Child Labour Specialist

The Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division (ESP) coordinates FAO’s work on social protection, gender equality, decent rural employment, rural institutions and people’s empowerment. It is responsible for working with member countries and other partners to reduce rural poverty through strengthening social protection systems, diversifying rural employment opportunities, reducing gender gaps and other social inequalities in agriculture, strengthening producer organizations and improving the rural poor’s access to productive resources and rural services.

Related assignments are located in the Decent Rural Employment Team (DRET), which leads FAO’s corporate work programme on Decent Rural Employment (DRE). In this role, the team and its members interact with relevant Technical Divisions at Headquarters, and Decentralized Offices. All team members contribute to policy support and specialize in specific topics such as child labour prevention in agriculture, migration, youth employment promotion, green jobs, International Labour Standards, etc.

Call for expression of interest for building a roster

The purpose of this call is to populate a roster, for different sub-thematic areas and levels of expertise, made up of talented individuals with experience and background in the area of child labour, in particular related to agricultural supply chains, including forestry, fisheries and animal husbandry. Related areas of expertise are, for instance, children’s rights, fundamental principles and rights at work, education, safety at work and social dimensions of agriculture. Experiences and/or background on decent rural youth employment, school to work transition, and migration, (seasonal and forced migration) in rural areas in relation to child labour prevention are welcome. The assignment may involve full-time or part-time functions supporting FAO work along the Organization’s core competencies of knowledge, capacity development, policy support, technical assistance, advocacy and partnerships. The assignment can be from 1 month up to 11 months. The possibility of extension is subject to satisfactory performance and depending on the resources and needs of the Organization.

Reporting Lines

The Child Labour Specialist will be under the overall supervision of the Director of ESP, and the direct supervision of the DRE Team Leader and FAO Technical Child Labour Focal Point.

Support to FAO’s global, regional and country work on reducing child labour in agriculture.

Tasks and responsibilities for level A, B and C consultants and PSAs

• Contribute to the provision of policy and technical support to Technical Divisions, Decentralized Offices and Countries for the development and implementation of policies, strategies, programmes and projects related to child labour prevention in agriculture;
• Contribute to country and resource partner requests for formulating programmes and projects focusing on, or relevant to, child labour prevention in agriculture;
• Support the development, dissemination and uptake of DRET/child labour knowledge products, technical documents, capacity development materials and advocacy and information materials;
• Support the development of evidence, good practices and lessons learnt to improve the understanding and implementation of the policies, approaches and institutional contexts as well as of sectoral (agricultural) solutions to the prevention of child labour in agriculture and the promotion of decent youth employment;
• Support needed resource mobilization and proposal development;
• Provide support to any other tasks as required.

• Advanced university degree in rural development, political or social sciences, agriculture or other related field.
• At least 5 years for Level B and at least 2 years for Level C of relevant experience in policy assistance and programme development in the field of rural development and/or poverty reduction and/or rural employment, with experience related to child labour.
• For consultants\: Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other official languages of the organization (French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian or Arabic).
• For PSA\: Working knowledge of English.