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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, andย advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.
The Strategy and Knowledge Department (SKD) provides expert guidance on IFAD's strategic direction, thematic priorities, and technical quality of IFAD's operations. It plays a critical role in providing technical expertise to operational teams to enhance development effectiveness, by generating and disseminating IFAD's development knowledge and evidence on strategic themes and encouraging innovative application of cutting-edge global knowledge and evidence in IFAD investments to support countries tackle their most complex development challenges in fostering inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. SKD is composed of the (i) Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division (ECG); the (ii) Sustainable Production, Markets, and Institutions Division (PMI); and the (iii) Research and Impact Assessment Division (RIA).ย
PMI provides technical support to IFAD Country Programs to ensure the proper application of corporate quality standards required for achieving development results and impact in key thematic areas, including food production systems (i.e. fisheries, livestock, agronomy), land, natural resources management, water and rural infrastructure, financial services, rural markets and enterprises and rural institutions. It contributes to the generation of evidence and knowledge on these themes and facilitates their use in IFAD country programs and activities.
The Country Technical Analyst works under the overall strategic, policy and management guidance of the Director PMI and the Regional Director responsible for the country to which s/he is assigned. S/he is directly supervised by the Lead Regional Technical Specialist (Regional Technical Lead (RTC) under the new model).ย
The Country Technical Analyst ย may be required, occasionally, to travel outside of their own country to perform the work of the Organization.
The Country Technical Analyst (ICT4D) position is located in APR Division and the incumbent works under the direct supervision of the Lead Regional Technical Specialist, Rural Finance, Markets and Value Chains.
Job Role ย
The Technical Analyst/Specialist serves as IFAD's national technical expert in the designated area applied to agriculture and rural development. S/he is responsible for analytical support to programme activities and performs functions related to IFAD's mandate of improving rural food security and nutrition and enabling poor rural men and women to overcome their poverty, and to overall efforts of IFAD within the UN Common System to increase sustainable development capacity in developing countries.ย
S/he works in close collaboration with the RTC and country teams, and other programme management and technical staff to ensure consistency, cohesion, and synergy in the application of technical support and provision of programme development support.ย
The incumbent works in the area of ย information and communication technology for development, ICT4D.
Key Functions and Results ย
1.COUNTRY PROGRAMMES AND PROJECT DESIGN: The Technical Analyst/Specialist provides technical support in the designated area applied to agriculture and rural development and supports the quality enhancement of project designs based on best practices and country knowledge. Working closely with other technical specialists and based on a planning exercise undertaken jointly between SKD and PMD, s/he supports PMI's Project Technical Leads to enhance the overall quality of projects across various thematic areas. S/he also provides targeted support to select project components on technical themes relevant to IFAD, contributes to background documents and preparatory activities, participates in design missions, and provides inputs to aide memoire and project design documents. S/he provides inputs into Results-based Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP) and Country Strategy Notes (CSN) as required.ย
2. PROJECT SUPERVISION, IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT AND COMPLETION: The Technical Analyst/Specialist provides technical support in the designated area. S/he focuses primarily on the readiness of technical elements during start-up and contributes to capacity building activities in her/his area of technical expertise. S/he supports Regional Technical Specialists in regular supervision, implementation support and project completion activities as required.
3. TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: The Technical Analyst/Specialist undertakes analyses of technical themes relevant to IFAD and provides inputs to technical briefs, reports, and presentations to facilitate IFAD's policy engagement particularly in the designated area. S/he analyzes and draft reports on innovations and developments for knowledge sharing and scaling up and participates in relevant policy meetings and events as required. S/he analyzes and identifies potential partnership opportunities based on IFAD's comparative advantage vis-a-vis other development partners/institutions.ย
4. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: The Technical Analyst/Specialist gathers evidence based data from projects to contribute to the generation and dissemination of knowledge, good practices and innovations generated through loans and grants in the region on technical themes relevant to IFAD. S/he contributes to relevant knowledge management initiatives and products in coordination with the PMI Knowledge Management Officer and contributes to communities of practice as required.ย
5. MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS: The Technical Analyst/Specialist is accountable for IFAD core values and code of conduct, including integrity, transparency, and equity in the management of IFAD resources.
Position Specifics:ย
The Country Technical Analyst (ICT4D) provides technical support in the area of ICT4D and supports the quality enhancement of project designs based on best practices and country knowledge and contributes to the capacity building activities. The incumbent undertakes analyses of technical themes relevant to IFAD and provides inputs to technical briefs, reports, and presentations to facilitate IFAD's policy engagement particularly in the area of ICT4D.
Key Performance Indicators ย
Technical analysis and synthesis of information and data, including database management, creates the foundation for IFAD's decision-making and quality of policy and programme advice provided to regional staff and/or the government. Analytical documents and linked monitoring frameworks are used in the development and evaluation of IFAD's country programme. Thus, the Technical Analyst/Specialist supports IFADโs reputation for capacity and for programme delivery and enhances its recognition as a reliable development partner. S/He also supports the capitalization and dissemination of thematic knowledge from the ongoing loans and grants in the region and delivers in-country capacity building.
Working Relationships ย
In the context of programme development and delivery, the Technical Analyst/Specialist ensures the exchange of technical information as well as builds and maintains collaborative working relationships with counterparts and other partners to enhance consistency and reliability in the provision of development assistance to the governments, particularly in the designated area applied to agriculture and rural development. In work relationships with counterparts, s/he establishes and maintains relationships and projects the image of IFAD as a credible/reliable partner striving for harmonization of development activities. S/He facilitates programme/project logistics and administration with local authorities as required. The Regional Technical Lead gives direct guidance to the Technical Analyst/Specialist to ensure optimum support from PMI to the programme delivery of the Regional Division.ย
Job Profile Requirements ย
Organizational Competencies:
Level 1:
Building relationships and partnerships - Builds and maintains effective working relationships Communicating and negotiating - Communicates effectively; creates understanding between self and others Demonstrating leadership - Personal leadership and attitude to change Focuses on clients Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating - Continuously seeks to learn, shares knowledge & innovates Managing time, resources and information - Manages own time, information and resources effectively Problem-solving and decision-making - Demonstrates sound problem-solving and decision-making ability Strategic thinking and organizational development - Personal influence Team working - Contributes effectively to the teamEducation:
Level - Advanced university degree from an accredited institution in a technically relevant area. In lieu of an advanced university degree, a first university degree (Bachelor or equivalent) plus at least four (4) additional years of relevant professional experience over and above the minimum number of years of experience requirement may be considered Area: Computer science, information technology, mathematics or other job related field Degree must be from an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php .Experience:
At least three (3) years' progressively responsible professional experience Position specifics: Providing technical advice and expertise on ICT4D in the context of agricultural and rural development projects. Ability to share technical guidance/knowledge at the governmental and peer levels and programme staff in the development of viable programme activities. Experience in policy frameworks related to ICT4D, digital agriculture, etc.ยLanguages:
Required English (4 โ Excellent)ย Desirable: French or Arabic or SpanishยSkills:
IFAD partners: Knowledge of IFAD's partners' functioning and mandate , such as the public sector (e.g. governments and policy, institutions and system), non-state actors (NGOs, CSOs, Foundations, etc.) and private sector actors Policy dialogue: Know-how in the representation of IFAD as a trusted and strategic partner; effective consultations with IFAD counterparts - like ministries and governmental bodies at all administrative levels, donors, civil society Analytical skills: Outstanding ability to analyse and synthesize qualitative and/or quantitative information from a variety of sources and filter out key insights and recommendations Data management: Data collection, cleaning, transformation and consolidation; data-base architecture & development; data presentation Project coordination: Identification of key-priorities, ability to work with others, coordinate and structure work to meet deadlines and adjustment of workplan/resource allocation when needed, identification and management of project-related risks Risk management (e.g. reputational): Identification and assessment of potential liabilities and risks in IFAD's activities, particularly vis-ร -vis third parties; ability to handle risks via contingency and mitigation strategies Problem solving: Strong systemic and structured thinking, ability to identify and dissect problems into components and formulate a comprehensive set of creative viable and sustainable solutions and strategies Synthesis: Outstanding ability to synthesize and simplify complex technical information for a variety of (non-technical) audiences Verbal communication: Clear, succinct and convincing verbal communication; highly professional, balanced and diplomatic language Written communication: Clear, succinct and convincing written communication in the language needed for specific role; highly professional, balanced and diplomatic language (e.g. for drafting of position papers, briefings, etc.) Programme/Project development, management: Know-how in Programme/Project development, implementation, management Topical expertise - Programme Mgmt for Agricultural Development: Expertise relevant to the specific role (e.g. For ethics office assistant, procedures outlined in the Code of Conduct, Discipline and Anti-harassment provisions of applicable rules and guidelines) ICT for development: Expertise in \"ICT for development\", i.e. digital agriculture and agri-tech concepts and their application (e.g. use of satellite data for crop monitoring) Knowledge and Grant Management: Technical expertise in implementing and reinforcing knowledge management and grant operations principles and practices in core work streams through a combination of processes, tools and incentives, including improved visibility, relevance and accessibility of knowledge products for external audiences and in operations. Project/Programme managementย (incl. coordination, design, development): Know-how in Project design and evaluationOther Information ย
IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD's Human Resources Policy, the President can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.
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