International Consultant – Horticulture Value chain Specialist

Organizational Setting

The main aim of FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve security and reduce hunger and malnutrition to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forest sectors, and use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Food Security Project (SAIP) is a new project, coordinated and implemented by the Rwanda Agricultural Board through a designated Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) and supervised by the World Bank. SAIP will consolidate and expand on results from previous World Bank funded projects namely Land Husbandry, Water Harvesting and Hillside Project (LWH) and the Third Rural Sector Support (RSSP3). Specifically, the SAIP will continue capacity building activities of the farmers’ organizations; increase access to irrigated water and enhance agricultural productivity; promote market access and improve post-harvest infrastructure; and scale up nutrition sensitive and climate resilient agriculture. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is involved in the SAIP project implementation through provision of Technical Assistance (TA) under sub-contractual arrangements.

The FAO (TA-SAIP) main objective is to increase agricultural productivity, market access and food security of the targeted beneficiaries in the project areas through strengthened national capacities. Those interventions will be aligned with the SAIP-Project Development Objectives (PDO). Specifically, TA will be provided to SAIP in the areas of\: (i) support to strengthening farmer organizations and the further development of extension services; (ii) enhancing nutrition initiatives and impact and (iii) implementation of farmer led small-scale irrigation technologies.

The National Consultant will report to the FAO Representative (FAOR) and perform his/her duties in close collaboration with the National coordinator and under the guidance of FAO Assistant in Charge of Programme

The horticulture value chain specialist will coordinate FAO’s technical assistance on capacity development and skills development of farmer’s organizations for horticulture value chain. This will include capacity development of producer’s skills, introduce new technologies and innovations promoted by FAO across the World, aim to introduce and improve sustainable domestic, regional and international market linkages.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Assess current capacity gaps for horticulture production in SAIP intervention sites and provide recommendations on needed interventions
• Prepare a capacity gap analysis report of farmers’ organizations and other value chain players in horticulture value chains

• Develop tailor-made practical training materials and reference documents on new horticulture technologies, approaches and innovations for the enhancement of production;
• Develop training modules/materials to address gaps and challenges that have been identified and agreed during the phase of needs assessment.

Training, workshops and stakeholder linkage

• Organize a Training of Trainers for extension field staff on horticultural production and marketing
• Facilitate and promote collaboration and linkages between different stakeholders in relation to

• Prepare three reports (inception, mid-term and final) to inform on activities, targets, outputs/achievement, expenditure, lessons learnt;
• Contribute to the preparation of work plan for SAIP & FAO

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

• Master’s degree in Horticulture, Crop sciences, or Agricultural Economics with a Bachelor`s Degree in Horticulture
• At least 5 years of work experience in delivering horticulture value chain development services in the international/regional context;
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of French (for Consultants).
• Working knowledge of English (for PSA.SBS).

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

• Familiarity with the functioning of UN agencies especially with FAO is an asset.
• Ability to write clear and concise reports in English,
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required, working knowledge of French is preferred and knowledge of Kinyarwanda is desirable.
• Experience in developing training materials and organizing/conducting Training of Trainers and training of Facilitators,
• Experience in managing horticulture related development projects involving multiple and diverse stakeholders including Governments, private sector, civil society and end users,
• Experience in utilizing value chain analysis tools for market assessments to determine key actors and cash flows in the horticultural sector and to analyse current issues around horticultural industry competitiveness;
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with a large number of agricultural cooperatives, small and medium enterprises intervening in agricultural sector, and linking strategically different value chains actors to access to markets and to financial services;
• Proven strong knowledge of the regulatory and certification principles including Phytosanitary regulations and compliance, Global Gap, and S-mark certification and their application/integration within horticulture value chains.
• Demonstrated ability to apply community learning methodologies such as Farmer field Schools and other extension innovations.
• Proven ability to work with government institutions and various stakeholders at central and decentralized level.
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work