National Project Manager

Vacancy number: FVAC18.006

Job Title: National Project Manager

Contract Type: Consultant – National Project Personnel

Salary Scale: SB-5/SC10 (UNDP Lebanon scale)

Deadline for Application: 31 May, 2018

Division/Department: FAO Representation in Lebanon

Programme/Project: “Empowerment of Agricultural Women Cooperatives and Producer associations in the Agri-food Sector of Lebanon”

Duty Station: Beirut, with extensive in-country travel

Expected Start Date of Assignment: June 15, 2018

Duration: 1 year, renewable for up to 3 years depending on funding availability

Reports to: FAO Representative in Lebanon

General Description of task(s) and objectives to be achieved

Background

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is currently implementing a Canadian Government funded project entitled “Empowerment of Agricultural Women Cooperatives and Producer associations in the Agri-food Sector of Lebanon”. The Project is implemented by FAO in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, particularly the General Directorate of the Cooperatives.

The project will contribute to the reinforcement of Lebanese local economies and social stability by empowering and improving the livelihoods of rural women in Lebanon. This will be achieved by creating an improved enabling social and cultural environment for rural women’s economic empowerment and by increasing the participation and integration of women cooperatives/associations in their local economies to establish and/or expand sustainable agro-food income-generating enterprises. Activities undertaken under this project will contribute to achieve sustainable results divided into five areas: 1) increased awareness among all levels of society in target rural areas of the rights and roles of women at the family and community levels; 2) increased capacity by the Ministry of Agriculture’s General Directorate of Cooperatives (GDC) to improve the management information system for the registration and monitoring of cooperatives including a data tracking system based on sex disaggregated data; 3) increased understanding of the need for the provision of more gender responsive service delivery by government institutions and non-governmental organizations at national and local levels; 4) increased knowledge among targeted rural women’s cooperatives /associations about small-scale agro-food enterprise development, including the development of business plans;  and 5) increased capacity of women cooperatives/associations to increase productivity in local agro-food business ventures.

Specific objective of the assignment

FAO is looking to recruit an experienced Project Manager to be responsible for the day-to-day management and implementation of the Women Cooperatives project. He/She is expected to lead a project team consisting of national technical experts and consultants in addition to short-term international consultants. The Project Manager will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative in Lebanon and the technical guidance of the FAO Lead Technical Officer (LTO), in close consultation with the National Project Coordinator (NPC) representing the Ministry of Agriculture.  The Project Manager will be responsible for the overall planning, coordination of project activities, and monitoring of project results.

Duties, Responsibilities and Scope of Work

The Project Manager reports directly to the FAO Representative in Lebanon. In particular, the incumbent will have the following tasks:

• Prepare a detailed work plan for the project together with the PMU project and the national consultants
• Organize project inception workshop and prepare reports immediately afterwards
• Oversee all procurement needs in coordination with the FAO office in Lebanon and PMU
• Design and coordinate all the project activities in collaboration with the General Directorate of Cooperatives
• Identify and train field agriculture officer in good management practices, field monitoring and design of feasibility and farmer business plan
• Coordinate the conduct of project training activities as appropriate.
• Coordinate with the MoA and Directorate of Cooperatives in implementing the Directorate of Cooperatives strategic plan.
• Draft timely periodic (quarterly) progress reports to be reviewed by LTO for submission to Donor;
• Conduct project-level meetings, prepare the work plan and detailed input requirements;
• Design training and monitoring programme;
• Prepare End of Assignment Report (considering all the quarterly reports) upon end of assignment.

Qualifications and Experience Requirements

• Post-graduate degree in Agriculture, Development Studies, Economics or related field
• Minimum seven (7) years of progressively responsible work experience in a field relevant to the post.
• Demonstrated experience at mid- or senior-level in project management including preparation of multi-annual work plans, budgets, progress monitoring and evaluation
• Demonstrated experience in designing and conducting capacity building programmes for government staff and target beneficiaries;

Technical Competencies

• Demonstrated knowledge of international framework and instruments related to women’s rights and women advancement; in addition to experience in gender equality and women economic empowerment and producer’s organisation.
• Demonstrated experience in establishing and maintaining partnerships with government institutions, UN agencies, NGOs and donors;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Experience of previous work in the Near East and North Africa region would be an advantage
• Excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing in English and Arabic.

key performance indicators

Expected Outputs:                      Required Completion Date:

Quarterly reports                         Every three months

Project progress reports             Every Six Months

Terminal report                           Six Months before end of project

​This position is open to qualified Lebanese candidates. Female candidates in particular, are encouraged to apply.

Submission guidelines: If you wish to apply for any vacancy, please submit your Personal History Form (PHF) by e-mail with the job code number and position title in the subject line to: [email protected]  no later than Thursday 31 May, 2018. Late applications will not be considered.

Only applications with a completed PHF will be considered.

The PHF is available on the following link: (http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Employment/docs/Personal_History_Form.doc).

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. FAO seeks to ensure that male and female employees are given equal career opportunities. FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and culture. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.