Specialist for “Rural Farmers Capacity Assessment

Job Posting

: 23/Jan/2020

Closure Date

: 06/Feb/2020, 10:59:00 PM

Job Type

: Non-staff opportunities

Primary Location

: Lebanon-Beirut

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants 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 confidence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some entrepreneurial minds in the rural areas of Lebanon do not have access to the tools and skills needed to run successful agricultural projects and businesses, resulting in failure. Rural small-scale farmers and producers lack access to markets, business skills, resources, information systems, and peer mentoring that successful agricultural entrepreneurs need to survive a highly competitive market. Small-scale farmers and forest and range-based producers are usually left behind by big government programs and private investment funds. They do not effectively utilize the opportunities presented by modern technology, that allow them to be located in remote areas and function effectively while responding to consumers’ needs.

Knowing that one of the Lebanese Government’s priorities is to expand livelihood opportunities that benefit local economies through strengthening the resilience of smallholder producers, the Rural Entrepreneurship Academy aims at providing rural small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs with the needed tools and capacities they need to survive in the market. The Academy will provide a range of services depending on the needs of the target beneficiaries, ranging from building their capacities (financial management, feasibility studies…) to training them on business planning, marketing, advertising, and business communication, access to capital and funds, accounting & record keeping, access to technical information, cost analysis, and stock control. These services will be tailored to the needs of the beneficiaries based on an integrated needs assessment that will be conducted during the project planning phase.

The project’s overall objective is to “Improve livelihood opportunities of vulnerable small-scale producers, farmers, and smallholder entrepreneurs working in agriculture, agribusiness, forest, and rangeland-based production within rural areas”. 

• Maurice Saade, FAO Representative, Lebanon
• Jozimo Santos Rocha, Lead Technical Officer

In close collaboration with the MOA and the FAO, the consultant is expected to achieve the below outputs:

• Beneficiary selection criteria and call for applications of beneficiaries developed.
• Business assessment tool for the challenges, needs, and weaknesses of beneficiary small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs working in agriculture, agribusiness, forests and rangelands-based production.
• Business assessment tool for the challenges, needs, and weaknesses of the Ministry of Agriculture’s staff at the ministry’s service centres.
• Assessment conducted and assessment report and capacity building recommendations for all beneficiaries (Farmers, agro-entrepreneurs, and MOA staff) finalized

Tasks and responsibilities

In close collaboration with the MOA and the FAO, the consultant is expected to:

• Assist in developing beneficiary selection criteria for small-scale farmers and agro-entrepreneur producers to be targeted by the project.
• Develop a call for applications to announce the project to beneficiaries.
• Identify and describe a long list of potential beneficiaries based on the developed criteria.
• Assist in selecting the final list of beneficiaries. 
• Develop an assessment tool of the business challenges, needs, and weaknesses of the selected beneficiaries.  
• Conduct an integrated assessment of the business challenges, weaknesses and needs of selected beneficiaries (farmers and agro-entrepreneurs)
• Develop an assessment tool of the challenges, needs, and weaknesses of the Ministry of Agriculture’s staff at the ministry’s service centres.
• Conduct an integrated assessment of the challenges, weaknesses and needs of the Ministry of Agriculture’s staff at the ministry’s service centres.
• Develop a final assessment report with analysis and recommendations for each of the assessed farmers and agro-entrepreneurs showing the training and capacity building needs.
• Develop a final assessment report with analysis and recommendations for the assessed Ministry of Agriculture’s staff at the ministry’s service centres showing the training and capacity building needs.
• Work in close coordination with the FAO and MOA team to ensure good communication and smooth implementation of the above tasks
• Report on all activities to FAO’s and MOA’s focal points.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

• University degree in Rural Development, Agri-business, Business Administration, Socio-economic Development, or other related fields.
• At least 4 years of experience in agribusiness, forest and range-based initiatives assessment and projects management.
• Fluency and working knowledge in English and Arabic
• National of Lebanon or resident with a work permit.

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

• Excellent understanding of agricultural and forest-based initiatives and businesses
• Excellent analytical and report writing skills
• Knowledge of gender mainstreaming approaches  
• Strong knowledge of training development and delivery with at least six years of relevant work experience
• Strong knowledge and experience in business planning for small-scale farmers and agro-producers
• Demonstrated skills in training on business planning.
• Demonstrated skills in developing and undertaking field research and business performance assessments

• Proactive and able to work with minimal supervision and high degree of initiative, reliability, flexibility, and self-motivation.
• Professionalism: flexibility to make ad-hoc changes as and when the need arises; ability to perform under stress; willingness to keep flexible working hours.

 ______________________________________________________________

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/

HOW TO APPLY
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.
If you need help, or have queries, please contact: [email protected]

FAO IS A NON-SMOKING ENVIRONMENT