National Project Assistant FOLUR

Organizational Setting

The unsustainable management of globally traded commodity crops (cacao, coffee and oil palm), and their expansion into forest areas, are leading to major impacts on globally important biodiversity, the degradation of soil and water resources, the loss of carbon stocks, and the degradation of watersheds that are vital for maintaining water flows to rice production areas. Rice production is itself a source of globally significant environmental impacts, in the form of the contamination of soil and globally- important aquatic ecosystems due to excessive and inappropriate use of agricultural chemicals, and the generation of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) from flooded paddy systems.
A narrow focus on the production of globally-traded cash crops by farmers is environmentally and socially unsustainable – even in the case of perennial crops such as coffee and cacao that have the potential to yield environmental benefits if appropriately managed – because of the volatility of global markets for these crops and their vulnerability to the effects of global climate change. A large number of major global value chain actors have committed to sustainable sourcing of the products that they trade, in order to comply with corporate social and environmental responsibility goals and to satisfy consumer requirements for sustainable production. This presents farmers with a major potential source of market-based incentives for sustainable production, but at present their ability to take advantage of this opportunity is constrained by their disconnection from these “green” value chains and their limited technical capacities to satisfy their requirements in terms of environmental standards, product quality and reliability of supply.
Despite significant policy commitments to sustainability by the Government of Indonesia, capacities, knowledge, tools, regulatory instruments and incentives for putting these into practice are still inadequately developed, and the agricultural and environmental sectors continue to be highly compartmentalized, lacking the integrated vision that is required if social and economic development and landscape management are to be sustainable.
With the funding support from the Global Environmental Faculty (GEF), the Government of Indonesia, led by the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs (CMFA) and with technical support from UNDP and FAO is preparing the full-size project implementation entitled “Strengthening sustainability in commodity and food systems, land restoration and land use governance through integrated landscape management for multiple benefits in Indonesia (FOLUR)”. The project aimed to ensure sustainable value chains of palm oil, coffee, and cocoa via application of a comprehensive land use approach linking biodiversity conservation, restoration, and production at scale.

Reporting Lines

The Project Assistant will work under the overall administrative suvervision of the FAO Representative in Indonesia, and the direct supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative (Programme).

Technical Focus

Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Livelihoods, Development Management, Integrated Landscape Management, Project Management. The Project Assistant (PA) will support National Project Manager (NPM) in particular and Project Management Unit (PMU) in general to consistently implement UNDP, FAO, and/or project’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as well as the Government of Indonesia’s rules and regulations.

Tasks and responsibilities

The planning aspects: 
•    Compiles, summarizes, and presents basic information/data on specific project and related topics or issues.
•    Support the formulation of the annual work plan and quarterly work plan based on the multiyear workplan as stated on the Project Document.
•    Build communication and coordination with potential Service Providers to support the project implementation under Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and Ministry of Forestry (MoFor) as required to support the AWP formulation.
•    Reviews project supporting documents for completeness and compliance with relevant rules and procedures prior to submission for final approval and signature; identifies inconsistencies; distributes project documents to relevant parties upon approval.
•    Coordinate and communicate closely with related sub-directorate within MoA and MoFor and strategic partners at any other related ministries to ensure the integration of the proposed activities with other line ministry’s activities.

The reporting aspects:
•    Collect data and information related to project implementation progress under MoA and MoFor, analyse and report it in results-based and timely manner.
•    Assist MoA and MoFor in producing and documenting all kind of project related reports including visibility materials.
•    Ensure the maintenance of sound filling system and recording of all project activities and results.
•    Support MoA and MoFor in preparing good quality editing and formatting monthly reports, quarterly reports, project implementation reports and all project related documents. 

Project implementation aspects: 
•    In collaboration with line ministries, provide support for implementation preparation as required.
•    Provide support for the project implementation for the achievements and results-based oriented. 
•    Conduct analysis of project expenditures and make a comparison with the proposed budget, then provide advisory support to the line ministry based on the review results.
•    Implement project standard operating procedures in line with the government and FAO’s regulations.

Monitoring and evaluation aspects: 
•    Provide support to develop tools and instrument for project monitoring and evaluation. 
•    Monitor project activities under MoA and MoFor including expenditures, and progress towards achieving the project output at field level.  
•    Provide inputs, information and statistics for project progress monitoring and its reports to Project Management Unit
•    Review the project activities and its achievements against the project work plan and budget.
•    Provide input based on the project achievements and budget delivery.
•    Provide advisory support on adaptive project management and governance as required.

Knowledge management aspects: 
•    Identify entry points for knowledge generations and knowledge sharing from project experience. 
•    Support MoA and MoFor in preparing workshop, seminars, training and any other project-related events. 
•    Document and produce human interest stories on good practices and benefits obtained by project beneficiaries.
•    Contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
•    Ensure active participation in learning and knowledge sharing. 

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements  

•    Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Livelihoods, Development Management, Integrated Landscape Management  or other relevant fields is an asset.
•    Minimum 5 years professional experience in relevant project management, preferably in the field of agriculture or rural development.
•    Working knowledge (level C) of written and spoken English and Bahasa Indonesia.
•    National of Indonesia.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Meeting/workshop/training organizing, facilitation skills, administrative support, project planning and implementation, project monitoring, reporting, knowledge management.
•    Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity. 
•    Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
•    Building and promoting effective teams, including working in teams and empowering project staff to create an enabling gender equality environment on non-hierarchical bases.
•    Self-development, initiative-taking.
•    Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork.
•    Strong leadership and managerial skill with track records of management roles in a team of multi-diversity background. 
•    Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.
•    Creating synergies through self-control.
•    Managing conflict.
•    Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. 
•    Informed and transparent decision making.
•    Communication skills to exchange information, and key ideas in a manner that engages the audience and helps others to understand and retain messages about gender equality and parity.

Selection criteria:

•    Knowledge of and experience in supporting administration of Government and FAO/UNDP development projects dealing with environmental issues will be highly desirable. 
•    Strong knowledge and experience in project management support are essential as well as ability to draft correspondence on budget-related issues, briefing notes, graphic and statistical summaries, accounting spreadsheets, etc. 
•    Good inter-personal communication skills. 
•    Full time availability for project management support duties is essential. 
•    Familiar with Government and UN/FAO/UNDP procedures would be desirable. 
•    Up-to-date computer skills required, knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
•    Experience working on GEF-funded projects is desirable.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION