ABOUT THE COMPANY:

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 member states, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide. We believe that everyone can play a part in ending hunger.

JOB SUMMARY

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations is implementing a project for improving animal identification and traceability in the Caribbean Region. This project is in alignment with the Regional Priority 1 (Efficient, inclusive, and sustainable production), with a particular focus on Regional Initiative 3 (Improving food systems in the Caribbean). The project will be implemented in Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, The Bahamas, Dominica, and Jamaica. The international strategy development specialist will be responsible to develop a strategy for the full implementation of the national AIT systems in each country according to country specific needs. This will include an action plan and financial estimation.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean and the technical supervision of the FAO SLC Livestock Development Officer, and in close coordination and collaboration with the Project Implementation Unit (PIU), the Strategy Development Specialist – AIT project, will provide a strategy for the full implementation of the national animal identification and traceability systems.

Technical Focus 

The Strategy Development Specialist will provide technical support to a project on Animal Identification and Traceability (AIT). The incumbent will review the current situation with regards to livestock in each country and will use the findings to develop an animal identification and traceability strategic framework based on the FAO NAITS.

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Assess the available information related to species identified, holdings and entities to be registered in the Animal Identification Systems.
•    Assess the needed data regarding the existing and planned institutional arrangements for management and implementation of the AIT system by the supported governments and specialized entities.
•    Assess the communication and information infrastructure and capacities at central and decentralized level for infrastructure and equipment and provide recommendations for server technical specifications and system operational setups.
•    Identify stakeholders that are relevant to the full implementation of the NAITS system and describe the workflows for including them to the implementation.
•    Prepare a NAITS Strategy Framework for each supported country in accordance with the needs and vision of the governments including:
•    Scope of the system, which should detail: 1) all relevant species (e.g. bovine, ovine, caprine, porcine, equine as well as pets, beehives, aquaculture, and poultry farms); 2) identification options (Individual animals, Groups of identified animals and herd identification); 3) Identification points (at birth, at vaccination, at movement etc.) and 4) Territorial Administrations and other relevant information.
•    Rules and procedures for recording of data, based on institutional setups and legislations.
•    Identified workflows and participating system users, and user permissions in terms of data collection, entry and validation, data analysis, information reporting, and support, both in terms of the FAO NAITS web application and the FAO NAITS Android app as well as the Livestock Farm Management System.
•    Technical specification for a procurement action which details the specifics (list of relevant processes, modules, and customization needs) for each version of FAO NAITS in accordance with the needs of the respective governments.
•    Since the AIT system will be supported by FAO for the duration of the project and handed over to the governments at the end of the project, recommendations for ensuring sustainability addressing both the System Maintenance (hardware, database administration and application maintenance) and capacity development needs.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    University degree in livestock, livestock information systems, agriculture information systems, strategy development or related field
•    At least 5 years of relevant experience in agricultural strategy development and/or livestock policy
•    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 area of work
•    Extent and relevance of experience in animal identification and traceability will be an asset
•    Computer literacy is required
•    Quality of both oral and written communication skills

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