Agriculture Transformation Specialist

FAO's Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean (SLC) is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for addressing sub-regional food, agriculture and rural development priorities. It develops and maintains relations with sub region-wide institutions including Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs). The Sub-regional Office is a subsidiary of FAO's Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (RLC). The SLC is located in Barbados and is responsible for Barbados and the OECS (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines).

Reporting Lines

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of FAO-RLC Disaster Risk Management Officer and in coordination with CREAD Chief Executive, the Permanent Secretary of the MOAFF and the FAO-SLC DRM Specialist in the FAO sub-regional office in Barbados.

After the devastation caused by hurricane Maria, resilience became a cross-sectoral national priority. The Prime Minister launched an initiative to make Dominica the world´s first climate resilient nation, which would turn the country into an example for sustainable development and climate resilience for Small Islands Development States (SIDS) and globally. The creation of a “Global Center for Agriculture Resilience“ in Dominica has therefore been identified as one of the flagship initiatives off the Government agenda on resilience. With the support from FAO, CREAD will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries (MOAFF) to deliver this flagship initiative within the broader national resilience strategy thus ensuring linkages with other ongoing processes in the country.

• Refine strategic roadmap for transforming the agriculture sector\: within the framework of Dominica as a Global Centre for Agricultural Resilience (the policy that will guide the transformation of the agricultural sector), the Consultant will work closely with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and CREAD to clearly define roles, responsibilities and timeframes for action from the different domestic and international stakeholders (DEXIA, Dominica Bureau of Standards, IICA, CARDI, the World Bank, FAO, etc.).

• Develop and deliver a medium to long-term action plan to transform the MOAFF\: elaborate and deliver on medium to long-term agenda for institutional reform of the MOAFF, including required structure, processes, systems and capacities for MOAFF to become a key driver of the agricultural resilience agenda.

• Deliver a hands-on awareness and capacity building programme to ensure the above processes are supported by knowledge and experience on food and agriculture resilience.

Target\: The programme, through a tailored approach, will target high level authorities in key institutions of the public sector to include but not limited to the Ministries and divisions working on Planning, Environment, Gender Affairs, Civil Protection, Commerce, Infrastructure and Health. Also included in the process will be leading Research Institutions, Civil Society Organizations representing youth, women and ethnic groups; private sector leaders and producer and consumer associations.

The programme will focus on all components of food systems and agriculture resilience including disaster and climate risk management, gender equality, natural resources management, governance, etc. in different subsectors (crops, livestock, fisheries/aquaculture and forestry).

Methodology\: The programme should be designed in a way that it will provide key inputs to the strategic framework for action required within the framework of Dominica as the Global Centre for Agriculture Resilience and the medium to long-term plan for institutional reform of the MOAFF.

• Identifying target audience
• Defining contents and developing the methodology and agenda
• Identifying national expertise in partner organizations to deliver specific contents
• Deliver the programme with support from MOAFF and CREAD
• Any other activities required to deliver the programme

• Advanced university degree in (for Consultants) / University degree (only for PSA) Degree in Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Environmental Economics, Governance, Public Policy;
• 10 years of relevant experience in in strategic planning and capacity building in the public sector.
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO official languages (Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian) for COF.REG.
• For PSA.SBS a working knowledge of English will be sufficient.

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Good understanding of resilience conceptual framework and its application in a rural/food/agriculture context.
• Direct experience in structuring teams, mechanisms and processes to deliver results.
• Good knowledge of the agriculture sector / disaster risk management / climate change adaptation / food security and sustainable development.
• Strong capacity to organize, facilitate and deliver capacity building activities directed at political and technical levels for public and private actors in line with the areas of work identified under this ToR.
• Proven negotiation and facilitation skills at high level.
• Proven analytical skills and ability to manage large amounts of information, identifying trends and implications and communicating them effectively to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Proven capacity to handle pressure and competing priorities as well as coordinating team work to deliver high quality results.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, Outlook).

• Prior experience in working for the UN and FAO is desirable.
• Knowledge of the Caribbean region/ Dominica will be considered as an additional asset.