Director, Office of Youth and Women, OYW

• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination　　
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

Organizational Setting

The Office of Youth and Women (OYW) ensures that youth and women act as conduits both (i) internally in FAO, supporting women and youth career enrichment and mainstreaming important topics of youth and women across the Organization, and (ii) externally, by gathering and realizing innovative ideas and approaches related to youth and women within the FAO mandate. The Office takes forward and further institutionalizes the work of the FAO Youth Committee and the FAO Women’s Committee, as well as the World Food Forum (WFF) Global Youth Action, designed by FAO as a global network of partners to build an effective platform to share transformative initiatives and encourage actions for agrifood systems transformation. It promotes transformational leadership for gender equality and women and youth empowerment in the workplace and in FAO’s initiatives, strengthening accountability of managers for gender equality and youth and women’s empowerment. OYW further engages with relevant global initiatives, the United Nations (UN) system and other partners as well as relevant stakeholders, enhancing the advocacy for, and engagement of, youth and women in agrifood systems. The Office works closely with the FAO technical units that coordinate the implementation of the FAO Policy on Gender Equality, the Rural Youth Action Plan and related programmes and initiatives.

The position is located in the Office of Youth and Women (OYW) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines

The Director, OYW reports to the Director-General.

Summary of Duties and Functions

Under the guidance of the Director of Cabinet, Office of the Director-General (ODG), the Director will exercise overall management responsibility for the Office, including strategic vision, advice, planning and implementation of the Office’s programme of work, as well as the efficient management of its human and financial resources. In particular\:

• Exercises overall management responsibility, including planning, for the Office’s programme of work, ensuring quality control, progress monitoring and reporting as well as cost-effective use of financial and human resources, in the context of the FAO Strategic Framework and the Medium-Term Plan, as per results-based management principles.
• Oversees and provides guidance to the Office teams, including on promoting the role of youth and women in food, agriculture and rural development, advancing career development opportunities for young and female employees within FAO, and putting in place appropriate enablers and mechanisms for youth and women in the work of the Organization at large, including in thematically related contexts in inter-governmental or interagency settings.
• Provides strategic leadership in positioning FAO in key international, regional and national fora, debates and processes of strategic relevance to the Organization’s work related to youth and women, in close collaboration and coordination with all relevant teams at headquarters and Decentralized Offices, in particular the Office of Communications (OCC), the Partnership and UN Collaboration Division (PSU), the Office of Innovation (OIN), the FAO Youth and Women’s Committees and relevant technical divisions.
• Coordinates and develops networks and working relationships on issues related to youth and women with the United Nations (UN) system and other multilateral organizations, academia, civil society and private sector.
• Supports targeted, innovative engagements at the regional and country levels to promote outreach to, and empowerment of, youth and women in the context of FAO’s programme of work.
• Develops mechanisms to support, manage, coordinate and/or track initiatives, services and projects related to career development and other concerns of young and/or female FAO employees, in close collaboration with the Human Resources Division (CSH) and FAO’s Youth and Women’s Committees.
• Leads and/or participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the cross-cutting fields on youth and women in the FAO corporate strategies and policies, and effectively contributes to supporting FAO’s corporate resource mobilization strategy.
• Oversees and provides conceptual, managerial and technical leadership to the World Food Forum (WFF) and its coordination team, with a particular focus on the related WFF Global Youth Action.
• In the context of the WFF, manages a wide network of youth-related stakeholders and partners, provides youth-specific global outreach and engagement services, facilitates and implements initiatives and programmes related to youth engagement and empowerment, strengthens networks and develops working relationships on youth-related issues with other UN system organizations, multilateral and bilateral organizations, academia, civil society and private sector.
• Maintains a motivated and effective workforce by ensuring recruitment of highly qualified employees, by mentoring, coaching and supporting career development of staff, and by implementing effective human resource approaches for performance management.
• Represents the Organization at high-level meetings and other events relevant to the Office’s field of competence.
• Performs other duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced University degree in Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Political Sciences, or another field relevant to the work of FAO.
• Minimum twelve years (12) of relevant experience in strategic planning, programme coordination and management, partnership building and outreach, communications and resource mobilization, and policy analysis and advice.
• Ability to lead and work effectively with a diverse team of people, in particular youth, of different national and cultural backgrounds in an international setting.
• Demonstrated experience in leading youth- and/or women-related innovation processes, policy initiatives and/or international conferences and meetings in a multilateral or UN context.
• Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Leadership Competencies