National Mechanization Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Bangladesh has been working since 1973 to transform the country’s food and agricultural sectors. The bulk of FAO’s Trust Funds to support member countries, including Bangladesh, fall under the Government Cooperative Programme (GCP) Fund and the Unilateral Trust Funds (UTF) categories. The latter is a funding modality that allows developing countries to benefit from FAO’s technical expertise, which is fully funded by themselves, either from national resources or from the proceeds of loans, credits and grants made available by international finance institutions or bilateral donors.
FAO has recently entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of the Government of Bangladesh, represented by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), for the provision of technical assistance in implementing the Program on Agricultural and Rural Transformation for Nutrition, Entrepreneurship, and Resilience in Bangladesh (PARTNER), jointly financed by the World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). PARTNER, the initial mobilization effort of which was complemented by FAO’s Hand-in-Hand (HIH) Initiative during investment design, as well as the South-South Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) Initiative, which explored the scope of providing technical support to the program, has been working to promote diversification, food safety, entrepreneurship, and climate resilience in Bangladesh’s agri-food systems.

Reporting Lines

The National Mechanization Specialist is SC-8 level position. The incumbent will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Bangladesh and the direct supervision of the National Senior Precision Agriculture and Technical Specialist. The incumbent will also receive guidance and support from the National Crop Advisory and Training Expert, as well as personnel with FAO Programme unit.

Technical Focus

The position focuses on closely supervising the precision agriculture initiatives to be undertaken by a Service Provider within the scope of the project, to design and establish two precision agriculture model demonstration clusters, establish precision agriculture laboratory for partner agencies and support the design of precision agriculture research.

Tasks and responsibilities

•     Conduct a short scoping study to identify the relevant community(ies) where to implement the participatory research and the capacity needs related to precision agriculture (including the adoption barriers).
•     In coordination with the National Senior Precision Agriculture and Technical Specialist, the incumbent, with guidance as needed from FAO’s Office of Innovation (OIN), will help to establish two field level precision irrigation model demonstration clusters, and establish a precision agriculture laboratory for sensor, IoT, renewable energy-based irrigation systems at partner agencies of MoA and support the design of precision agriculture research including monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) processes.
•     In collaboration with the National Senior Precision Agriculture and Technical Specialist, support in identifying the best equipment, its specifications, origin and procurement of such equipment for the field and laboratory and designing the field and laboratory infrastructures.
•     Support the National Crop Advisory and Training Expert to oversee the organization of training of trainers (ToT) for the personnel of relevant institutions on multi-actor innovation approaches, especially on precision irrigation systems and the best precision irrigation practices identified in the process.
•     Participate in coordination of implementation of a scaling-up strategy.
•     Establish and conduct innovation policy lab (IPL) process(es) to generate policy frameworks on extension related to climate resilience precision agriculture. 
•     Assist in organizing multi-stakeholder policy dialogue(s) to co-develop and validate the best policy options and co-develop and validate the best policy options and co-develop an advocacy plan for their inclusion in the policy framework.
•     Provide similar services to other components of the projects assigned by FAO.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•     Advanced University degree in Agricultural Engineering or a related field.
•     At least 7 (seven) years of relevant experience in public and/or private sector work, research, and implementing projects related to agricultural mechanization, precision and/or climate resilience agriculture including sensor, IoT and renewable energy-based interventions. 
•     Working knowledge (Level C) of English.
•     National of Bangladesh.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

•     Strong knowledge of precision and/or climate resilience agriculture.
•     Strong knowledge of agricultural machinery and mechanization, including sensor, IoT and renewable energy-based interventions.
•     Strong knowledge of communication and documentation standards to ensure project documentation and liaison with stakeholders, government agencies, and project team(s). Strong background in agricultural machinery and mechanization, precision and climate-resilient agriculture.
•     Problem-solving and decision-making skills to address challenges efficiently.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION