Land and Water Officer

FAO’s Land and Water Division (NSL) foresees a future whereby governments, development partners, civil society, academic institutions and the private sector and farmers, all work together to ensure that land, soil, and water resources are wisely used, conserved and restored for sustainable and resilient agrifood systems that support food security, nutrition and human wellbeing.

NSL provides policy guidance, technical and financial assistance to Member Countries in developing policies, programmes, best practices and management tools for ensuring productive and efficient use of land, soil and water resources to meet present and future demands for agricultural products, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of these resources. It promotes equitable access to and sustainable management of these natural resources with a view to enhancing productivity, livelihoods, equity, health and ecosystem services.

Under the new FAO’s Conceptual framework for integrated land and water resources management, NSL will work towards a core set of five integrated and strategic Objectives and Action Areas that have been elaborated to cut across the thematic land, water, soils, and geospatial areas of work of the Division: (1) Good Governance; (2) Wise use and restoration; (3) Mitigation and resilience; (4) Integrated solutions; (5) Data, digitalization, technology and innovation.

The post is located in the Land Unit of the Land and Water Division (NSL) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

The Land and Water Officer (Water Policy) reports to the Director, NSL.

Water policy, planning, governance for agrifood systems.

Research, technical analysis and project related services to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services.

Key Functions:

• Researches and analyses technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional and technology related information, data and statistics and/or related policy issues to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services.
• Produces a variety of technical information, data, statistics and reports as well as input for technical documents and web pages.
• Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives and provides technical backstopping to field projects.
• Collaborates in the development of improved/updated tools, systems, processes and databases.
• Participates in multidisciplinary teams and/or leads working groups/teams collaborates with other centres/divisions/offices and agencies on work groups and committees and promotes best practices.
• Collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development activities within Members such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events, including preparation of related information, learning materials and on-line tools.
• Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at international meetings and conferences and influences partners in stakeholder consultations.
• Supports resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Corporate Strategy.

Specific Functions:

• Conducts research and analysis; provides technical inputs to NSL’s publications and knowledge products on water resources management.
• Prepares briefings, documents and presentations on water resource management for internal and external meetings and conference, including meetings of FAO Governing Bodies, bilateral meetings and other global fora.
• Contributes to the planning, designing and organization of internal and external technical meetings, policy dialogues with Members and multi-stakeholders on water resources management.
• Liaises with internal and external partners to support related policy formulation and development process.
• Provides technical support to policy initiatives and projects.
• Provides inputs to the Division’s planning, monitoring and reporting of annual/biennial workplans.
• Performs other duties as required.

Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following:

Minimum Requirements:

• Advanced university degree in water and natural resources management, environmental science or a related field.
• Five years of relevant experience in water resources management and proven experience in water policy research and development.
• Working knowledge of English (proficient – level C) and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Technical/Functional Skills:

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions.
• Familiarity with database development techniques and experience with remote sensing/Geographic Information System (GIS).
• Extent and relevance of experience in land resources census, assessment, modelling, planning at global or national levels.
• Demonstrated capabilities in delivering results in time and quality.
• Demonstrated capacity to write comprehensive technical reports on water resources in English.

Source:  https://jobs.fao.org/careersection/fao_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=2400892