Agri-food Value Chains and Market Systems Development Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

The position is in the Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF). The Division provides strategic leadership for FAO's support to Members in the development of more sustainable agrifood systems. Working in close coordination with other technical units at Headquarters and the Decentralized Offices, the Division is tasked with integrating FAO's scientific and economic analyses to provide improved policy guidance and targeted investment in agrifood systems. Bringing together FAO's longstanding experience and capacities in strengthening systems of food safety and quality control with its technical support to Member countries in the areas of value chain development, agroindustry and agribusiness enterprise development, urban food systems and food loss and waste, the Division integrates and extends food systems support across the Organization.

Specifically, the position will support ESF’s work in value chains, market systems and agri-food systems development, contributing to the Sustainable Food Value Chain (SFVC) programme, which develops tools and trainings, and to the Agri-food Systems Transformation Accelerator (ASTA) program, which is co-led with the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and supports countries to operationalize their plans for a sustainable development of their agri-food systems.

Sustainable Food Value Chains (SFVC) and market systems have been identified as key entry points towards sustainable agrifood systems development. These systems approaches to development (analysis, design, implementation, learning) imply linking the structure of the food system, to the behaviour of stakeholders within it, and to its performance in terms of four pillars of sustainability:
 
•    Economic: inclusive incomes, jobs and livelihoods; commercial and fiscal viability of activities conducted by each system actor and the benefits and costs to society as a whole; effectively linkages among small and medium agricultural producers and processors to end markets through value addition.
•    Social: equity in the distribution of added economic value and benefits for society at large, taking into account vulnerable groups categorized by gender, age, ethnicity, income/wealth and socioeconomic status; supply higher-value, nutritious and safe food and feed to improve diets and nutrition; and decent employment (in particular for rural women and youth).
•    Environmental: reducing contamination, managing waste/by-products effectively (cyclical economy) and ensuring that the impacts of VCs’ activities on the surrounding natural environment are neutral or positive, taking into consideration biodiversity, water, soil, animal and plant health, the carbon footprint, the water footprint, food losses; utilize natural resources in a sustainable manner, including through climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
•    Resilience: the ability of VC actors and supporting firms to recover from shocks (or to adapt to new opportunities) based on structural and behavioural criteria such as redundancy and collaboration. 

SFVC development also requires sustainable investments along the value chains. This involves overcoming the bottlenecks and risks that discourage investments through participatory processes (including with small and medium enterprises – SMEs –, development and commercial financial institutions; domestic, regional and global investors; and governments), technical assistance and awareness of existing tools that enable private investment in the agri-food sector. In addition, strengthening value chains’ governance, stakeholders’ interactions, collaborations and engagement and understanding interconnectedness and trade-offs between social, economic, environmental and resilience impacts are crucial for the way forward. 

Reporting Lines

Agri-food Value Chains and Market Systems Development Specialist will work under the supervision of the Senior Economist (ESF).

Technical Focus 

The Agri-food Value Chains and Market Systems Development Specialist will provide concrete normative, technical and/or operational contributions to support FAO’s work on developing value chains and market systems in its field programme. These contributions include supporting the development of practitioner handbooks, the functioning of websites (SFVC, ASTA), the analysis of value chains and market systems, the design of upgrading strategies and development plans for these value chains and market systems, the development of project concept notes and proposals for resource mobilization, technical guidance and co-management of projects at headquarters and in the field, the delivery of trainings, the review of documents, the provision of advice to colleagues in-house and to external FAO partners and other related ad hoc requests. The work will likely involve international travel and representing FAO at external events.

Tasks and responsibilities

The successful candidate will support the above areas of work, and in particular will:

•    Support or lead, operationally and technically, value chain and market systems analysis and design efforts, with design including a development strategy, and investments and action plans for upgrading the selected VC or market system in a country. 
•    In a lead or supporting role, manage, contribute to, and provide quality control to data collection, data analysis and report writing.
•    Support or lead national teams engaged in primary data collection by coordinating timely inputs from all team members, preparing semi-structured interviews, facilitating visits, focus groups, and individual meetings with key informants, including producers, traders, processors, input suppliers, service providers, banks, ministries, other government institutions, etc.
•    Facilitate multi-stakeholder workshops for project inception, analysis validation and upgrading plan development. The consultant will also plan and facilitate inter-ministerial and public-private sector value chain stakeholder meetings.
•    Contribute and support the activities related to identifying investment opportunities and de-risking schemes through blended financing along the VCs; customizing investments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), establishing multi-stakeholder VC platforms; facilitating policy dialogue ad formulation; and disseminating knowledge & best practices.
•    Support or lead related projects from a technical and/or managerial perspective.
•    Contribute to communications on project developments, including writing articles and updating related website pages.
•    Provide any other related support to ESF projects as indicated by ESF management.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    University degree in, agricultural economics, sociology, business, (agrifood) systems, international (rural) development, or a related discipline. 
•    At least one year (Category C) of relevant experience in one or more of the following areas: value chain/market systems analysis and development, (rural) finance, or agribusiness and market development. 
•    Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another official language of the Organization (Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Arabic). 

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Demonstrable experience in value chain/market system analysis and design, for normative and field-support work.
•    Demonstrable experience in engaging with a variety of stakeholders in a value chain/market system.
•    Demonstrable capacity to work under stringent time pressure and to prioritise tasks.
•    Demonstrable skills in writing well-structured technical, training and reporting documents (English).

Selection Criteria

•    Extent and relevance of experience with the analysis and design of agrifood value chain and market system upgrading.
•    Extensive experience working in and/or leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams on normative and field programme work and in providing training and guidance on data collection, processing and analysis work and on systems-based project design work.
•    Experience in organizing and facilitating workshops, meetings, seminars, and training courses in the general technical area of value chains/market systems development.
•    Experience working in UN agencies and/or in the private sector (agri-food) is a plus.