Social Protection Consultant

Job Posting

: 04/Feb/2021

Closure Date

: 19/Feb/2021, 12:59:00 AM

Job Type

: Non-staff opportunities

Primary Location

: Lebanon-Beirut

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FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.
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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.
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Organizational Setting

The 3 Rome-based Agencies (RBA) Resilience platform (FAO, IFAD and WFP) in Lebanon and Jordan are implementing a project funded by the European Union, under the leadership of FAO. The project entitled “Enhancing resilient livelihoods and food security of host communities and Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon through the promotion of sustainable agricultural development” is implemented in Lebanon in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. 
The project responds to the reduced livelihood and food security levels resulting from the Syrian crisis, in Jordan and Lebanon. It tackles its negative impact on the host communities through support to the agriculture sector in improving the agricultural productivity and the farmers’ income in addition to the creation of job opportunities for both host communities and displaced Syrians. The project aims as well to improving risk management and the socioeconomic inclusion through a larger access to social protection and linkages with agricultural interventions for the benefit of the host farming community and the displaced population, in line with the upcoming National Social Protection Strategy, the National Agricultural Strategy and with the current Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP).
The project has four Outputs:
Output 1: Adequate agriculture production support systems for vulnerable farm communities rolled out and good agriculture practices supported and developed
Output 2: Ability of national institutions, farmer groups, agricultural technical centres and schools/facilities to develop capacity of host and refugee’s communities enhanced.
Output 3: Productive capacities of vulnerable smallholder host farmers and/or home-based micro and group-based small-scale agri-food enterprises are increased and job opportunities in the form of agricultural labour are created
Output 4: Livelihoods and income generating opportunities for the most food insecure created through sustainable management of natural resources.
This current assignment is part of Output 1 and 3 above. The project will support MoA in helping the most vulnerable smallholder farmers to access agriculture needed inputs; it will create a sub-registry of farmers in need for a timely support to ensure their vital income/food from agriculture production, and to promote their socioeconomic inclusion. It will also strengthen the coordination between MoA, MoL and MoSA for ensuring a better access of farmers to social protection, by reducing their barriers of access to the National Social Security Fund and coordinating with NPTP to improve coverage of poor farmers.  This project will also encourage the development of a more agricultural development by piloting and scaling up a graduation approach, associating agricultural interventions and social protection activities

Reporting Lines

The Social Protection Consultant will perform his/her tasks under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Lebanon, the direct supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) of the MADAD Project, the Regional Office for Near East and North Africa (RNE) and the technical supervision of the Senior Social Protection officer (ESP) in Rome.
Tasks and responsibilities

•    Act as Social Protection focal point in the MADAD project and coordinate all related activities in ensuring decent work good practices and regulations are followed and expansion of social protection coverage to the rural poor is enhanced; 
•    Contribute, in close collaboration with MoA, to the development of targeting mechanisms of the social safety nets for farmers, in alignment with to the poverty score of the NPTP;
•    Coordinate with NPTP to improve coverage of poor farmers and poor agricultural workers and support the development of additional criteria for improving the targeting of NPTP for poor farmers and agricultural workers;
•    Implement activities to facilitate the access to National Social Security Fund to agricultural workers, including self-employed (analysis of barriers of access to social protection, feasibility study and costing analysis of expansion of coverage, in collaboration with ILO, and propose a workplan to MoL, MoSA and MoA); 
•    Support the design, implementation, evaluation and scale up of the graduation pilot programme (output 3), in collaboration with the MoA and MoSA;
•    Contribute to the establishment of linkages between disaster risk reduction mechanisms linkages and the NPTP;
•    Facilitate, in close collaboration with MoA concerned services, the operationalization of coordination platform between the MoA and the MoSA, established by the MADAD project, at national and decentralized levels;
•    Conduct a study on the coherence between agriculture and social protection in Lebanon, and trainings at national and decentralized levels;
•    Assist when requested in the coordination, in close collaboration with MoA concerned services, of the implementation for the realization of a farmers’ registry: liaise with stakeholders, organize working sessions, organize the work, prepare contract for experts and coordinate their inputs in a timely manner;
•    Support in the design of the Targeting Module in the developed Farmer Registry (approaches used, criteria, etc.);
•    Improve the coordination between MoA and MoSA national strategies by conducting a study on coherence between agriculture and Social protection, providing technical assistance to the development of respective strategies and by organizing trainings and workshops on economic inclusion and resilience;
•    Provide relevant technical inputs on youth and decent employment, occupational safety and health, and social protection issues to key national stakeholders in the processes of revision of existing or formulation of new policies, strategies, plans and programmes, especially in relation to the refugee crisis in the country;
•    Assist the missions conducted by international consultants and ESP staff by processing the administrative procedures and coordination with relevant governmental agencies, resident UN agencies and other relevant national stakeholders;
•    Actively participate in meetings, workshops and other relevant events organized by key agriculture, employment, social affairs and poverty reduction/ stakeholders; 
•    Plan, implement and monitor activities related to the MADAD project, including contributions to the development of annual work plans, activity requests and calendars, in close consultation with the professional staff of FAO involved in the implementation of the project, and based on the results and activities presented in the project document;
•    Contribute, as required, to the programme of FAO Lebanon and participate in all relevant meetings and activities.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements    

•    Advanced university degree in economics, public law, public administration, social sciences, development studies or a related field;
•    At least  five years of relevant experience in the field of social protection, public sector management, agriculture/rural development programmes in Lebanon;
•    Demonstrated experience in engaging, coordinating and managing public sector programmes/projects, specifically multi-stakeholders initiatives with government entities and non-state organizations is highly desirable;
•    Excellent knowledge of Arabic and English; 
•    National of Lebanon or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work
•    Familiarity with agriculture and rural development projects
•    Experience working with the Government at the national level including in-depth understanding of development and political context is an asset;
•    Extensive work experience in the management of agriculture/food security programmes/projects integrating social dimensions;
•    Good understanding of the principles of results-based management and capacity to develop plans, organize resources and take actions to ensure objectives achieved within realistic time lines;
•    Excellent understanding of the government structure and the international stakeholders present in Lebanon, and experience in working with the government agencies;
•    Familiarity with the livelihoods programmes and relief and developmental assistance delivered by WFP through the cash-based transfer system;
•    Familiarity with the Lebanese social protection scheme and programmes (ESI, HMI and PEA);
•    Familiarity with the essential support provided by UN agencies to refugees in Lebanon and the humanitarian assistance received by refugee households;
•    Familiarity with the food assistance programmes, education and health services implemented by the WFP and UNHCR;
•    Good understanding of the support provided by MoSA to the most vulnerable all over Lebanon through the NPTP;
•    Familiarity with the pilot project implemented in Lebanon to include vulnerable smallholder farmers in the ENPTP to enhance their livelihood capacity and resilience;
•    Familiarity with the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) and the demonstrated identified gaps in the area of agricultural livelihoods as part of the wider Food Security sector;

Selection Criteria

•    Extent and relevance of experience in Livelihood Surveys
•    Extent and relevance of experience in Social Protection
•    Experience in policy formulation and programming on social protection;

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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]

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