Senior Programme Advisor

Organizational Setting

FAO in collaboration with the government, UN organizations and development partners began serving both the host communities and Rohingya population in building their livelihoods and skill development opportunities in Cox’s Bazar from October 2017. FAO Cox’s Bazar sub-office has been operating programmes in attaining productive and sustainable agriculture, fisheries, livestock and increasing the resilience of livelihoods in the emergency humanitarian context. Several initiatives were undertaken particularly to address the sustainable productivity, resilient livelihoods and improved food security for communities in Cox’s Bazar, specifically prioritizing the poor and marginalized farmers. FAO is implementing various multi-donor projects through developing, testing, and piloting several innovative sustainable livelihood approaches and intervention models. Through these innovative approaches and models, FAO is supporting as many as 25,000 marginal and smallholder farming families in four sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar district (Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ukhiya, Ramu and Teknaf) for increasing their farm productivity and income generation by improving the existing production and management practices.

While some approaches are new to the Bangladesh context, they are consistent with Government’s policies and planning (e.g., farm mechanization, digital Bangladesh, climate-smart agriculture), UN Sustainable Development Goals and FAO Bangladesh’s Country Programme Framework. FAO Cox’s Bazar sub-office has created momentum in highly urged ‘Demand Responsive Livelihood-Farmer Linkage’ by introduction, adaptation and adoption of innovative farm technologies. Most importantly, FAO’s activities in supporting affected host communities in Cox’s Bazar have geared up climate-resilient services through the provision of assistance to the farmers, enabled stronger private sector partnerships, as well as provided opportunities for collaboration with researchers and extension agents.

Reporting Lines :

The Senior Programme Advisor is a SC 12 position and will work under the overall supervision and guidance of the FAO Representative in Bangladesh and direct supervision of the Head of Sub Office, FAO in Cox’s Bazar, will be working closely with the International Programme Specialist, MEAL Unit coordinator , Emergency Operations Specialist, FAO-Bangladesh Country Office, Regional Office and Headquarters in building livelihoods and skills for the targeted beneficiaries and strengthening of local supply chains and markets. The incumbent will consult, liaise, and collaborate with selected partners on the implementation of activities; facilitate relevant relationships with the Government, UN organizations, development partners, key civil society actors, private sector entities and ensure adequate support to technical missions; support the resource mobilization for programme implementation and further scale-up.

Technical Focus

The Senior Programme Advisor will be overall responsible for planning and implementation of the livelihood programme of the FAO Cox’s Bazar Office and overseeing all aspects including programmatic, financial, administrative and personnel. S/he will lead the livelihood programme team with strong leadership capacity, communication skills and strategic thinking and ensure that interventions of all projects under the livelihood programme are of high quality and lead to measurable impact.

Tasks and responsibilities :

• Play the leadership role to enhance access to, and utilization of, agricultural extension services for household nutrition improvement, value chain development, youth and women’s empowerment for vulnerable and smallholders’ in Cox’s Bazar district;
• Play the lead role and advisory services in baseline condition assessment and any other technical assessments relevant to the project;
• Provide high level professional and advisory services to the FAO Cox’s Bazar programme in collaboration with the Programme unit, Operations and Monitoring, Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) units.
• Play the lead role in developing programmatic strategies aligned with the 8^th five years programme of the government of Bangladesh and FAO’s Country Programme Framework to communicate with the potential donors and stakeholders for exploring financial resources;
• Manage the FAO’s project such as PROACT activities in Cox’s Bazar for development of resilient, inclusive and sustainable nutrition-sensitive agri-food systems;
• Play the key role in developing and implementation of the Annual Work Plan (AWP), programme budgets and progress reports for the donors, FAO and other stakeholders;
• Play the lead role in developing and implementing the FAO-WFP led UN-UN Agreement and provide advisory services in the smooth functioning of the collaborative project in achieving better results meeting the objectives.
• Contribute to knowledge, learning sharing and resource building for facilitating ICT based improved extension services and Digital Village initiative in collaboration with the FAO’s Country Office, Regional Office, and Government Organizations.
• Ensure project monitoring and quality assurance, visibility, donor’s compliance and timely reporting on project to the donor;
• Ensure the overall integrity of programme management in the FAO Cox’s Bazar Office across the partners, including the effective management of field programme operations;
• Contribute to the preparation of concept note, formulation of funding proposals for donors, letters to donors, Letters of Agreement and donor reporting related to donor’s fundraising and fund management;
• Contribute to the development and delivery of effective advocacy and partnership strategies, as well as the dissemination of information and lessons learned, in the framework of the knowledge management of the organization;
• Overall responsibility in the preparation of the programme briefs, knowledge products, technical productions based on best practices, comprehensive reports, quarterly and annual progress reports including ad hoc reports, related to the programme in Cox’s Bazar, ensuring timely dissemination of information to key stakeholders and donors;
• Oversee the implementation of letters of agreement, development of technical specifications, procurement planning, staffing planning and development;
• Oversee technical specifications for inputs, procurement and planning in coordination with technical and procurement staff from Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka, Bangkok and Rome offices;
• Actively promote synergies across projects, working in consultation with government partners, UN Agencies, NGOs and donors for mitigating environmental degradation in the project intervened areas;
• Establish and maintain professional relationships and communication with local government offices and in particular the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) in Cox’s Bazaar, Department of Forestry, Fisheries, Livestock and Agricultural Extension;
• Perform any other related tasks as assigned.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Master’s degree in agricultural science, food security or related discipline with post-graduation in administrative or programme management or related subjects;
• Minimum of ten (15) years of progressively responsible professional work experiences with the United Nations or international development organizations on agricultural development or food security projects or programmes;
• Professional experience in working with the emergency environment and /or humanitarian responses at team leader or project manager position including the food security sector.
• National of Bangladesh

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Working knowledge of English is essential;
• Knowledge of agricultural development and food security systems for multi-donors funded projects or programmes;
• Proven experience in strategic and innovative approaches for programme management and agricultural development in a complex and adverse environment;
• Proven experience in promotion and adoption of innovative ideas and practices for improved agricultural farming for the marginal and smallholder farmers;
• Proven track record of successful teamwork, managing the multi-disciplinary team and good presentation/facilitation skills;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills required;
• Ability to work independently and without close supervision.
• Self-motivation, willingness to learn and strong work ethics in managing a multi-disciplinary team.