FFS National Coordinator 

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.

Qualified female applicants and qualified nationals of non-and under-represented member countries are encouraged to apply.

Persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

Organizational Setting

The Regional Office for Near East and North Africa (FAO-RNE) leads a key Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity. Established in the second half of 2013, the Water Scarcity Initiative (WSI) intends to support countries in coping with one of their most striking challenges: the pursuit of food and water securities, for a sustainable social and economic development, under an unprecedented severe escalation of water scarcity. The objectives of the WSI are: enhancing policies, investments, governance and best practices to sustainably increase water and land productivity; providing critical thinking and tools for strategic planning of optimal and sustainable allocation of scarce water resources; implementing a regional collaborative strategy for a water-reform agenda.

With the endorsement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by the world countries, the WSI has focused its attention to the SDG 6.4 ('By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity') due to the relevant alignment of this SDG with the WSI goals. The WSI has thus developed a project aiming at 'Implementing the 2030 Agenda for water efficiency/productivity and water sustainability in NENA countries' (GCP/RNE/009/SWE), financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The project aims at improving crop water productivity. This will be achieved by adopting  sustainable crop production systems in the project target areas introduced and promoted through the participatory community based approach, the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) that encompasses improving irrigation and fertilization techniques, Conservation Agricultural (CA) practices and increasing water use-efficiency, water productivity  and reducing soil degradation in the project area.

For achieving these goals, the project will first assess the situation (water productivity assessment), identify good agricultural practices for improving water productivity if feasible and promote those practices with farmers.

The local staff involved in the project will be trained on participatory extension methods in order to transfer the appropriate techniques on to farmers, such as Farmer Field Schools (FFS) as well as field days, demonstration plots and field seminars will be used to ensure a wide spread and adoption of environmentally sustainable agricultural practices in the basin.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Office of the FAO Coordination Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip  Programme (FAO WBGS),  the direct supervision of the Project LTO; technical guidance and backstopping of the Delivery manager of the Regional Initiative on Small-scale Family Farming) and FAO WBGS Head of Programme,  and in close collaboration with the National Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of the water productivity activity

Technical Focus

Timely and quality implementation of project activities ensuring effective delivery of project outputs

Tasks and responsibilities

• facilitate, prepare and organize Training of Trainers (ToT) for technicians and FFS facilitators on establishment and running of FFSs;
• ensure coordination with the appointed facilitators and the regional FFS coordinator of the project;
• assist in the preparation of the FFS curricula tailored to the country/site needs;
• follow up and coordination with the related authorities their contribution to the FFS programme;
• make sure that the facilitators are well aware of the prepared training curricula and provide continuous technical assistance;
• make sure that all training materials will be available during the schools session;
• contribute to the development of the FFS programmes for the target crops;
• supervise and contribute to the establishment and running of the FFS;
• monitor and reports the progress of the FFS and demonstrations plots activities;
• contribute to the training programmes;
• prepare technical reports as requested;
• prepare the final assignment report
• perform other related duties as required

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• Advanced degree in Agriculture/Crop Production/water management and/ or participatory extension or related subject in a recognized university
• Ten years of proven experience in agricultural development with at least five years expertise in water promotion and implementation and FFS curriculum preparation, technical and financial follow up and evaluation.
• Five years demonstrated experience and capacity in training facilitators on FFS
• Working knowledge of English. Working knowledge of Arabic is desirable.
• Be resident and hold a work permit for the West Bank and Gaza Strip 

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

• Good reporting skills
• Excellent organizational and communication capacity.

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing).
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help, or have queries, please contact: [email protected] 
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
• Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications.
• For other issues, visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/ 
• For further information on categories, contract duration and honoraria, please refer to the Conditions page.

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered.
Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile.
Vacancies will be removed from the recruitment portal at 23:59 Central European Time (CET) on the deadline for applications date. We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.
If you need help, or have queries, please contact: [email protected]

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