Project Technical Advisor

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Description

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• The Technical Adviser will play a key role in providing conceptual and strategic orientation to the project, and ensuring that it incorporates the systems, tools, relevant international standards and partnerships necessary for this direction to be maintained, and as necessary adapted, during the remainder of the project period.
• Under the overall supervision of the FAO-R, the daily supervision of Assistant FAO Representative (Programme) and in close coordination and consultation with Government counterparts, the Technical Advisor will be responsible for

• Providing technical and operational advisory support to the project teams and Government partners to ensure the achievement of the two projects’  objectives, including:
• Promote integrated sustainable landscape management and related approaches including but not limited to environmental sustainability in agricultural production systems, green value chains, climate change resilience and ecosystem restoration.
• Ensure that the project is fully compliant with the project donors (GEF, EU), FAO and GoV Government principles and procedures in the implementation of FAO Framework for Environmental and Social Management (FESM) including standards for gender and engagement with indigenous peoples across all thematic components of the project.
• Supporting the consolidation and management of relationships with core project stakeholders and ensuring harmonization of procedural and methodological approaches and systems between the project and the Operating Partners as a whole to ensure effective implementation of the project.
• Ensuring coordination with relevant government agencies, policies and programmes including Government Resolution 120 and the Government’s Sustainable Development Project on One million heactares of High-quality and Low-emission Rice Cultivation in the Mekong River Delta region. 
• Facilitating engagement with and inputs from relevant technical experts (from FAO and other specialized institutions) in setting up systems for project implementation and monitoring to ensure that it is adopting best practices approaches for operational management and technical innovation.
• Overseeing the establishment and initial implementation of mechanisms for outreach and communication by the project at regional and global levels, in support of the scaling out of impacts and the sharing of knowledge to the benefit of the project and other relevant initiatives in the region and beyond.
• Identifying and facilitating the realization of opportunities for partnerships and other forms of relations with public and private sector actors throughout the region and beyond, as relevant, including (but not limited to) regional and global agricultural value chain opportunities, communities of practice, and knowledge hubs.
• Identifying and channelling external technical resources (from FAO and from other specialized institutions) to the project in order to ensure that it is at the cutting edge of good practice at regional and global levels.
• Providing advisory and backstopping support to ensure that the project is at the forefront of global good practice (and fully compliant with project donors (GEF, EU), FAO and Government principles and procedures) in the implementation of environmental and social safeguards and the gender action plan, across all thematic components of the project.

• Providing technical advice to ensure the projects meet the needs and expectations under the GEF-7 Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Programme (IP) with respect to delivering the GEF Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs) relative to the baseline scenario.
• Leading coordination between the project and the FOLUR IP Global Platform (GP) to make sure that the project takes the maximum possible advantage of the support available from the GP and that it is effectively coordinated with other FOLUR child projects and delivers synergies at regional and global levels.
• Overseeing the establishment and initial implementation of mechanisms for the effective and timely measuring and reporting by the project to the GP on indicators of relevance at programmatic levels, and the feedback to the project of the results of programmatic M&E to optimize its regional relevance, and complementarity and synergies with other IP projects.
• Supporting the coordination between MoNRE and MARD to execute the project to ensure the seamless linkages of the activities across the project components.
• Contributing to the preparation of the Project Implementation Report (PIR), Project Progress Report (PPR), mid-term and final evaluation report, and other reporting requirements. 
• Providing technical support to apply ILM principles into local land use planning and food production systems
• Supporting national ILM specialist in obtaining ISLM technical documents in order to promote the ISLM in Vietnamese Mekong Delta region
• Specific responsibilities for STAR-FARM project
• Providing technical advice to the annual review of project workplan and result framework including project’s expected outcomes, output and activities.
• Leading the efforts to ensure (1) the linkages between the different components and the different levels of project actions implemented by different project partners; and (2) promote strong involvement and ownership of the project results by local partners, policy makers and other local stakeholders.
• Contributing to monitoring of project implementation risks and work to ensure compliance with risk management strategies to meet FAO requirements for environmental and social safeguards.
• Contributing to the preparation of the Project Implementation Report, midterm and final evaluation reports as defined in the project document.
• Overseeing the periodic monitoring and reporting by FAO to EU donor on project results and M&E indicators, and provide advice to optimize project activities in line with the interests of the government and the donor.
• Perform other duties as required.

• Advance degree related to agriculture, ecology, natural resources, environment management  or rural development;
• At least 12 years of professional experience of relevance to the integration of considerations of environmental sustainability and environmental benefits into landscape management and production sectors
• Working knowledge of English (level C) and a limited knowledge of another FAO language (level B)

• Proven ability to work with multiple stakeholders (including private sector value chain actors) in a constructive and culturally sensitive manner;
• Demonstrable experience in the implementation of multilateral donor-funded or government-funded international development projects; 
• Demonstrable experience in project organization/implementation and ability to serve as an effective communicator and negotiator with excellent oral presentation skills; 
• Solid experience in project management and results-based management;
• Knowledge of FAO’s project management systems is preferred.

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