Organizational Setting
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) conducted in Ghana in 2022 projected 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 sorghum, 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 Organization (FAO) of the United Nations with funding support of the European Union (EU) is implementing Food Security Response in Northern Ghana (GCP/GHA/040/EC) project (2023-2026) targeting at least 10,000 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 Climate Change and Resilience Specialist will be under the direct supervision of the FAO Representative to Ghana, and the direct technical guidance the technical supervision of the Lead Technical Officer (LTO), and under the direct supervision Field Office Manager and AFAOR in charge of Programme and in close collaboration with the Technical Adviser.
Technical Focus
The Climate Change and Resilience Specialist will work together with other technical team to contribute to FAO strategic framework in promoting Climate Change Mitigating and Adapted Agri-food Systems (BE1) and Resilient Agri-food systems (BL4) while ensuring Gender Equality and Rural Women’s Empowerment (BL1) through the project interventions. The project will seek to better the environment by promoting an agri-food system that mitigates climate change from climate smart agriculture approaches and practices while building resilience of farmers along selected commodity value chains. This will be achieved through promotion of organic fertilizer use, provision of solar powered irrigation solutions and application of other climate sensitive and sustainable agri-techniques such as through conservation agriculture and agroecological approaches.
Tasks and responsibilities
The Climate Change and Resilience Specialist, will lead the coordination and management of the project, and will carry out the following duties.
• Coordinate and manage project implementation.
• Conduct Climate Vulnerability Assessment of the targeted districts
• Lead the development of the participatory Climate adaptation action plans of the targeted districts.
• Coordinate use and promotion of climate smart practices among producers
• Provide technical support to activities promoting climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.
• Identify and take steps to mainstream the project interventions into national climate action policy, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and reporting processes such as the national communications to the UNFCCC as well as establishing linkages to relevant international climate policies, processes and targets
• Strengthen capacities of producers to adopt improved seeds, irrigation, and fodder production technologies.
• Conduct Climate Smart Agricultural and conservation Agricultural trainings for beneficiary farmers
• Mobilize experts and partners in support of the project interventions in aid of climate resilience of the beneficiaries
• Facilitate the assessment of climate adaptation co-benefits of the project interventions such as through the deployment of FAO EXACT and NEXT Tools, GLEAM and etc. as appropriate.
• Prepare and compile a compendium of climate resilience human interest stories in collaboration with Communication Team
• Support in the coordination of the activities of Field Officers, other project consultants, and project personnel and ensure that information is disseminated between project partners particularly in relation to climate resilience promotion among project beneficiaries.
• Collaborate with other team members such as the M&E and Communications team etc to generate policy briefs and infographics on climate successes and human-interest stories from project results.
• Facilitate the participation of the project beneficiary districts and communities in sub-national and national climate policy processes and platforms and dialogues.
• Prepare and submit workshop and training reports, progress reports of project activities.
• Contribute to promoting partnerships and stakeholder collaborations such as through LoA preparations etc in support of climate resilience of target beneficiaries.
• Contribute to the preparation final project report (terminal report etc) according to FAO guidelines and format.
• Perform any other duties as may be required.
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
• National of Ghana
• University degree in climate change, natural resource management, development planning and any related disciplines.
• 5 years of experience working in a field of natural resources management including Two or more years of relevant experience in agricultural development, management, and coordination and/or project implementation in an area of FAO’s activities in the country
• Working knowledge of English (proficient – level C).
FAO Core Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
• The position requires good technical knowledge of the climate change mitigation and adaptation in Ghana
• Extent and relevance of experience in project management and coordination
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of climate smart agriculture and resilience of especially small holder farming households
• Extent and relevance of experience in management of computer programs such as Excel, Word, Power Point and statistical software.
• The candidate must demonstrate high communication skills, both verbal and written, negotiation, leadership, vision, strategy, coordination and teamwork
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
- Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
- 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/
- For additional employment opportunities 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 clearances.