Back Junior Programme Support Assistant

Organizational Setting

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.
The FAO Representation on Bangladesh was established in 1978, and since then it supports country’s efforts in agriculture, food, forestry, fisheries, livestock, rural development, and climate change. Bangladesh, home to the world's most densely populated flood-plain delta, faces fast population growth, dwindling land resources, natural disasters and global climate change, as well as rising prices of food, fuel, and fertilizer. Despite these challenges, the country's farmers and fishers are remarkably resilient. 
The Diversified Resilient Agriculture for Improved Food and Nutrition Security (RAINS) is financed by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture in Bangladesh under the supervision of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), with FAO providing technical assistance.  The project contributes to the public investment priority of achieving food and nutrition security resilience of rural households to environmental and economic shocks. Its development objective is to build the sector’s resilience to shocks by supporting households in vulnerable climatic zones to improve nutrition status and increase income through diversified climate and nutrition sensitive production systems and improved off-farm opportunities along value chains. The position is offered at salary level SC1.

Reporting Lines

This is an SC-1 level position. The incumbent will work under the overall guidance and supervision of the FAO Representative in Bangladesh, with technical guidance from the Senior Technical Adviser (STA) and in coordination with the project team to support the implementation of project activities.

Technical focus

The incumbent will support the project activities by facilitating training, coordination, and market linkage initiatives, with a focus on nutrition, women, and youth empowerment. Also contributes to monitoring, data capture, communications, and overall project management support.

Tasks and responsibilities

Provide support to RAINS project Component 1 Nutrition-Sensitive Agricultural Production to increase availability of diversified, nutritious, safe and demand-driven foods and Component 2 Market Linkage and Off-Farm Diversification to support farmers and producers to access markets, among others but not limited to:  

•     Assisting in organizing meetings, workshops, roundtables, and training sessions for farmers (groups) and woman- and youth focused activities
•     Support in preparing materials, handouts and presentations to improve knowledge, practices and services in nutrition and the socio-economic status of women
•     Support promoting woman- and youth tailored off-farm income-generating activities to promote employment and self-employment opportunities
•     Support coordination with the RAINS Project Management Unit

Provide support to RAINS project Component 3 Management and Coordination, among others but not limited to:

•     Assist in monitoring and evaluation tasks related to project beneficiaries
•     Support capturing data/evidence and lessons learned for policy engagement 
•     Assist in project communications activities, and to support activities for the “International Year of the Woman Farmer” under the project scope
•     Support technical assistance for implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions, including diversified production, climate-resilient homestead gardening, and integrated farming models. 
•     Support development and delivery of nutrition education, SBCC materials for DAE, DAM, Lead Farmers, and community groups. 
•     Support nutrition-related assessments, monitoring, evidence generation, and documentation of lessons learned and good practices. 
•     Support strengthening nutrition-sensitive value chains approach through Producer Organization (PO) capacity development and cascade training. 
•     Support preparation of policy briefs, evidence briefs, success stories, and knowledge products for scaling-up and policy engagement.

Support the McGovern-Dole School Feeding Programme (UNUN), among others but not limited to:

•     Support the program team in conducting surveys, monitoring and impact documentation of Little Agriculturist Club (LAC) activities, including nutrition KAP, dietary diversity and behaviour change assessments within LAC students and households.
•     Support collection of LAC case stories, good practices and evidence for reporting, knowledge products and programme learning.

Any other tasks as assigned by the supervisor

FAO Standards and guidelines:

Liaison with OCC will be maintained, either directly or through an agreed focal point/coordinator, to ensure compliance with OCC standards, aligned messaging, and appropriate review and clearance processes.
All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including:
FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31: https://www.fao.org/strategic-framework/en  
FAO social media policy and guidelines: https://www.fao.org/2/socialmedia   
Social Media Branding Guidelines: https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb5044en 
FAOSTYLE https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb8081en   
FAO terminology http://www.fao.org/faoterm 
FAO Names Of Countries https://www.fao.org/nocs/en 
Story guidelines, Story template, UN map standards, FAO logo policy and related branding guidelines (available to staff).

Further guidance regarding FAO communications, policies and procedures can be found through the FAO intranet, OCC section.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements
  

•     Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Food or relevant field
•     At least one year of experience in agriculture, food science or similar field 
•     Working knowledge of (level C) English 
•     National of Bangladesh

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

•     Working knowledge of Bangla is preferable
•     Proficient computer skills - Microsoft Office software, email, internet, spread sheets;
•     Skills in supporting project management
 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION