Organizational Setting

The Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP) coordinates Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) on gender equality, rural women’s empowerment and inclusive rural transformation. The Division works with Members and other partners to achieve resilient and inclusive rural livelihoods for people in conditions of vulnerability, reduce gender inequalities and advance women’s economic empowerment and promote people-centred climate action and equitable access to natural resources. The Division also leads efforts to integrate the cross-cutting themes of gender, youth and inclusion throughout the work programmes of the Organization. ESP structures its work around three core objectives: 1) build sustainable and resilient livelihoods for vulnerable people in agrifood systems; 2) achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems; and 3) promote equitable, inclusive and sustainable climate action and natural resource management.

Related assignments are located in the Decent Rural Employment Team (DRET), which leads FAO’s corporate work programme on Decent Rural Employment (DRE). In this role, the team and its members interact with relevant Technical Divisions at Headquarters, and Decentralized Offices. All team members contribute to policy support and specialize in specific topics such as migration, youth employment promotion, child labour prevention in agriculture, green jobs, International Labour Standards, etc

Call for expression of interest for building a roster

The purpose of this call is to populate a rosters, for different sub-thematic areas and levels of expertise, made up of talented individuals with experience and background in the area of migration, in particular related to rural migration, and related areas of expertise – such as climate mobility, migrant workers in agriculture, remittances and diaspora engagement in agribusiness and climate action, sustainable reintegration of rural returnees, rural communities left behind, and sustainable rural livelihoods – including decent rural youth employment, climate change adaptation and natural resource management, and territorial development approaches to help ensure that migration is a choice and not a necessity. The assignment may involve full-time or part-time functions supporting FAO work along the Organization’s core competencies of knowledge, capacity development, policy support, technical assistance, advocacy and partnerships. The assignment can be from 1 month up to 11 months. The possibility of extension is subject to satisfactory performance and depending on the resources and needs of the Organization.

Reporting Lines

The Migration Specialist will be under the overall supervision of the Director of ESP, and the direct supervision of the DRE Team Leader and FAO Technical Migration Focal Point.

Technical Focus 

Support to FAO’s work on migration at global, regional and/or country level.

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Contribute to the provision of policy and technical support to Technical Divisions, Decentralized Offices and Countries for the development and implementation of policies, strategies, programmes and projects related to rural migration;
•    Support the development of evidence, good practices and lessons learnt to improve the understanding of the policies, approaches and institutional contexts as well as of sectoral (agrifood system) solutions related to challenges and opportunities of rural migration;
•    Support the development, dissemination and uptake of DRET/migration knowledge products, technical documents, capacity development materials and advocacy and information materials;
•    Contribute to the organization of capacity development and awareness raising events and FAO’s participation in global and regional fora of relevance for rural migration;
•    Contribute to country and resource partner requests for formulating programmes and projects focusing on, or relevant to, rural migration;
•    Provide support to any other tasks as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    Advanced university degree in migration, rural development, political or social sciences, climate change, natural resource management, agriculture or other related field.
•    At least 5 years for Level B and at least 1 year for Level C of relevant experience in policy assistance and programme development in the field of rural development and/or poverty reduction and/or rural employment, with experience related to migration.
•    Working knowledge (level C) of English, French or Spanish and knowledge of a second FAO language (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian) is an asset.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

•    Familiarity with migration from a rural development perspective
•    Extent and relevance of experience in specific migration topics such as climate mobility, migrant workers in agriculture, diaspora engagement in agribusiness or climate action in agrifood systems, rural reintegration of returnees, rural youth employment for prospective migrants, data/empirical analysis of rural migration
•    Strong writing skills
•    Extent and relevance of experience in interdisciplinary work and multistakeholder action
•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work a plus

Selection Criteria 

•    Extent of knowledge and experience in policy support and technical assistance as well as programme/project development or knowledge generation in the field of rural migration.
•    Level of knowledge and experience in concepts and methodologies related to rural migration.
•    Extent of experience in advocacy, policy support, capacity development and technical assistance related to rural migration.
•    Experience in working in multidisciplinary and multi-cultural teams.