school meals yields nine dollars back in social returns: healthy and educated children are more productive adults. Integrated school meal programs that link health, nutrition and education interventions are one of the most impactful and efficient interventions to support children and contribute to the achievement of at least seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDG1, SDG2, SDG3, SDG4, SDG5, SDG12 and SDG17).

In support to push forward the commitment of the Philippine government in the recommendations during the UN Food Systems Summit (FSS), Philippines has signified its support by being part of the global School Meals Coalition. FinCEED, in cooperation with FAO, UNICEF, WFP has committed in providing Finnish expertise to look at the viability of a potential integrated programme on Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF). HGSF constitutes a school feeding model that is designed to provide children in schools with safe, diverse and nutritious food, sourced locally from smallholders.

This proposed initiative hopes to address all forms of malnutrition among the school-age children in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through the HGSF model.

The main objective of this proposed project is to provide detailed analysis of the scope, gaps and enabling environments on the implementation of the existing school feeding programs in BARMM and provide recommendations on what interventions should be strengthened or put in place with regard to the concept of HGSF. This analysis will serve as basis for the design of the proposed feeding program.

Tasks and responsibilities:

The Technical Project Coordinator will serve as the over-all focal for this initiative. More specifically, the responsibilities include:

1. Liase with FAO, WFP, and UNICEF on activities and relevant documents that would need guidance and approval from the participating agencies; 2. Based on the proposed consultation meetings and desk review requirements of the Finnish Expert, prepare a workplan of activities for review of the National Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) Specialist and the Head of Mindanao Sub-Office; 3. Review and analyse the current local context, including the Bangsamoro food security and nutrition status as well as the locally-acceptable agricultural commodities, and provide relevant recommendations to ensure responsiveness and alignment of the Homegrown Schoolfeeding (HGSF) initiative to be proposed in BARMM; 4. Stocktake and analyse other on-going initiatives related to HGSF to identify key actors, persistent gaps and emerging needs that the participating agencies can address, based on their respective mandates and expertise, including stakeholders who may be targeted for consultations, Key-Informant-Interviews and Focus Group Discussions, as relevant; 5. Prepare communications for meeting requests, interviews, documents/reports/data needed as requested by the Finnish Expert; 6. Lead in the coordination with target agencies, ministries, focals for consultations; 7. Document all meetings and highlight on agreements for follow-ups, as necessary; 8. In conjunction with FAO, WFP, and UNICEF, review and provide comments on tools that will be used by the Finnish Expert 9. Lead local coordination activities with concerned stakeholders especially in BARMM to support the development and eventual implementation of the HGSF initiative; 10. Develop concept note/s relevant to the initial findings of this project for possible scaling-up and eventual resource mobilization; 11. Arrange and support the of conduct field visits /assessments and interviews with key informants, stakeholder groups, as necessary; 12. In line with a reporting template, prepare and submit a draft end-of-assignment report which documents the results of the various activities and outputs performed based on the responsibilities of the position; 13. Carry out any other relevant duties within his/her technical competence as may be requested by FAO.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree (Advanced Degree is an advantage) in Agriculture, Nutrition, Community Development, Rural Development or other related disciplines. • At least seven (7) years of relevant experience in project development, program management, coordination, policy reviews in Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, among others. • A National of the Philippines or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Familiarity with BARMM context is an advantage • General knowledge and skills in the use of standard office software, such as MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point) • Language requirement: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Tagalog