Job Description
- FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
- Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply
- Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO’s values
- FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
- All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
- All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
- FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.
Organizational Setting
The Agrifood Economics Division (ESA) conducts economic research and policy analysis to support the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind. ESA provides evidence-based support to national, regional and global policy processes and initiatives related to monitoring and analysing food and agricultural policies, agribusiness and value chain development, rural transformation and poverty, food security and nutrition information and analysis, resilience, bioeconomy, and climate-smart agriculture. The division also leads the production of two FAO flagship publications\: The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) and The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).
Within ESA, the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme seeks to establish country owned and sustainable systems to monitor, analyse, and reform food and agricultural policies to enable more effective, efficient and inclusive policy frameworks in 8 developing and emerging economies. MAFAP works with government institutions, research organizations and other partners to create sustainable policy monitoring systems and carry out a consistent set of policy and public expenditure analyses across a wide range of agricultural value chains. MAFAP analyses are used to inform targeted food and agricultural policy reforms that will result in a more conducive environment for agricultural investment and productivity growth, especially for smallholder farmers. As such, MAFAP supports most of FAO strategic objectives, and in particular those of enabling inclusive and efficient agricultural and agrifood systems and helping eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Reporting Lines
The Analyst will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative for Ghana and the Deputy Director, ESA, and the direct supervision of the Coordinator for MAFAP activities in Ghana. The Coordinator for MAFAP activities in Ghana will ensure technical supervision and will clear the reports produced by the Consultant as part of his/her deliverables in relation to the MAFAP programme. She/he will work in close coordination with the other members of the MAFAP team and/or the FAO Country Office in Ghan
Technical Focus
The Analyst will support the work of MAFAP programme in Ghana on monitoring and analysing food and agricultural policies, with specific focus on trade, market, and price policies, and on public expenditures.
During the assignment, she/he will become familiar with specific analytical methods and tools (price incentives, public expenditure analysis and policy coherence).
Tasks and responsibilities
The Incumbent will primarily carry out tasks related to policy monitoring activities. In particular, the Analyst t will undertake the following tasks\:
• Collect the most recent data on prices (farm gate, wholesale, border and retail) for rice, maize, yam, groundnuts, palm oil, soybeans, poultry and tomato from the official government sources to update the price incentives analysis.
• Draft specific sections of the MAFAP Policy Monitoring Review for Ghana\:
– Overview of the country context, of the Ghanaian food and agricultural sector, and of the main sectoral policies and strategies in the introductory chapter;
– Value chain context for 5-8 selected commodities (rice, maize, yam, groundnuts, palm oil soybeans, poultry and tomato) in the chapter focusing on the analysis of Price Incentives.
– Assessing coherence of current policies (both commodity-specific and those covering the sector as a whole) with stated policy objectives in the chapter focusing on policy coherence analysis.
– Main recommendations issued from the analysis of public expenditures and price incentives in the concluding chapter.
• Assist to produce a policy brief associated with the Policy Monitoring Review for Ghana.
• Assist in the organization of stakeholders validation of the results of policy monitoring indicators.
• Perform any other duties as may be required.
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
• Master’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, development economics, applied economics, political sciences or related fields;
• 5 years of relevant experience in agricultural policies or in economic and agricultural research; and at least 1 year of experience of working with governments, research institutions or development organizations in Ghana or in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Working knowledge (Level C) of English.
• National of Ghana.
FAO Core Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
• Extent and relevance of work experience with government, research institutions or development organizations in Ghana or in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Extent and relevance of experience in conducting quantitative economic analysis of agricultural and food policies, including analysis of agricultural policy distortions and public expenditure for the food and agricultural sector.
• Familiarity with providing policy advice to governments in Ghana.
• Knowledge of current political economic conditions in Ghana, and ability to analyse the policy context at country level building on political economy tools.
• Capacity to interact with government officials on key policy issues affecting agriculture and food security.
• Experience in communicating with government officials and ability to present the key results in concise and effective manner.
• Extent and relevance of knowledge of the Ghanaian food and agricultural sector.
• Excellent writing and communication skills.
Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing).
- Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help or have queries, please contact\: [email protected]
- Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
- Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications.
- For other issues, visit the FAO employment website\: http\://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/
- Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearance
HOW TO APPLY
• To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, and language skills
• Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http\://www.whed.net/
• Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications
• Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Personal information provided on your application may be shared within FAO and with other companies acting on FAO’s behalf to provide employment support services such as pre-screening of applications, assessment tests, background checks and other related services. You will be asked to provide your consent before submitting your application. You may withdraw consent at any time, by withdrawing your application, in such case FAO will no longer be able to consider your application
• Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered
• Your application will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile
• We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.
If you need help, or have queries, please contact\: [email protected]
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