Agricultural Policy Specialist (Multiple Positions) Lazio

Agricultural Policy Specialist (Multiple Positions)
Roma
Lazio, Lazio

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 Agrifood Economics and Policy Division (ESA) conducts economic research and policy analysis to support 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.

ESA provides evidence-based support to national, regional and global policy processes and initiatives related to monitoring and analysing food and agricultural policies, agribusiness and value chain development, rural transformation and poverty, food security and nutrition information and analysis, resilience, bioeconomy, and climate-smart agriculture.

The division also leads the production of two FAO flagship publications: The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) and The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).

The post is located at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, in the Policy Reform, Intelligence, Monitoring, and Evaluation (PRIME) team in ESA.

The focus of PRIME is to generate a quality evidence base for informed policy-making processes in FAO Member Countries.

The PRIME group hosts the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme, which seeks to establish country-owned and sustainable systems to monitor, analyse, and reform food and agricultural policies to enable more effective, efficient, and inclusive policy frameworks in eight developing and emerging economies.

MAFAP works with government institutions, research organizations and other partners to create sustainable policy monitoring systems and carry out a consistent set of policy and public expenditure analyses across a wide range of agricultural value chains.

MAFAP analyses are used to inform targeted food and agricultural policy reforms that will result in a more conducive environment for agricultural investment and productivity growth, especially for smallholder farmers.

PRIME seeks to extend these activities to more countries and to institutionalise this work in FAO, particularly within the AgIncentives Consortium initiative, which brings together agricultural policy indicators for almost 90 countries and 70 products over 14 years as a collaboration between FAO, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), International Food Policy and research Institute (IFPRI), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank.

The post aims at supporting this effort.

Successful candidates may be placed in similar positions within the Organisation.

Reporting Lines The Agricultural Policy Specialist reports to the Economist under overall supervision of the Director or Deputy-Director of ESA Director.

He/she will also be reporting, through ESA Management, to technical cooperation units and donors funding the activities, and will work in close collaboration with the FAO Representation in the relevant countries as well as FAO regional and/or sub-regional offices.

Technical Focus The Consultant/PSA will support economic and policy analysis of a range of technical issues related to food and agriculture in developing countries.

He/she will be involved in one or more of the following areas of work:

• Analysis of agricultural prices and/or price distortions and incentives;

• Public expenditure analysis and/or public financial management systems;

• Agricultural development strategies/investment plans;

• Agricultural value chains and commodity markets;

• Agrifood trade policy;

• Policy analysis using various quantitative tools;

• Embedding climate change resilience, adaptation, mitigation and biodiversity conservation outcomes in policy monitoring and evaluation.

Tasks and responsibilities The assigned tasks and responsibilities related to this area of work may include a mix of the following:

• Produce policy monitoring indicators and analyses related to price incentives along agricultural value chains;

• Compile and classify large datasets to produce food and agricultural public expenditure indicators and analysis;

• Contribute to methodological advancements including climate change and biodiversity impacts of agricultural policies;

• Contribute to the effective implementation of strategic partnerships within FAO and with other development partners involved in agricultural policy monitoring activities;

• Contribute to the development of technical products and analytical studies to support evidence-based policy reform processes with a focus on trade and market price policies and/or investment priorities in the framework of agrifood systems transformation strategies;

• Contribute to the drafting of actionable and high-quality policy recommendations, technical reports, and policy briefs;

• Participate in policy-relevant meetings, roundtables or other events related to food and agricultural policy analyses and

• reform in developing countries;

• Support capacity development activities benefitting government counterparts and other selected national partners;

• Support day-to-day implementation of activities in close partnership with national counterparts;

• Any other tasks as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING Minimum Requirements • University degree in economics, agricultural economics, environmental economics, political science, public policy, public financial management, international development, or closely related field;

• Relevant experience in agricultural policy monitoring and evaluation, and policy analysis:

o For Consultants/PSA level B: at least five years of relevant experience;

o For Consultants level C: two to four years of relevant experience;

o For PSA level C: one to four years of relevant experience;

• Working knowledge of English.

FAO Core Competencies • Results Focus

• Teamwork

• Communication

• Building Effective Relationships

• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills • Work experience in more than one location or area of work.

• Extent and relevance of experience in conducting quantitative and/or qualitative economic analysis of agricultural and food policies, including analysis of agricultural policy distortions and public expenditure for the food and agricultural sector.

• Knowledge of agricultural policy monitoring indicators.

• Familiarity with providing policy advice to governments in developing countries.

• Experience in presenting analytical results in concise and effective manner also to non-technical audience.

• Knowledge of current political economic conditions in developing countries, and ability to analyse the policy context at

country level building on political economy tools.

• Familiarity with climate change and biodiversity impacts of agricultural policies.

• Experience in high-level policy dialogues and workshops and interacting with government officials on key

policy issues affecting agriculture and food security, would be considered as an asset.

• Extent and relevance of experience in database management.

• Expertise in computer programming languages (Python or R), and familiarity with other software e. g.

STATA or GAMS.

Selection Criteria • Limited knowledge of French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or Russian is a strong asset

• Demonstrated awareness of agricultural policy issues as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development issues

• Working knowledge of French or Arabic will be highly valued

• Ability to manage wide range of tasks and to work under tight deadlines

• Demonstrated capacity to work in multicultural and multidisciplinary team

• Excellent organisational skills

• Strong interpersonal skills

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