National Coordinator

Organizational Setting

FAO Representation in Sierra Leone implements an integrated food security programme, focusing on diversification of livelihoods, managing natural resources and building resilience. The office employs diverse team of experts locally, but also attracts the available technical experts from the region and the Head Quarters (HQ). FAO works in close partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone, farmers and other stakeholders, supporting plans and policies that affect the food and nutrition security in the country; our work is part of the corporate commitment to support countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, especially SDG 2 on Zero Hunger.

,Reporting Lines

The National Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Consultant should support in the overall project implementation, coordination and collaboration related to communication, development of technical guide for stakeholder engagement and capacity engagement in the same discipline.  S/he reports to the FAOR, Sierra Leone. On technical front, the NCSE must engage, coordinate and liaise with the Forest/Environment/Climate (FEC) Projects Coordinator, the Regional Project Coordinator, AFAOR, Head of Programmes and the REDD Focal Person appointed by the Government.

Technical Focus

The need for more, better, cost-effective and timely statistics in the agricultural and rural sector is widely recognized. Critical gaps in data production and dissemination still exist in many developing countries. The gaps are attributable to long-standing issues such as limited funding for agricultural statistics, especially in the poorest countries, the lack of adequate human resources, and subsequent restricted technical capacity in data collection and analysis.
The 50×2030 Initiative aims to support agricultural data collection, processing, and dissemination efforts of National Statistical Agencies and Ministries of Agriculture. The Initiative responds to the demand for more and higher quality agricultural data, in view of fostering evidence-based decision-making at national levels and countries’ ability to monitor the Sustainable Development Goal indicators, particularly those related to agriculture.
The consultant will support the data analysis of the Sierra Leone Agriculture Survey 2023 (NAS 2023) and the implementation of the Sierra Leone Agriculture Survey 2024 (NAS 2024). The incumbent will work in close cooperation with other team members, relevant ESS Staff, FAO Sierra Leone staff, concerned Government counterparts (from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) and from the National Statistics Office (NSO)), and members of the 50×2030 implementing agencies.

Tasks and responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the FAOR, the NPC will be working under the general supervision of the 50×2030 Initiative’s Data Production Coordinator, the direct supervision of the program statistician for the 50×2030 in Sierra Leone, and in accordance with all policies and procedures relating to employment, the consultant will coordinate the 50×2030 activities in Sierra Leone, and more precisely the survey preparation, data collection, data processing and data dissemination activities. Specifically, the consultant will have the following key functions/outputs:

Output 1: NAS 2023 – Data processing

•    Assist MAFS and Stats Sierra Leone and the FAO Statisticians with data processing activities:
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians to compile and access the raw data;
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians in the organization and implementation of the data cleaning and imputation trainings;
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians in the coordination of – and participate in – the data cleaning and imputation stages;
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians in the organization and implementation of the data estimation and tabulation trainings;
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians in the coordination of – and participate in – the data estimation and tabulation stages;
•    Assist MAFS and Stats Sierra Leone in the organization of the data validation stages (national and sub-national levels), and transmit feedback to FAO;

Output 2: NAS 2024 – Survey preparation 

•    Assist in the development and finalization of the NAS 2024 Production Methods and Environment (PME) instruments:
•    Gather and transmit feedback from/to all relevant partners;
•    Check the quality of the data collection tools;
•    Support the programming of the CAPI systems on CSPro platform:
•    Get reasonable value ranges for numeric variables from MAFS experts;
•    Assist the FAO CAPI Expert during CAPI training;
•    Test the CAPI system, not only in-office but also during field tests;
•    Archive all materials relevant to the production of the data collection tools;
•    Assist in the development and finalization of the survey sampling approach and survey sample:
•    Gather and transmit feedback from/to all relevant partners;
•    Support the FAO Sampling Expert by compiling all necessary information (e.g., data from latest population or agriculture censuses, sampling framework, holding definition, etc.);
•    Assist in the development of the draft tabulation plan:
•    Gather and transmit feedback from/to all relevant partners;
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians in the development of the draft tabulation plan based on the instruments, on MAFS disaggregation requests, and on SDG and national indicators requirements;
•    Assist in the development of training materials and in the training implementation:
•    Assist the FAO Statisticians, MAFS and Stats Sierra Leone experts in the development of training materials for the Training of Trainers (ToT) and Training of Enumerators (ToE), including PowerPoint materials, Enumerator Manual. Check translation quality.
•    Assist Stats Sierra Leone  and MAFS in the organization and implementation of the ToT and ToE; the National Statistician will be expected to attend these training events;
•    Assist MAFS and Stats Sierra Leone in the data collection logistical preparation: field workplan, materials checklist, field staff lists, etc.

Output 3: NAS 2024 – Data collection

•     Assist MAFS, Stats Sierra Leone and the FAO Statisticians with fieldwork supervision:
•    Join the field teams and attend at least part of the data collection effort;
•    Ensure that best interview practices are implemented;
•    Maintain regular communication with MAFS and Stats Sierra Leone and update the  FAO on fieldwork progress, response rate, expected completion date, etc.
•    Make sure all issues are clarified for all field staff on any issues that may arise during fieldwork (e.g., definition/concept for any given question, sampling or CAPI-related questions, etc.) by referring to MAFS, Stats Sierra Leone and FAO experts;
•    Produce a brief fieldwork report that will list all issues encountered during data collection, how they were dealt with and how they can be avoided in future survey rounds;

Output 4: General

•    Assist MAFS, Stats Sierra Leone and FAO in the organization of all workshop or training events;
•    Coordinate communication with all 50×2030 partners (e.g., government partners, FAO SL, FAO ESS, IFAD, WB, etc.);
•    Maintain regular communication with the Romme based FAO program Statistician in-charge of 50×2030 activities in Sierra Leone.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    Master’s degree in mathematics, applied Statistics, Data Sciences or equivalent;
•    Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in planning, coordination, training, analysis and dissemination of agricultural data and statistics.
•    Excellent knowledge of a statistical software package (e.g., SPSS, R, but Stata preferred);
•    Working knowledge of the CSPro CAPI platform preferred;
•    Working knowledge of English.
•    National of Sierra Leone with working experience in Sierra Loene.

FAO Core Competencies

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

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION