Technical Officer (Regional GEF/Eastern Europe Central Asia)

The Technical Officer supports the FAO-GEF programme in the Europe and Central Asia region by providing thematic guidance and technical knowledge to assist project development and implementation. The role involves research, technical analysis, project support, and collaboration with regional teams to promote sustainable agriculture and environmental management.

Responsibilities

• Researches and analyses technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional and technology related information, data and statistics and/or related policy issues to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services.
• Produces a variety of technical information, data, statistics and reports as well as input for technical documents and web pages.
• Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives; provides technical backstopping to field projects.
• Collaborates in the development of improved/updated tools, systems, processes and databases.
• Participates in multidisciplinary teams and/or leads working groups/teams; collaborates with other Divisions/Offices/Centres and promotes best practices.
• Collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development activities within Member Nations such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events, including preparation of related information, learning materials and on-line tools.
• Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at international meetings and conferences and influences partners in stakeholder consultations.
• Supports resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.
• Supports OCB-GEF regional teamwork and strategic programming in REU and participates in regular OCB-GEF management meetings.
• Collaborates with Finance and Project Implementation Support (FPIS) and Monitoring - Reporting (M-R) teams to maintain regional GEF portfolio information, ensures the timely implementation of project milestones across the regional portfolio, facilitates follow up on at risk projects, identifies and mitigates implementation challenges, and provides targeted support to Country Offices in the implementation, operation and monitoring of GEFs projects.
• Works with Executive Coordinator to set and achieve resource mobilization targets for the region for a typical GEF replenishment period.
• Supports the implementation of the FAO-GEF Strategy and Action Plan in the region and contributes to establishing and strengthening strategic partnerships in the region.
• Serves as the main point of contact for RAF and RNE on GEF programme and policy development and when requested, participates in regular Regional Office management meetings to support resource mobilization and pipeline planning reviews with RO management and FAO Representation.
• Promotes and ensure synergies with regional programming and policy priorities and supports the development of a high-quality GEF project pipeline in the RAF and RNE based on regional priorities, GEF replenishment opportunities, and FAO-GEF Programmatic Areas of Work (PAWs).
• Works with FPIS, M-R lead, Regional Office field programme officers and technical leads to support the RO and SRO operational and technical roles in delivering the FAO-GEF portfolio.
• Supports and contributes to knowledge management and sharing in regional portfolio, working with the Regional Offices and the M-R and Communications team in OCB-GEF to capture and disseminate lessons learned and success stories between countries, headquarters, and Regional Offices.
• Serves as a FAO-GEF Technical Officer (GTO) for selected programmes and projects in the Europe and Central Asia region and serves as a member of the FAO Project Task Force (PTF) for each of the projects under her/his responsibility.
• Supports the formulation and implementation of complex GEF programmes and projects within the regional portfolio, ensuring operational viability and due compliance with the FAO policy standards and best practices, as well as convergence with GEF policies and priorities.
• Collaborates with OCB-GEF Unit colleagues to ensure programmes and projects in the region are prepared effectively and efficiently within the specified project preparation phase from concept approval to project document submission/approval and are managed efficiently to achieve milestones and results throughout the cycle in a timely manner, including start up, first disbursement, full implementation and closure.
• Provides critical technical inputs to robust GEF regional portfolio management including improvements of FAO project operation implementation modality and risk management and the maintenance of programme/project and portfolio information and FAO project information/knowledge management systems.
• Provides high-quality products, inputs and support to meet the standards of the Project Implementation Reviews, Midterm Reviews and Terminal Evaluations.
• Supports the OCB-GEF Unit and FAO-GEF community in the development of a robust portfolio of projects and programmes targeting one of the global priorities in the emerging GEF-9 program and subsequent GEF programmes.
• Works with the Executive Coordinator and OCB-GEF team to strengthen the efficiency of GEF team operations.
• Identifies and pursues opportunities for synergies with other vertical funds and to strengthen a programmatic approach at country level in the fields of climate change, biodiversity and environment.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, or natural resources management or related biological sciences.
• Five years of relevant experience in vertical fund programming on the nexus between agrifood systems and environmental management.
• Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of English and intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency – level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions.
• Experience in Vertical Fund project and programme development and experience in the REU region is a strong asset.
• Experience in mobilizing resources, building a GEF portfolio, and supervising multidisciplinary projects and programmes across two or more of the GEF priority areas is an asset.
• Good analytical and conceptual skills with ability to formulate project documents and write technical papers and ability to analyse and integrate diverse information from various sources.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse and integrate diverse sources of information into coherent stories in the form of compelling project and program proposals, results-based budgeting and monitoring and supervision of multidisciplinary projects.
• Demonstrated experience with and knowledge of the procedures of GEF and other environmental funds is highly desirable.
• Experience in communicating with a wide range of stakeholders and in providing clear technical and policy advice to project proponents at national, subregional and regional levels about GEF priorities, results-based management and monitoring.

Skills

• Vertical Fund Programming
• Agrifood Systems Management
• Environmental Management
• Project Development
• Resource Mobilization
• GEF Portfolio Building
• Multidisciplinary Project Supervision
• Project Document Formulation
• Technical Paper Preparation
• Performance-Based Budgeting
• Project Monitoring and Supervision
• GEF Knowledge
• Environmental Funds Knowledge
• Stakeholder Communication
• Technical Policy Advice
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Natural Resource Management

Languages

English, Russian