Community Outreach Facilitators (8 positions)

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, help to develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner. 

The following position is at SB3 SC5 level. There are 8 positions in total. 2 Community Outreach Facilitators (1 Male, 1 Female) in each of four River Basins of Balochistan Province namely; Hamun-e-Mashkhel (based in Kharan District), Hingol (based in Khuzdar District), Nari (based in Loralai District) and Pishin-Lora (based in Quetta District).

Pakistan has been experiencing frequent natural disasters and non-coherent economic policies which has affected the overall economy specifically the agriculture sector and livelihood of the people. Outbreak of pandemic and locust attack has damaged agriculture crops and affected the food supply chain in Pakistan. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is supporting the Government of Pakistan at national and provincial levels through different analytical policy reports on food supply chain, food forecast livestock, forestry, fisheries and climate change. Similarly, a web-based data management system is under development for agriculture, food security and nutrition statistics in Pakistan. Through this system, support Government of Pakistan in monitoring food prices and supply chain through live dashboards will enable better planning and policy making. 

This position is based in Balochistan within the River Basins (RBs) of the EU funded “Revival of Balochistan Water Resources Programme (RBWRP)”. FAO Pakistan seeks a qualified professional with a strong qualification and capacity to contribute in the (RBWRP). This experience will provide wide scope of work as outlined below: 

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Pakistan, the Senior Project Officer in Balochistan, and in close coordination with FAO provincial teams, the Social Mobilizer will report to River Team Leader and Sectoral Specialists keeping a close collaboration with FFS Facilitators, Technical Working Group (TWG) members, farmer groups (SMEs, WUAs, CBOs, etc) and project team for the identification and mobilization of Farmers, Farmers Associations, Water Users, Water Users Associations and COs/CBOs in the project assigned river basin areas.  

Technical Focus

Facilitate field level interventions of the NGOs and TWG to mobilize the communities in the communal scheme development and enhance capacity of Farmer Groups or Associations (to build or rehabilitate the schemes, better manage local water management and related project affairs).

Tasks and responsibilities

1. Oversee and ensure the organization of consultative community meetings on project interventions by guiding the NGOs and TWG to:
•    Identify potential project target villages as per defined criteria.
•    Identify existing Farmers, Farmer Groups or Associations and initiate community consultation for project orientation and need assessment for community mobilization, ensuring equal participation of all community members in the meetings or field works (male/female/children, minority and disabled).
•    Sensitize the communities about the project activities and its outcomes to ensure their interest and willingness.
•    Conduct Project Rapid Assessment (PRA) exercise for the needs and prioritization in the project targeted villages. 
•    Fill out the need assessment forms and submit to the project offices.
•    Conduct regular meetings with selected Farmer Groups and provide project support according to the assessed needs of local water management affairs.

2.    Assist the farming communities to form new Farmer Groups such as Water User Associations (WUAs), Farmers Field Schools (FFS), and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Community Organizations (Cos) or Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and to further strengthen their operation and function around efficient water management affairs . The activity includes the following tasks; 
•    Oversee and facilitate the TWG and FFS facilitators in identifying potential participants for FFS, SMEs or WUAs in targeted villages.
•    Oversee and guide NGOs on formation of the farmer groups with village cooperation ensuring female participation at all levels.
•    Ensure registration of all members in hard and soft prescribed templates and enter data in Kobo toolbox with the support of Monitoring. Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) Team.
•    Closely coordinate with NGOs to ensure the organization of consultative meetings with farmer groups on their roles and responsibilities.

3.    Ensure NGO coordination with TWG in documenting all related activities in soft and hard records including the technical proposals of Communal Schemes and Commercial Grants. The activity includes the following tasks;
•    Sensitize the NGOs and TWG members the strict adoption of project SOPs in communal and commercial schemes,
•    Develop the templates and oversee NGOs and FFS facilitators to maintain all the activity documents in soft and hard records, 
•    Review maintain and ensure the required community mobilization documents and annexes including minutes of community consultation sessions, community request for the scheme development, community contribution and breakdown, pictures and annexes of the activities respective tagged folders, etc. 
•    Ensure all the requirements for the scheme technical proposals are completed, like the documents compiled by NGOs and technical inputs provided by the TWG members,

4.    Oversee the community mobilization performed by the NGOs in coordination with the TWG in the scheme development to create ownership, this activity includes the following tasks; 
•    Obtain the required approvals from the River Basin Team Leaders or TWG related to the selection of schemes, designs, handover, etc. as established in the SOPs,
•    Oversee and coordinate with NGOs and the TWG during the distributions of project inputs for all the components,
•    Maintain record of distributions of project inputs for all the components,
•    Ensure the proper distribution of project inputs at all levels.  

5.    Handle beneficiaries/stakeholders’ complaints and disputes. 
•    Provide full cooperation and support to team handling project related complaints if any,
•    Coordinate the dispute resolution among the project team, TWG and NGO,
•    Maintain proper records of all the complaints, dispute and resolutions reported in the respective River Basins,

6.    Any other assignments 
•    Work for community and NGO resolutions regarding various issues / interventions in the project implementation,
•    Oversee and support the awareness and visibility campaigns in the project villages,
•    Support the field validation of grantees for provision of grants to finance community level initiatives contributing to the project targets,
•    Submit biweekly and monthly reports or as established by the project management,
•    Any other duty or task as assigned under the project.   

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements 
 
•    University Degree/equivalent qualification in Agriculture, Social Sciences or any equivalent education background;
•    Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in agriculture or livestock related community mobilization, dispute resolution, organizing community trainings and awareness activities.
•    Working knowledge (Level C) of English and Urdu; 
•    National of Pakistan

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Remain open to change and ability to manage complexity.
•    Ability to work and act under pressure and with discretion in multicultural environment.
•    Demonstrate capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time to meet goals in a high-pressure environment.
•    Working experience with UN and/or international organizations will be an asset.

Selection Criteria 

•    Knowledge of local languages will be an asset;
•    Candidates will be assessed against the requirements listed above.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION