National Geographic Information System (GIS) Consultant – FAO

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.

• 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 member nations, 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 our values. FAO has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and FAO, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
• All selected candidates, therefore, will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
• The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

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.

FAO is currently supporting the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in piloting Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks. The Government of Ethiopia identified the creation of agro-industrial parks as one of the key mechanisms for accelerating the development of the agro-industrial sector in Ethiopia, and it expects this sector to play a key role in the economic growth of the country over the Second Growth and Transformation Plan 2015/16-2019/20.

In 2020 FAO launched the flagship Hand-in-Hand initiative (HIHI), proposing a strengthened analytical framework for organizing technical and investment support to several countries, including Ethiopia. As part of the initiative, a Technical Cooperation Program (TCP) was launched in Ethiopia to provide implementation support to the development of the two Agro-Commodity Procurement Zones (ACPZs) surrounding the Yirgalem and Bulbula Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks that are currently being developed by the Government of Ethiopia (GOE).

The first mission fielded by the HIHI TCP in April 2021 observed, among other bottlenecks, a lack of community-level storage and post-harvest facilities in the two ACPZs. Several cases of underutilization and malfunctioning of facilities provided by government and donors were also reported. The mission recommended to carry out an analysis of existing storage and post-harvest facilities to guide further interventions and enable a more evidence-based investment prioritization mechanism.

In 2018 the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) initiated the development of a National Storage Strategy to increase availability of modern agricultural storage for use in commercial trade. The document reported that Ethiopia has 4.2 million MT of storage for different commodities, with a gap of 18.5 million MT to be closed by 2027. Different mechanisms were proposed to guide further investment; however, it appears that the strategy has not moved forward, leaving a void in the prioritization of investment in storage infrastructure.

The Ethiopia HIHI team recently produced Geographic Information System (GIS) storage maps, using multi-criteria decision analysis to identify optimal locations for the installation of storage and processing facilities in different value chains (including wheat and coffee). The main criteria used to identify locations are existing transport infrastructure, human population density and agricultural production, as well as access to financial services, markets and information technology. The scope of the analysis, however, does not include existing storage and processing facilities.

The proposed mapping of existing storage and post-harvest facilities will aim to validate and complement the strategic orientations developed by the GOE and the Ethiopia HIHI team, and develop a prioritization tool to guide further investments in storage and post-harvest facilities in the two target ACPZs. The analysis is expected to contribute to address the bottlenecks in post-harvest infrastructure highlighted by the TCP mission, providing a framework for evidence-based investment decisions at government and donor level.

Reporting Lines

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the lead Technical Officer (LTO) of the TCP (FAO Ethiopia), with the day-to-day supervision of the Focal Point of the TCP (FAO Ethiopia), and the technical supervision of the Post-Harvest Specialist (CFIA) and the Information Technology Officer (Development area), responsible for the Hand-in-Hand (HiH) geospatial platform (CIO).

Technical Focus

The consultant will carry out data collection and analysis on the location and attributes of storage and post-harvest facilities for wheat and coffee in the Bulbula and Yirgalem ACPZs respectively. The expected outcome of the analysis will be a tool to be used by government and partners for the prioritization of investments in storage and other post-harvest facilities in the two ACPZs.

Tasks and responsibilities

The consultant will:

• Review and analyze the HIHI GIS storage maps to understand how the current assignment can complement and ground-truth them, with reference to wheat and coffee in the two ACPZs.
• Review work done by the GOE and ATA on prioritization criteria for storage and post-harvest infrastructure (including under the GTP-II and the National Storage Strategy, if applicable) to align the current assignment to government priorities.
• Develop a methodology to collect data needed to map existing storage and post-harvest facilities. The methodology should ensure that all relevant storage and post-harvest facilities in the two selected ACPZ are mapped, and that the evidence required for the prioritization of investments in storage and post- harvest facilities is collected. Key aspects that will need to be considered are:
  • The selection of the types of facilities targeted by the study. Types of facilities must include all storage infrastructures for both commodities, and may additionally include wet mills and hulling stations for coffee as well as flour mills for wheat. The feasibility of including these additional types of facilities will be assessed by the consultant at the beginning of the assignment in consultation with the supervising team.
  • The definition of data attributes on the storage and post-harvest facilities required for the analysis. A preliminary list includes: (i) types of facility; (ii) georeferenced locations; (iii) commodities stored and/or processed; (iv) storage and/or processing capacity; (v) level of utilization (percentage of capacity); (vi) management model (cooperative, private, public owned); (vii) date of construction; (viii) date of last upgrade; (viii) status (whether it’s active or not). The consultant will review this list and propose a final list to the supervising team for validation. Data entries should be selected based on their relevance for the prioritization of investment on the one hand, and on the feasibility of the data collection on the other.
  • The identification of respondents most suitable to provide information on the selected data attributes. Data sources could include: (i) facilities’ managers; and/or (ii) MOA offices at the federal, regional, zonal and/or woreda level. While a greater level of decentralization should be sought, priority should be given to the feasibility of reaching a comprehensive sample of respondents within the short time span of the assignment. The FAO office (and in particular the ISVCDOS project team) will support the consultant in identifying relevant stakeholders and in gathering their contacts.
  • The development of data collection tools aligned with the selected data attributes and attuned to the respondents identified. This could tentatively be a web-based survey to be disseminated through a digital platform such as CSPRO, Kobo, Survey Solutions, and Survey Monkey. The survey’s questionnaire (or other data collection tool) should be easy to fill and translated into Amharic.
  • While the data collection will only focus on coffee and wheat in the two selected APCZ, a preliminary assessment of the adaptation of the methodology to dairy and avocado should also be carried to assess the feasibility of extending the analysis to these two commodities in the future.
• Implement the data collection methodology across all identified respondents. The survey is expected to be mainly conducted remotely, although a short field mission to each of the target ACPZs may be considered depending on the remoteness of the respondents identified. The preferred option for the distribution of the web-based questionnaire should be via virtual communication; depending on the individual respondents’ access to the internet and IT, the consultant may collect the information directly through in person meetings, video-conferencing or phone communication.
• Process the data for GIS applications in line with the guidelines provided by the GIS team at CIO. All data must be georeferenced to allow the production of relevant maps, although the highest level of accuracy will not be required.
• Develop a concept to convert the data collected into commodity-specific maps providing evidence for the prioritization of storage and post-harvest facilities, in close collaboration with the GIS team at CIO and with feedback from the HIHI taskforce. Outcomes include: (i) two commodity-specific maps providing a graphical illustration of the different attributes of the facilities mapped; (ii) two commodity-specific maps overlaying the data collected on existing facilities with the optimal locations identified by the HIHI GIS maps; (iii) two commodity-specific maps overlaying data on existing facilities with available data on production/marketing levels to identify gaps in the availability of storage and post-harvest facilities.
• Share the data with the GIS team at CIO and liaise closely with the Information Technology Officer responsible for the production of the maps, ensuring that all data requirements are adequately met. Provide support to the GIS team during the process as required, to ensure alignment of the maps with the objective of the assignment.
• Using the data collected, update existing maps of the Yirgalem and Bulbula Agro Commodities procurement zone (ACPZ) showing the location of Integrated Agro Industry parks (IAIPs) , Rural transformation Centers (RTCs), Unions, and Primary cooperatives (PCs) for the lead commodities in the two ACPZs.
• Produce a final report providing recommendations for the prioritization of storage and post-harvest investment for the target commodities in the ACPZs, leveraging on the new maps and with due consideration for the HIHI storage maps and ATA storage prioritization criteria (if applicable). The report will also provide recommendations on how to expand the analysis to dairy and avocado.
• Perform any other duties related to the work within the scope of this consultancy as required

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Candidate should be a national of Ethiopia or resident in the country with a regular work permit.
• BSc degree in Geography, GIS, Environmental Sciences or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in geospatial data handling and analysis.
• Working knowledge of English and Amharic.

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 GIS software
• Priori analytical experience in the area of post-harvest and logistics
• Extent and relevance of experience in GIS meta data standards

Selection Criteria

• Extent and relevance of experience and knowledge of works execution;
• Familiarity to work with UN agencies in general and FAO similar assignment, Government and other partners;
• Ability to work under pressure and willingness to travel frequently to rural areas of Ethiopia (Sidama SNNPR and Oromia);

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.

We do our best to provide you the most accurate info, but closing dates may be wrong on our site. Please check on the recruiting organization’s page for the exact info. Candidates are responsible for complying with deadlines and are encouraged to submit applications well ahead.