Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is an intergovernmental Organization with more than 192 member countries. Since its inception, FAO has worked to alleviate poverty and hunger by promoting agricultural development, improved nutrition and the pursuit of food security – defined as the access of all people at all times to the food they need for an active and healthy life.

To achieve its goals, FAO cooperates with thousands of partners worldwide, from farmers’ groups to traders, from non-governmental organizations to other UN agencies, from development banks to agribusiness firms (further information and details can be found at: http://www.fao.org).

Since 2002, FAO Coordination Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) has supported preparing for and responding to climate change, food and agricultural threats and livelihood emergencies in the WBGS through emergency relief, rehabilitation and revitalization of productive capacities.

FAO WBGS is currently implementing the “Enhancing Adaptation Planning and Adoption Climate Resilient Agriculture in Palestine- GCP/GAZ/019/GCR” project funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project is aligned with the Country Programme for the Green Climate Fund (2019), the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) (2016), the National Determined Contributions (NDCs) (2017), as well as other relevant national initiatives and projects, which highlight the vulnerability of the agriculture sector to Climate Change and extreme weather events while emphasizing the urgency of supporting this sector to adapt to and mitigate against the effects of Climate Change. The project’s stakeholders include but are not limited to the relevant Ministries, including the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and Environment Quality Authority, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), the private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD), and small-holder farmers and their associations.

Under project Outcome 3.2 (Evidence produced to design adaptation solutions for maximum impact), Output 3.2.2. ; Output 3.2.3. ; and Output 3.2.4. , the development of tangible results on Integrating data system and operating of relevant models and software for production of available on-line agro-weather information, training PMD, MoA, PWA, and other stakeholders on data processing and analysis of climatological data, with focus on producing short-term forecasts, seasonal forecasts, agricultural advisories, pest, and disease information, as well as provision of climate services to ensure farmers and end users are reliably informed of impending weather events through automatic early warnings are a must.

To this end, FAO is seeking the consultancy service of a technical specialist, with relevant proven experience in meteorological applied science.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of FAO WBGS (West Bank and Gaza Strip) Head of Office, the general supervision of the FAO WBGS Head of Programme and the direct supervision of the Project Manager.

Technical Focus 

The Specialist will lead the process of improvement of existing weather forecasting capabilities mainly in Early Warning System. The Specialist is expected to undertake assessment of the meteorological training needs and provide training as per identified topics.

Tasks and responsibilities

In coordination with PMD and MoA technical staff, project partners, project team and other consultants, the main duties of the Meteorological and Climate Specialist are to:

•    Develop, in close collaboration with PMD, an online database to incorporate (and automatically receive) data from the automatic agro-met stations. (The database will stay under the supervision and maintenance of PMD).

•    Develop training materials and conduct 2 targeted training workshops each 5 days (20 participants each training, 40 participants total, among them at least 30% will be women) on the analysis and processing of climate and agricultural data to produce actionable alerts and advisories for farmers. Training participants include staff from PMD, MoA and research institutions.

This activity will prepare participants to be able to prepare 10 day and seasonal forecasts (bulletins) based on the database set-up under the project. These bulletins and seasonal forecasts will be made available on the PMD website. The second of these two targeted trainings will focus on the group of individuals that will be serving as future trainers (and reference points) on the analysis and processing of climate and agricultural data. FAO and EQA – together with PMD and other relevant actors will carefully select participants for this training for trainers, of which at least 30 % will be women.

•    Install and configure climate data processing software for production of automatic messages reflecting critical weather events (based on database developed under the project) to share data with farmers and other end-users utilizing existing telephone registries hosted by MOA.
•    Organize and run outreach campaign to make farmers aware of:
a.    Generated forecasts and where to locate them,
b.    Of weather events alert system (messaging through MoA registry), and
c.    How to sign up for this system in case one is not yet in the MoA registry.

This activity will ensure that at least 150 female-headed households will be contacted to be informed about this NAP Readiness project in general and this output specifically.

•    Perform other tasks as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    Advanced University degree relevant to the required tasks (i.e., meteorological science, early warning, Argo-ecology, or related field).
•    Seven years of relevant working experience in meteorological forecasting models of which 3 years in acquisition, and 2 years in weather data analysis.
•    Working knowledge of English Language and limited knowledge of one of the other languages of the organization (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian).

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

•    Familiarity and proven experience on Early Warning System setup.
•    Experience in implementing institutional capacity improvement or/and institutional governance.
•    Knowledge in Climate Change and CRA practices, preferably in the Palestinian context.
•    Proven experience in dealing and liaising with governmental/ non-governmental institutions, the UN, Donors, and international organization.
•    Proven experience in delivering trainings.
•    Past work experience in climate change or/and with FAO is preferable.
•    Knowledge of the Arabic language is an Asset.
•    Excellent reporting and communication skills.
•    Professional skills in standard computer applications.