Chief Technical Advisor (CTA)

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• 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

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programs and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The need for up-to-date forest resources data is increasingly important in order to develop national forestry policies and management actions as well as for a wide range of international reporting requirements (as FAO-Forest Resources Assessment (FRA); forest emission reporting for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); new accounting standards such as the Architecture for REDD Transactions and its REDD Environmental Excellence Standard (ART/TREES) of the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and Conservation and Enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD ). The Forestry Division of FAO has been supporting countries to develop their national capacity to collect, analyse and report forestry data for decades. This effort to improve forest data acquisition is supported through a variety of initiatives and projects including: The Global FRA; The UNREDD programme; and System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL) to support countries on the development of National Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS); as well as other country specific initiatives through Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCPs) or bilateral collaboration.

In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been requested by the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to provide additional technical support to strengthen and consolidate capacity in Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems through enhancement of Ethiopia’s National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS). This support would build upon previous technical assistance to Ethiopia’s NFMS and in particular its REDD readiness.

Accordingly, FAO seeks to recruit an International Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) to provide technical guidance to national and sub-national MRV staff in carrying out all project activities. The CTA will support the technical oversight and capacity development related to all project activities.

The CTA shall be responsible for the overall coordination of technical expertise involved in the project and shall provide technical guidance and capacity development to country counterparts in order to ensure quality outputs. These outputs include: support to institutional arrangements for the NFMS at national and regional levels, strengthened networks with MRV partners, MRV labs established in regions, updated Activity Data (including deforestation, forest degradation and forest gain) and Emission Factors for improved reference level for greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting.

Reporting Lines

The CTA will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative (FAOR) in Ethiopia, with direct supervision of the Deputy Representative and technical guidance of the FAO Ethiopia NRM and Irrigation Team Leader, as well as the technical supervision and support of the NFM Team at FAO HQ

The CTA will also work in close consultation with Government counterparts (MRV focal person) and international (e.g. SilvaCarbon, World Bank, Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI), Center for International Forestry Research-CIFOR, etc.) and national technical partners (e.g. Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources -WGCFNR).

Technical Focus

The CTA will support the implementation of all activities under UTF/ETH/118/ETH “National REDD MRV Capacity Consolidation and Strengthening” including technical support to forest inventory, geospatial assessment of forest change as well as REDD reporting.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Manage the technical implementation of all project activities in close collaboration with Government counterparts and technical partners (e.g. SilvaCarbon, NICFI, WGCFNR, World Bank) and FAO technical experts such as Lead Technical Officer (LTO), international Remote Sensing (RS) experts, national RS consultant and other consultants;
• Oversee capacity development activities related to project activities (in very close collaboration with WGCFNR) to strengthen Government autonomy in MRV;
• Ensure technical quality assurance and quality control of the technical outputs of the project (NFM/MRV systems, NFI, F/NF changes);
• Ensure smooth project implementation through coordination of regular project task force meetings;
• Prepare detailed work plans for the project in collaboration with project staff and stakeholders, and make implementation arrangements for the field activities and trainings;
• Maintain good working relationship with the Government REDD focal point, FRA & Monitoring Directorate and other relevant forest units, WGCFNR, SilvaCarbon and other stakeholders;
• Draft Terms of Reference (ToR) for consultants and follow up on their recruitments and assignment in a timely manner;
• Monitor the work of short-term consultants and review their reports;
• Communicate regularly with FAO external technical partners;
• Prepare and submit regular periodic and other reports as deemed necessary
• Perform any other related tasks as and when requested

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced University degree in forestry with focus on forest resources assessment, remote sensing or other related disciplines;
• At least 10 years of experience in implementation of forest assessment and monitoring projects and related capacity building; experience working in forest inventory particularly in tropical regions; experience in development and management of MRV systems;
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other official FAO languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian) for COF.REG.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work
• Extent and relevance of experience in forest sector
• Extent and relevance of experience in multidisciplinary teams
• Familiarity with forest sector institutions

Selection Criteria

• Knowledge in capacity development in the forest sector
• Experience in forest resources assessment and monitoring
• Experience in forest monitoring systems
• Knowledge of Ethiopia’s forestry sector is an added asset;
• Leadership and supervisory experience in managing projects/programmes

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 any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)
• Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list
• 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 more information, visit the FAO employment website
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances. Subject to certain exemptions, vaccination against COVID-19 will in principle be required. Vaccination status will be verified as part of the medical clearance process.