Organizational Setting

Agriculture poses a threat to the environment and at the same time, it is the basis of food security. It is at the core of FAO actions the promotion of its sustainable use for food security, human well-being and development worldwide. In recent years, the role of environmental aspects and their likes with socio-economic conservation have been embedded into policies, strategies, and practices, as well as growing global attention. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts biodiversity as one of the key elements for many economic activities. Achieving food security and nutrition for all depends on sustainable development, which generates multiple livelihood benefits. Ecosystem services are essential for sustainable agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries. They enable sustainable production in the agricultural sector, it makes production systems and livelihoods more resilient to economic, social and environmental shocks and stresses, including the effects of climate change. Despite global efforts spanning several decades, sustainability still needs to mainstream across all sectors and agriculture has played a relevant role in this process as it generates negative impacts on it partly caused by inappropriate agricultural practices.

The role of the agricultural sectors in the sustainable use has grown, it can be observed in the EU policy priorities, in particular, the European Green Deal, Farm to Fork and, EU Biodiversity Strategy, also, it is an import part in several donors agenda such as GEF and EU, which tries to halt the negative impact of the agriculture sectors transforming it as a potential delivery of a range of ecosystem services. Most of the countries are facing the challenges to mainstream biodiversity into their agriculture sectors and the regional office for Europe and Central Asia is providing assistance to them.

Reporting Lines

The Sustainability specialist will work under the overall supervision of the ADG/Regional Representative for the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, and under the direct supervision and technical guidance of LTOs for the related projects and in close collaboration with technical officers at the regional, sub-regional and country offices.

Technical Focus 

The technical focus of the position is to support mainstream sustainability into the agriculture sector with focus on agrobiodiversity, SRM (cross compliance), LD and GIS.

Tasks and responsibilities

The sustainability specialist will undertake the following tasks:

•    Carry out a scenario analysis of the problem and the proposed investment. In particular, define the baseline scenario and associated baseline projects, analyse the proposed alternative scenario, and carry out an incremental cost reasoning with expected contributions from the baseline;
•    Support the data collection and data analyse by providing proper methodology and relevant guidelines for national consultant in agrobiodiversity conservation, SRM (cross-compliance), LD and GIS
•    Provide inputs and support to project execution in the area of agrobiodiversity, SRM (cross compliance), LD and GIS
•    Prepare training content for professional staff and field staff, farmers and policymakers on relevant topics
•    Identify, diagnose and select seed management initiatives that are in progress or planned by local and external stakeholders,
•    Review and revise documents prepared by the national consultants;
•    Support the preparation of content for workshops/events;
•    Support the dialogue process with different stakeholders and counterparts.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    Master’s or Bachelor’s degree(s) in economics, agriculture, natural resources, sustainable development, climate policy, rural development, or related fields.
•    A minimum of 5 years of work experience in sustainable agriculture and related areas preferably in the targeted countries
•    Working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of one of Arabic, Chinese, French or Spanish for Consultants; working level of English for PSA Subscribers.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Selection Criteria

•    Knowledge of sustainable policies and guidelines in different setups
•    Ability to work on international teams and with remote supervision