Agricultural Engineer for Rural Community Mobilization - North & Bekaa

To support the implementation of the Project “Strengthening the resilience and coping capacities of vulnerable rural population in North and East Lebanon” the John Paul II Foundation is recruiting two Rural Community Mobilizers consultants to be based in the project area (duty station North Lebanon region and North East Beqaa):

Follow up and assist farmer and producer communities and the main stakeholders in the target locations to promote their participation in the planning, organization and implementation of the project’s activities, in particular those related to cooperative development for farmers and producers.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Plan and organize meetings, focus groups and training in the target villages in collaboration with municipalities, farmers, farmer and producer cooperatives and other organizations, community members and community groups to support the overall aggregation process and related collective actions (infrastructure and collective services development, post-harvest and food processing, initiatives and promotion to improve access to market, awareness etc…) of the targeted groups.
• Mobilize community members to ensure their participation in the planning and implementation of the collective activities.
• Minute-taker of focus group discussion and meetings
• Ensure training pre and post evaluation
• Development of the project assessment related to cooperative and target supply chains (data collection and analysis)
• General follow-up and coordination with all relevant authorities and farmer/producer community members to ensure proper implementation of the project’s activities.
• Data collection and filing of the program

Constantly updating the Project Manager on the activities progress or on feedback from the target beneficiaries and the main stakeholders regarding the project implementation

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

The following may be acquired through a combination of formal or self‐education, prior experience or on‐the‐job training:

• Minimum Qualification required: Degree/Advanced Diploma in Agriculture, Agro-business, Marketing, Rural Community Development.
• Experience:  2 years in rural community mobilization for Agro-business, access to market, and agriculture development.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong community mobilization and communication skills in building relationships with local contacts
• Understanding of rural community contest
• Networking and influencing skills
• Community Facilitation skills
• Good understanding of, and commitment to gender equity
• Good attitude and experience in working with farmers, food processors and key stakeholders
• Experience in agro-business
• Well-developed interpersonal and team skills and proven ability to be flexible and sensitive in demanding situations; passion for working with others
• Innovative and creative approach to problem solving
• High integrity
• Ability to work with minimal supervision
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English language
• Familiarity with MS Office software, such as Excel
• Driving license (mandatory)
• Commitment to the aims and objectives of John Paul II Foundation

Desirable:

• Experience in the cooperative sector and other forms of producers’ organization
• Preferably from the project target regions (north Lebanon / Baalbek Hermel) or having good knowledge of the Regions
• Availability of personal vehicle to conduct field visits

SELECTION CRITERIA

CVs will be pre-selected according to their coherence with the required below criteria:

1. Administrative compliance

• Documentation complete (CV, cover letter, methodology and work plan, etc.)
• Language of application as required
• Respect of deadlines

1. Technical criteria

• Degrees, and qualifications
• Years of experience related to the job
• Experience related to mobilization of beneficiary groups towards project initiatives
• Experience in dealing with farmer and producers communities
• knowledge of the Lebanese cooperative system and on approaches related to the aggregation process
• Working knowledge of English and Arabic

Selected candidates will be called for interviews that will take place in preferably in presence at JPII Foundation HQ office, in Rue Gouraud, 191 Gemmayzeh, Beirut.

We thank all those who will send their application, but we inform that only candidates pre-selected for an interview will be contacted

Note: for more information about the organization, please consult our webpage: www.fondazionegiovannipaolo.org