WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ANALYST

Job Posting

: 22/Mar/2021

Closure Date

: 05/Apr/2021, 10:59:00 PM

Job Type

: Non-staff opportunities

Primary Location

: Various Locations

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

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FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and nationality

People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

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Organizational Setting

Over the past years, FAO’s assistance has focused on the promotion of sustainable development of the agriculture sector, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant ministries. More recently, FAO has been supporting the coordination and planning mechanism for humanitarian and stabilization assistance to Lebanon in the context of the Syria crisis. FAO’s support focuses on agricultural and rural development, resilience and sustainable natural resource management as follows: promoting sustainable agricultural and rural development; promoting sustainable management of natural resources; enhancing the resilience of communities hosting displaced Syrians.

In many areas of the world, including the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region and Lebanon, sustainable and reliable delivery of water for irrigation and municipal use has become increasingly complex. This issue also extends to affect the protection of the ecosystems from water pollution. Particularly, if the overall demand is outstripping supply, the delivery of water is often less about engineering, although it is still required. The issue is more often related to the governance of the resources to manage and protect them from pollution and over-abstraction, resolve conflicts over water, and ensure rights to water are respected. It is also about understanding water flow pathways in complex river basin systems. This is where water monitoring and accounting can play a crucial role to help water management institutions in managing complexity in light of the challenges facing the water sector. In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in collaboration with the North Lebanon Water Establishment (NLWE), which represents the Ministry of Water and Energy, is implementing the GCP/LEB/029/SWI project ‘Improved Water Resources Monitoring System/Integrated Water Resources Management at regional level in Lebanon’, funded by the Swiss Government. The main objective of the project is to strengthen Lebanon’s water institutions improving their performance at regional level, thereby helping them to address the sector challenges for sustainable use of water resources. The project involves several components including the combined development of water monitoring dimensions: discharge monitoring system, water quality monitoring system, water use monitoring system and water accounting system. As a result, the project provides a broad variety of datasets related to water management. In support of the managing institutions, the project targets the introduction of a data management method and system that supports the evidence-based water management. 

Within the above context, FAO is seeking the support of consultants with varying profiles for the implementation of defined project activities falling under the specific project components. The purpose of this call is to provide FAO Lebanon Office with a list of qualified candidates for the following profiles:

• Specialist in water resource monitoring and management
• Specialist in data management/acquisition for water resource planning

Reporting Lines

The consultant reports to the Representative of FAO Lebanon (FAO LEB) and the manager of the project.

Technical Focus

Supporting the evidence-based water resource management through the development of methodologies, tools, analyses, knowledge products and capacity building regarding water resource monitoring and data management in the project context.

Tasks and responsibilities

Specialists for water resource monitoring and management

• Review, validate, collate and synthetize datasets on the different dimensions (climate, discharge, water quality and water use) generated by the monitoring system;
• Analyse and evaluate the data and information generated by the water monitoring system, and write report on the potential water planning scenarios with special focus on better water allocation and distribution policies, and enhancement of water use efficiency;
• Conduct water balance assessment, involving agricultural water balance and hydrological water balance in the command area, and identify options for improving water management;
• Review the existing guidelines, manuals, capacity-building programmes to contribute to the transfer of technologies to relevant stakeholders;
• Prepare a sustainability plan of monitoring systems to ensure the long-term utilization of the technologies;
• Support the preparation of knowledge products and capacity-building programmes on the operation of water monitoring systems.

Specialist in data management/acquisition for water resource planning:

• Review and complete the analysis of the existing datasets and based on it, delineate complex data structure;
• Design the framework and architecture of data management system, including the main dimensions of water monitoring system (climate, discharge, water quality and water use);
• Develop an user-friendly application for effective data storing and management, and implement the method to clean and store data;
• Provide quality control for the deliverables;
• Support the preparation of knowledge products and capacity-building programmes on the use of the data management systems.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in agriculture, natural resource sciences, water resource management, hydrology, data management, informatics or a related appropriate field.  
• 1-2 years of relevant experience in water resource management, methodology development for water resource assessment, water data analysis or system development for water resource management.
• For consultants: working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian.
• For PSAs: working knowledge of English.

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
• Extent and relevance of knowledge of water management and monitoring tools, methods and systems
• Extent and relevance of data management tools, methods and systems

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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

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HOW TO APPLY

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered.

We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline

If you need help please contact: [email protected]

FAO IS A NON-SMOKING ENVIRONMENT