Country Coordinator – Empowering VPP entrepreneurs Consultancy

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• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO’s values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

Organizational Setting

As part of FAO’s effort to strengthen One Health workforce at community level, NSA-CJW is implementing the project “Empowering veterinary paraprofessional entrepreneurs”, in Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa. This project builds on a first phase of implementation between 2021-2023 and aims to deliver and evaluate a model for sustainable last mile animal health service delivery through capacity development of private sector veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs), and by addressing bottlenecks within the business environment. Gender-sensitive programming is an essential part of the project. Women make up 60% of poor smallholder livestock farmers and are therefore a key target group for last mile animal health services.

The project is to be implemented until December 2025. The assignment is for an 11 months period with possibility of extension until the end date of the project subject to satisfactory performance.
The purpose of this call is to attract talents to populate a roster for the position of national coordinator in the countries of project implementation\: Uganda and Nigeria.

The project is centered around four complementary outcomes\:
– Outcome 1\: Strengthened veterinary paraprofessional businesses providing gender responsive preventive healthcare services
– Outcome 2\: Increased pool of continuous professional development compliant and registered veterinary paraprofessionals
– Outcome 3\: Improved business climate for veterinary paraprofessionals
– Outcome 4\: Increased awareness of private sector preventive healthcare veterinary paraprofessional business model for improved access to animal health services

Reporting Lines

The incumbent works under the direct supervision of the FAO Country Office, the overall technical support of the Senior Animal Health Officer at NSAH-CJW, and the day-to-day guidance of the VPP Project Coordinator in close consultation and coordination with the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) team leader.

Technical Focus

Coordinate at country level the implementation of the project “Empowering veterinary paraprofessional entrepreneurs.” The overall objective of the project is to improve women and men (including youth) smallholder farmer access to quality preventive healthcare services through private sector VPPs. The expected impact of improved access to preventive healthcare services is the reduction of livestock disease and mortality leading to improved livestock health, productivity and profitability. Improved livestock health reduces the burden and risk of zoonotic disease transmission, and preventive practices contribute to lower antimicrobial usage thus slowing the development of antimicrobial resistance. The final impact is thus strengthened smallholder farmer livelihoods and improved One Health in farming communities.

Tasks and responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Country Office, the overall technical support of the Senior Animal Health Officer (NSAH-CJWZ), and the day-to-day guidance of the VPP Project Coordinator, in close consultation and coordination with the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Country Team Lead, the incumbent will perform the following duties\:
• Coordinate the planning, implementation and monitoring of project activities at national level of the Project “Empowering Veterinary Paraprofessional Entrepreneurs”.
• Develop country workplan for the duration of the project, and a detailed yearly workplan with the engagement of relevant key stakeholders, and a regular six-month project reporting mechanism.
• Coordinate national project team (Project Assistants and short-term technical experts) ensuring integration with the FAO Country Programme in liaison with ECTAD team.
• Regularly update the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and organize NAC meetings validating country workplan and implementation modalities.
• Support the adaptation and development of training resources, capacity building and quality assurance of selected training partners.
• Coordinate the delivery of a blended training program for VPPs in collaboration within country training partners ensuring that training is delivered in a timely manner and meets the projects quality standards in terms of subject matter and teaching quality.
• Coordinate the mentorship program for VPPs providing ongoing support to mentors and mentees and reviewing the impact and suggesting improvements for the next round.
• Support the facilitation of Communities of Practice for the training institutions and VPP training alumni.
• Ensure the secretariat of the newly established national “public private partnership or multistakeholder platform in support of last mile animal health services” and support the platform to achieve its yearly workplan.
• Facilitate the establishment of local public-private partnerships in pilot areas with the dual objective of improving outreach to smallholder farmers and diversifying VPP income streams.
• Coordinate an awareness raising campaign targeting farmers on the value of VPP preventive healthcare services (radio, farmer associations and other channels).
• Coordinate ongoing monitoring and evaluation of project indicators and outputs, and broader impact assessment of preventive healthcare VPP business model including a baseline study at farmer level.
• Coordinate activities pertaining to supporting the Veterinary Statutory Body to improve VPP registration and CPD uptake .
• Support project communication and visibility activities at the national level including the online presence of the project in alignment with guidelines of the resource partner.
• Exchange lessons-learned and insights with the VPP project team & ECTAD team and broader project partners.
• Facilitate gender equitable project implementation at country level including the implementation of specific activities in order to target outreach of VPP services to female smallholder farmers.
• Prepare in a timely manner technical and regular country project reports in line with funding partner requirements and FAO rules and procedures, and in alignment with monitoring mechanisms and performance indicators.
• Where appropriate, prepare, facilitate and participate in country missions with project partners.
• Undertake other relevant tasks mutually agreed and deemed necessary by the project.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in veterinary science, animal production, animal health, agricultural economics or other related fields for the position
• At least four years of relevant experience in the field of livestock production and animal health management including the delivery of training programs
• At least two years of relevant experience in project management including development of annual workplans, budgets, technical and narrative reports
• Working knowledge of English (Level C) and limited knowledge (level B) of one of the other FAO official languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. For PSAs working knowledge of English is required.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience in managing projects, including designing project activities, monitoring timelines and milestones, coordinating with external partners, and using participatory and inclusive approaches
• Good knowledge of veterinary services legal framework and key stakeholders involved in animal health service regulation, training and provision
• Good knowledge of veterinary paraprofessional training, national competency framework, and working context
• Experience in workshop and training organization and delivery for veterinary paraprofessionals
• Experience in working with private sector stakeholders, and public-private sector collaborations
• Experience in gender sensitive and transformational approaches
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

HOW TO APPLY

• To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, and language skills
• Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application
• Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications
• Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Personal information provided on your application may be shared within FAO and with other companies acting on FAO’s behalf to provide employment support services such as pre-screening of applications, assessment tests, background checks and other related services. You will be asked to provide your consent before submitting your application. You may withdraw consent at any time, by withdrawing your application, in such case FAO will no longer be able to consider your application
• Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered
• Your application will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile
• We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.

If you need help or have queries, please create a one-time registration with FAO’s client support team for further assistance\: https\://fao.service-now.com/csp

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Tagged as: FAO, Nigeria, Uganda