Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-31 by supporting the transformation to More efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri- food systems, for Better production, Better nutrition, a Better environment and a Better life, leaving no one behind.

The FAO Representation in Ghana is the body in charge of ensuring liaison between FAO and the Government of Ghana and is the first port of call for analysing and appraising government assistance requests; identifying, formulating, implementing and monitoring all FAO programmes and projects; managing all phases of the project cycle for national projects for which operational and budget holder responsibilities have been assigned by the Technical Cooperation Department; identifying opportunities for collaboration, and mobilizing technical and operational support from the Regional Office, Headquarters and other funding sources as appropriate.

Global challenges to ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition remain, and have been worsened by climate change while the combined effects of the COVID 19-pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and other factors are deepening the plights of households in many countries, including West Africa and Ghana. In Ghana, from the November 2022 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an approximately 19% of the analyzed population were found to either be under pressure, in crises or in emergency food insecurity situation. Overall, 6.2% of the population were identified to be vulnerable (food insecure) with smallholder farm households having been the hardest hit given their economic vulnerability.

Climate change could cause yield losses to most rainfed cereals, especially maize, up to 16 to 21 percent in 2050, compared to a baseline without climate change. Yields decrease due to climate change are also expected other crops like sorgum, millet, groundnut and vegetables while increase in the share of livestock affected by droughts is expected from 13 to 39 percent. Weak resilience to climate impacts lack of resources to acquire productive inputs are some of the causes of low productivity, and therefore low income and low availability of nutrient dense diverse foods at the household level.

As a response to the current situation and foreseeable future food security crisis, The Government of Ghana and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations with funding support of the European Union (EU) is implementing EU Food Security Response in Northern Ghana (GCP/GHA/040/EC) project (2023-2026) targeting at least 10000 households. The project is being implemented over three agricultural seasons to increase crop and livestock production, including 6 000 maize farmers who will be supported to produce 18 000 Mt of maize over three years in targeted districts; 2 400 millet farmers who will be supported to produce 5,184 Mt of millet; and 4 200 sorghum farmers to produce 8 517 Mt of sorghum over the three years in the targeted districts. In addition, farmers, especially women and youth, and value chain actors will be supported with capacity and access to post-harvest technologies along the groundnut, soybean and vegetable (tomato) value chains with farmers’ capacity on climate change adaptation among others enhanced.

An integrated approach to sustainable food production and the resilience of food systems has become all-time important than ever. The project will promote crop-specific, agro-ecological systems and approaches and support the sustainable development of maize, millet, sorghum, soyabean, groundnut, vegetables (tomato), poultry, piggery value chains. In selected project locations, direct agricultural inputs provision, accompanied by support to climate-adapted agricultural practices, provision of improved  grain storage technologies, training on post-harvest practices, promotion of organic fertilizer use, provision of solar powered irrigation solutions and application of other climate sensitive and sustainable agri-techniques, promotion of integrated pests and diseases management approaches and facilitation of access to market as well as value addition for crops produced will help in resolving some of the production and post-harvest bottlenecks and contribute to achieving food security, and enhanced resilience to future shocks and disasters.

Reporting Lines

The International Operations Specialist will be working under the overall supervision and guidance of the FAO Representative to Ghana, the technical supervision of the Technical Adviser, the direct supervision of the Assistant FAOR (Head of Programmes) and in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator and Technical Committee.

Technical Focus

The Operations Specialist coordinates, monitors, and controls functions in support of FAO’s Operational services. He/she is expected to act as the primary escalation point for all technical issues raised within the project execution. He/she is further expected to contribute to timely and efficient project operations.

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Provide operational management and programmatic support to the implementation of the project, including budgetary management and expenditures monitoring.
•    Handle day-to-day operational aspects of projects and programmes in accordance with the project management cycle from initiation phase to operational and financial closure.
•    Assist the Budget Holder in the overall management of the EU project, including budget allocations, budget revisions, etc.
•    Liaise between programme and procurement units to ensure timely delivery of assistance to beneficiaries, following project workplans, budget availability and in accordance with relevant manual sections.
•    Coordinate the production and clearance of supporting documents (concept notes, project documents, financial and narrative reports, visibility materials).
•    Ensures the timely provision of project inputs (personnel, technical support services, sub-contracts, training, equipment, and supplies) directly by the Organization or, when appropriate, through contractors and in liaison with other support units.
•    Ensure preparedness of the field office to scale up following emerging needs.
•    Support capacity development of operations unit at the field level, including by attending appropriate meetings and trainings at national level.
•    Perform any other duties as may be required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements   

•    University degree in public or business administration, finance, accounting, economics, social sciences or another field related to the FAO mandate.
•    7 years of relevant experience in project management especially in the agricultural sector
•    Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Extent and relevance of experience in programme/project formulation, analysis, planning and implementation
•    Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset
•    Extent and relevance of experience in supporting, advising and guiding the implementation of complex multi-stakeholder projects
•    Extent of experience in formulation, implementation and monitoring of projects
•    Ability to develop plans for the implementation and coordination of project operations in developing countries, in partnership with UN agencies and other concerned stakeholders and/or partners
•    Familiarity with UN administrative, operational and financial procedures is an asset
•    Experience working with community, NGOs and farmer groups is a plus.