GIAHS Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB) works to ensure that countries and stakeholders respond to the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. OCB provides a cross organizational coordination role on these issues and is the focal point to major multilateral environmental agreements including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Office also assists FAO Members in their responses towards the interlinked challenges of food security, climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation including through facilitating access to climate and environmental financing such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). In addition, OCB hosts the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme, the Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as well as FAO’s work on environmental safeguards and leads the Programme Priority Areas on Climate Change (PPA BE1) and Bioeconomy for Sustainable Food and Agriculture (PPA BE2).

The GIAHS Secretariat serves as the operational unit of FAO’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme. It provides guidance and technical support to FAO Members in developing and submitting GIAHS proposals and implementing follow-up activities at designated sites. The Secretariat also liaises with governments and national and international organizations to establish and strengthen strategic partnerships that support the Programme’s continued development and geographical expansion.

The position ‘GIAHS Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist’ is in the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Secretariat, in FAO Headquarters in Rome.

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will report to the Senior Coordinator of the GIAHS Secretariat.

Technical Focus

Support the Secretariat of the GIAHS Programme in developing a tailored Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework that enables the effective monitoring, assessment and reporting of activities, progress and results across GIAHS sites.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Conduct an in-depth desk review and situational analysis of monitoring and evaluation approaches relevant to GIAHS.
• Collect, analyse and process relevant data and information on existing M&E practices across GIAHS sites to inform the development of a tailored GIAHS M&E framework.
• Liaise with relevant FAO units to collect and review M&E methodologies, technical documents and reports, and identify approaches, indicators and guidance applicable to the GIAHS M&E framework.
• Liaise with UN entities and international organizations working on natural and cultural heritage and related fields—including UNESCO, ICCROM, UN Tourism and IUCN—to review their M&E frameworks and identify relevant challenges, good practices and lessons learned that could be considered in the GIAHS M&E framework.
• Propose a draft GIAHS M&E framework and pilot-test the proposed M&E framework in at least 10 GIAHS sites representing the main GIAHS clusters, document the findings and lessons learned, and recommend improvements.
• Collect, analyse and process the data and information required to develop a user-friendly digital data collection, monitoring and reporting tool tailored to GIAHS sites and intended for use by GIAHS communities and other local stakeholders.
• Support the GIAHS Secretariat in organizing an international expert meeting on M&E for GIAHS.
• Present the proposed GIAHS M&E framework—including its guidelines, criteria, indicators and implementation action plan—and the digital reporting tool at the international expert meeting for review and validation.
• Participate in selection panels convened by the GIAHS Secretariat, as required.
• Represent FAO at relevant meetings and international conferences, as required.
• Perform any other related duties, as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in Economics, Economic development, Monitoring and evaluation, Project management, agricultural heritage systems, Statistics, Data science, Development studies, public policy, or related fields. Consultants with bachelor`s degree need two additional years of relevant professional experience.
• One year (for Category C), five years (for Category B) or ten years (for Category A) of relevant experience in developing substantive contribution and achievements related to Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Working knowledge (level c) 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, particularly in field-based positions, is desirable.
• Relevant professional experience in M&E, project and programme evaluation, and digital reporting.
• Extent and relevance of experience in collecting, processing and analysing technical data and preparing technical documents related to M&E frameworks for tracking progress, results and outcomes, including guidelines, criteria, indicators and action plans for monitoring and reporting on field-level project or programme activities.
• Demonstrated experience in developing user-friendly digital reporting tools to collect actionable field-level data, generate evidence and measure results and impacts at the global level.
• Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing and refining M&E frameworks.
• Extent and relevance of experience working with national institutions and local communities in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, biodiversity conservation, natural resource management and/or rural development.
• Extent and relevance of experience in organizing technical meetings and presenting technical findings and reports at conferences, workshops and seminars.
• Strong analytical, drafting and report-writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.
• Familiarity with FAO’s GIAHS Programme and its areas of work is considered an asset.
• Working knowledge (proficiency level C) of French or Spanish is considered an asset.