Cocoa Value Chain Specialist

The Cocoa Value Chain Specialist will oversee the implementation of activities under FAO’s responsibility for the project empowering women entrepreneurs and family farmers through inclusive bioeconomy in Rondônia. The role involves coordinating technical actions, providing guidance on cocoa production systems and value chain development, and ensuring alignment with sustainable bioeconomy principles and project objectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead the implementation of technical activities on the ground related to the cocoa value chain.
• Support the development and tracking of the project work plan by monitoring field activities, identifying implementation risks and opportunities, and proposing necessary adjustments to ensure the full execution of activities.
• Provide technical guidance on agroforestry and regenerative cocoa production systems, promote sustainable soil management, plant health and productivity improvement, and climate-resilient production practices.
• Contribute to the development of technical demonstration and learning protocols and guidelines related to the cocoa value chain.
• Support and contribute to cocoa value-chain assessments (technical, socio-environmental and gender-sensitive).
• Identify constraints and opportunities in productivity, quality, and post-harvest processes (fermentation, drying, processing).
• Lead the establishment and operationalization of cocoa-related technological reference units (URTs), seeking to make them function as hubs for innovation, knowledge sharing and training.
• Design and deliver training activities for women producers, family farmers, and extension agents and technicians.
• Oversee the preparation of technical content for the training of project beneficiaries at URTs.
• Ensure training approaches are practical and field-based, inclusive and gender-responsive, and adapted to local contexts.
• Contribute to the implementation of safeguards throughout the project lifecycle, including but not limited to FAO’s, the government’s and international’s guidelines.
• Liaise with project stakeholders such as the State Government of Rondônia, local, state and national institutions, target beneficiaries, UN entities, civil society organizations, and others.
• Prepare technical inputs for project reports when required by the project coordinator.
• Conduct and/or participate in field missions project sites in order to gather information, to monitor the activities, identify and mobilize beneficiaries, support communication and share information with stakeholders and advance partnerships to facilitate implementation.
• Prepare reports documenting good practices, lessons learned, and field results.
• Organize and participate in project meetings, workshops and other technical activities in alignment with the Project Document, its workplan and the guidance of the project coordinator and the Better Life Technical Area Coordinator of FAOBR.
• Support the procurement of supplies and other items necessary for the implementation of the planned activities, including defining the technical specifications of the materials to be acquired, as well as assessing what has been received and how such materials are utilized.
• Support other project-related activities aligned with the scope of work.

Requirements

• University degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in Agrarian Sciences, Agricultural Engineering, Forest Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Biology or other similar areas.
• Minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in cocoa production systems, sustainable agriculture or agroforestry systems, rural development and technical assistance.
• Working knowledge of Spanish and/or English and working knowledge (level C) of Portuguese (level C).
• Brazilian Nationality.
• Geographical knowledge of the State of Rondônia and previous field experience within the state.
• Experience in sustainable cocoa production, including agroforestry systems and climate-resilient practices.
• Experience in test and disease management in cocoa, including training on integrated approaches.
• Experience in providing technical assistance and capacity building to women and smallholder farmers.
• Experience in post-harvest handling (fermentation, drying, storage) to improve cocoa quality.
• Experience in cocoa processing and value addition.
• Knowledge of the cocoa value chain in Brazil, including market and organizational aspects.
• A formal cocoa-related training certification.
• Previous work with rural women economic empowerment.

Skills

• Cocoa Production Systems
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Agroforestry Systems
• Rural Development Policy
• Technical Assistance
• Capacity Building
• Integrated Disease Management
• Post-Harvest Handling
• Cocoa Processing
• Value Chain Analysis
• Climate-resilient Practices
• Cocoa Quality Improvement
• Marketing Knowledge
• Organizational Knowledge
• Bioeconomy Principles
• Training Certification
• Women's Economic Empowerment
• Field Experience Rondônia

Languages

Portuguese, Spanish, English