Socio-environmental and Gender Specialist

Organizational Setting

Guyana is one of the nine countries that share the Amazon Forest. The state of the country’s biodiversity is considered, for the most part, intact. Approximately 85% of its total land area of Guyana is covered by forest (18.5 million hectares).  Guyana’s floral diversity is estimated to include over 8,000 species, with approximately 6,500 of these species having been identified. There are approximately 1,815 known species of fishes, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. Fishes are very diverse, with 352 species of freshwater bony fishes and 501 species of marine fishes.

The National Protected Area System (NPAS) of Guyana currently comprises of approximately 8.4% of Guyana’s landmass and includes: Iwokrama Forest, Kaieteur National Park, Kanashen Amerindian Protected Area, Kanuku Mountains Protected Area, Shell Beach Protected Area and Urban Parks (National Park, Botanical Gardens, Zoological Park, and Joe Vieira Park). The five aforementioned PAs are located in the heart of the Guiana Shield and are an ancient and biologically rich eco-region in northern South America. The area is estimated at 1.8 million hectares.  At a minimum, the NPAS is estimated to contain 70% of Guyana’s mammals, 60% of its birds and 43% of its plant species. All six species of cats and all eight species of primates that occur in Guyana can be found in the NPAS. The Kanuku Mountains Protected Area (KMPA) alone is thought to have the second highest diversity of bats of any PA in the world, while the Shell Beach Protected Area (SBPA) is proposed as a globally important birding area (IBA) supporting more than 200 coastal and migratory bird species. It is thought that healthy populations of at least 30% of the globally threatened mammals found in Guyana and approximately 90% of threatened reptiles occur in the national protected areas.

Forests in Guyana are threatened mainly by deforestation in connection with mining and forest degradation through logging as well as wildfires fuelled by climate change. Recent assessments have identified encroachment on the boundaries of the protected areas by small scale operators engaged in gold mining. While action is needed to restore abandoned areas from bauxite mining in the forest landscape.  In terms of wildfires, modelled projections of future climate scenarios identify a likely increase in the frequency and severity of fire occurrence in Guyana, fuelled by an increase in temperature and greater variance in rainfall with a greater number of days without rain.

With the assistance of the FAO, the Government of Guyana has been able to secure funding under the Integrated Program for Critical Forest Biomes – Amazon of GEF-8 (ASL3) to address the threats identified above. The project has been structured into three components in line with three interventions of the GEF-8 ASL3. These are:
1.    Maintenance of intact forest landscapes
2.    Engagement of stakeholders in sustainable production and landscape restoration
3.    Effective strategic communication and knowledge management

Reporting Lines

The Socio-environmental and Gender Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the FAO Representative in Guyana, the Lead Technical Officer in SLC and under the guidance of the GEF Design Specialist.

Technical Focus

Social and environmental safeguards and gender mainstreaming.

Tasks and responsibilities

Socio-environmental:

•    Review household (TAPE) survey data, initial consultancy reports (done by other team members), and other relevant data/information on the social ecosystems at work within selected project areas and develop a summary;
•    Safeguards: Based on a detailed description of the project, develop and provide guidance on environmental and social criteria to be used during the identification and selection of priority activities.
•    Compile a summary of key domestic legislative, regulatory, policy and administrative regime in the project country, within which the project will operate, with a focus on requirements that will apply for the planning, approval and implementation of activities; research and summarize regional agreements and treaties that are relevant to project planning and implementation, as well as environmental management and due diligence.
•    Establish a clear understanding of the institutional requirements, roles and responsibilities for adopting and implementing the ESMF/ESMP. Importantly, this should include a thorough review of the authority and capability of institutions at different levels (e.g. local, district, governorate and national) and their capacity to manage and monitor ESMF/ ESMP implementation.
•    Identify all relevant potential environmental risks and social concerns that may arise as a result of the project:
•    Propose realistic and effective arrangements to develop the capacity to manage environmental and social due diligence processes and activities in the project; propose reporting lines, review and approval functions; identify the required resources and technical assistance measures to establish and maintain capacity for the project duration and beyond; develop a process (incl. timeline, budget, organizational requirements, required trainer profiles and expertise) for building and enhancing the capacity of the institutions responsible for implementing the ESMF/ESMP.
•    Define the requirements for technical assistance to FAO, civil society organizations (CSOs), service providers and public sector institutions to implement, manage, supervise, observe or support the implementation of the ESMF/ ESMP.
•    Estimate a realistic budget to be allocated for timely implementation of the ESMF/ ESMP in the project execution phase (as per detailed budget).

Gender:

•    Compile a gender analysis based on literature review and the field data collected to understand the underlying gender dynamics in the context of LDN to address socio-economic drivers and barriers to change and issues faced by rural women that hamper sustainable land management (SLM) and restoration of target landscapes.
•    Based on the gender analysis, develop a Gender Action Plan (GAP) with specific entry points for gender mainstreaming into project design and implementation to ensure that women, men, youth and all relevant social groups can equally benefit from project interventions.
•    Assist with gender-focus working groups and other gender and social specific stakeholder interventions for the preparation of the gender analysis and associated gender action plan.
•    Perform a gender screening in support of the identification of potential value chains and target beneficiaries within the SLM production systems.
•    Contribute to the cost-effectiveness analysis of the proposed SLM technologies and approaches through gender lenses.
•    Support the drafting (provide inputs and review other sections for gender and socio-environmental elements) of the Project document sections relevant including a gender-responsive results framework.
•    Ensure that gender considerations are mainstreamed throughout the PPG process by using relevant gender lenses to review supporting baseline reports and project document.
•    Identify any negative implications/risks (i.e. creating/contribution to community issues that can have negative repercussions on women) and provide mitigation solutions.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements 

•    University degree in Agriculture, Social and Economic Sciences, Environmental Management or a related field.
•    5 years of relevant experience working in the implementation of projects in natural resource management of which 2 years should include Sustainable Land Management (SLM) and community based natural resource management areas plus 3 years’ experience in gender and socio-environmental analysis and government/ NGO stakeholder consultations with grassroot experience.
•    Working knowledge (proficient level C) of English.
•    National of Guyana or resident of the country with a valid work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Demonstrated experience and good knowledge of the national SLM policy framework, climate change related agenda and mitigation/adaptation activities related to mountain forest ecosystems.
•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work.
•    Extent and relevance of experience in facilitating consultative processes and negotiating with high-level decision makers and a wide range of other stakeholders in the area of natural resources management.
•    Extent and relevance of experience working on GEF projects or other international donors’ projects.
•    Good computer skills and experience using Microsoft office suite (MS Word, Excel, Power point etc).