Community Outreach Facilitator (2 positions)

Organizational Setting

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

The following position is at SB3 SC5 level.
There are 2 positions in total in Hingol River Basin of Balochistan province to be based in Khuzdar district.

Pakistan has been experiencing frequent natural disasters and non-coherent economic policies which has affected the overall economy specifically the agriculture sector and livelihood of the people. Outbreak of pandemic and locust attack has damaged agriculture crops and affected the food supply chain in Pakistan. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is supporting the Government of Pakistan at national and provincial levels through different analytical policy reports on food supply chain food forecast livestock forestry fisheries and climate change. Similarly a web-based data management system is under development for agriculture food security and nutrition statistics in Pakistan. Through this system support Government of Pakistan in monitoring food prices and supply chain through live dashboards will enable better planning and policy making.

This position is based in Balochistan within the River Basins (RBs) of the EU funded Revival of Balochistan Water Resources Programme (RBWRP). FAO Pakistan seeks a qualified professional with a strong qualification and capacity to contribute in the (RBWRP). This experience will provide wide scope of work as outlined below:

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Pakistan the Senior Project Officer in Balochistan and in close coordination with FAO provincial teams the Facilitator will report to River Team Leader and Sectoral Specialists keeping a close collaboration with FFS Facilitators Technical Working Group (TWG) members farmer groups (SMEs WUAs CBOs etc) and project team for the identification and mobilization of Farmers Farmers Associations Water Users Water Users Associations and COs/CBOs in the project assigned river basin areas.

Technical Focus

Facilitate field level interventions of the NGOs and TWG to mobilize the communities in the communal scheme development and enhance capacity of Farmer Groups or Associations (to build or rehabilitate the schemes better manage local water management and related project affairs).

Tasks and responsibilities

Oversee and ensure the organization of consultative community meetings on project interventions by guiding the NGOs and TWG to:

Identify potential project target villages as per defined criteria.
Identify existing Farmers Farmer Groups or Associations and initiate community consultation for project orientation and need assessment for community mobilization ensuring equal participation of all community members in the meetings or field works (male/female/children minority and disabled).
Sensitize the communities about the project activities and its outcomes to ensure their interest and willingness.
Conduct Project Rapid Assessment (PRA) exercise for the needs and prioritization in the project targeted villages.
Fill out the need assessment forms and submit to the project offices.
Conduct regular meetings with selected Farmer Groups and provide project support according to the assessed needs of local water management affairs.

Assist the farming communities to form new Farmer Groups such as Water User Associations (WUAs) Farmers Field Schools (FFS) and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Community Organizations (Cos) or Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and to further strengthen their operation and function around efficient water management affairs . The activity includes the following tasks:

Oversee and facilitate the TWG and FFS facilitators in identifying potential participants for FFS SMEs or WUAs in targeted villages.
Oversee and guide NGOs on formation of the farmer groups with village cooperation ensuring female participation at all levels.
Ensure registration of all members in hard and soft prescribed templates and enter data in Kobo toolbox with the support of Monitoring. Evaluation Accountability & Learning (MEAL) Team.
Closely coordinate with NGOs to ensure the organization of consultative meetings with farmer groups on their roles and responsibilities.

Ensure NGO coordination with TWG in documenting all related activities in soft and hard records including the technical proposals of Communal Schemes and Commercial Grants. The activity includes the following tasks:

Sensitize the NGOs and TWG members the strict adoption of project SOPs in communal and commercial schemes
Develop the templates and oversee NGOs and FFS facilitators to maintain all the activity documents in soft and hard records
Review maintain and ensure the required community mobilization documents and annexes including minutes of community consultation sessions community request for the scheme development community contribution and breakdown pictures and annexes of the activities respective tagged folders etc.
Ensure all the requirements for the scheme technical proposals are completed like the documents compiled by NGOs and technical inputs provided by the TWG members

Oversee the community mobilization performed by the NGOs in coordination with the TWG in the scheme development to create ownership this activity includes the following tasks:

Obtain the required approvals from the River Basin Team Leaders or TWG related to the selection of schemes designs handover etc. as established in the SOPs
Oversee and coordinate with NGOs and the TWG during the distributions of project inputs for all the components
Maintain record of distributions of project inputs for all the components
Ensure the proper distribution of project inputs at all levels.

Handle beneficiaries/stakeholders complaints and disputes.

Provide full cooperation and support to team handling project related complaints if any
Coordinate the dispute resolution among the project team TWG and NGO
Maintain proper records of all the complaints dispute and resolutions reported in the respective River Basins

Any other assignments

Work for community and NGO resolutions regarding various issues / interventions in the project implementation
Oversee and support the awareness and visibility campaigns in the project villages
Support the field validation of grantees for provision of grants to finance community level initiatives contributing to the project targets
Submit biweekly and monthly reports or as established by the project management
Any other duty or task as assigned under the project.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

University Degree in Agriculture Social Sciences or any equivalent education background
Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in agriculture or livestock related community mobilization dispute resolution organizing community trainings and awareness activities
Working knowledge (Level C) of English and Urdu
Working knowledge of local languages in Khuzdar
National of Pakistan

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

Remain open to change and ability to manage complexity.
Ability to work and act under pressure and with discretion in multicultural environment.
Demonstrate capacity to plan prioritize and deliver tasks on time to meet goals in a high-pressure environment.
Working experience with UN and/or international organizations will be an asset.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION