Strategy and Planning Officer (SURAGGWA-PAGGW)

Organizational Setting

The FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) supports African Member States and regional integration institutions in delivering transformative results for agrifood systems, in alignment with the FAO Strategic Framework and the Four Betters:

 better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

RAF works in close collaboration with regional organizations, including the African Union (AU), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA NEPAD), Regional Economic Communities such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Intergovernmental Authority on development (IGAD), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and other strategic partners, to accelerate the transition toward resilient, inclusive and climate smart agrifood systems across the continent. Through high level policy dialogue, technical cooperation, and multi-country coordination, RAF helps to ensure that continental priorities such as food security, climate resilience, agricultural trade, and rural livelihoods translate into tangible outcomes at national and regional levels.
  

FAO, in partnership with the Pan African Great Green Wall (PAGGW) and national entities from 8 African countries, succeeded in raising funds from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the implementation of a large-scale multi-country programme to boost restoration and resilience in the targeted countries.

The Scaling-Up Resilience in Africa's Great Green Wall (SURAGGWA) programme is a transformative, multi-country initiative funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It targets eight Sahelian countries-Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal-with additional capacity-building support for Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan.

SURAGGWA aims to address the severe impacts of climate change in the Sahel, one of the world's most vulnerable regions, by restoring 1.4 million hectares of degraded land, enhancing climate resilience, and improving livelihoods for over 8.7 million people. The programme aligns with the African Union's Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI), which seeks to restore 100 million hectares of land, sequester 250 million tons of CO', and create 10 million jobs by 2030.

With a total budget of USD 250 million (including USD 150 million from GCF and USD 100 million in co-financing), SURAGGWA is structured around three core components:

1. Landscape Restoration: Promoting agro-ecological and agro-forestry practices to rehabilitate degraded lands, supported by community engagement and native seed systems.

2. Development of Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) Value Chains: Strengthening market access, technical capacity, and financial inclusion for smallholders, especially women, in value chains such as baobab, gum arabic, moringa, and honey.

3. Institutional Strengthening: Enhancing the capacity of national and regional GGW institutions for planning, monitoring, coordination, and resource mobilization, including access to carbon finance.

The complexity, scale, and multi-country nature of SURAGGWA requires a dedicated Strategy and Planning Officer to ensure:

Strategic coherence across countries and partners; Robust multi-year planning and prioritization Alignment with national, regional, and global frameworks.
The position is located in the Subregional Office for West Africa (SFW) in Dakar, Senegal.
  

Reporting Lines

The Strategy and Planning Officer (SURAGGWA-PAGGW) reports to the Senior Coordinator (Land Restoration-SURAGGWA Programme) at the Sub-Regional Office of FO for West Africa (SFW), with secondary reporting line to the Sub-Regional Coordinator of SFW, Budget Holder of the SURAGGWA Programme. S/he will work closely with the relevant Staff and Consultants at the targeted Countries Offices of the SURAGGWA Programme, at SFW, RAF, NFO and OCB at headquarters, and the NDAs and National Agencies of the GGW of the targeted countries, the PAGGW and the Operational Partners (OPA) others implementing partners of SURAGGWA Programme.

Technical Focus

Integrated programme planning and results-based management for SURAGGWA Programme, including strategic design of interventions, performance-driven budgeting, systematic preparation of costed annual and multi-annual work plans, ensuring prioritization based on impact, feasibility, and comparative advantage, monitoring of field activities, evidence-based reporting on outputs and outcomes, and capacity building of the PA-GGW to ensure effective strategic planning and accountable programme delivery.

Key Results

Research, technical analysis and related services and systems to support the planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes and projects.

Key Functions

•                 Analyses, adapts and extends policies and procedures to achieve full inter-departmental and inter-agency collaboration in strategic planning, results-based programming and budgeting, monitoring and reporting.
•                 Executes analytical tasks associated with the preparation, review and analysis of the Organization's Strategic Framework, Medium Term Plan, Programme of Work and Budget and Programme Implementation Report.
•                 Carries out analytical tasks associated with resources management and corporate budgetary performance.
•                 Contributes to the design and operation of procedures and systems for work planning and the issuance of allotments.
•                 Performs analytical tasks associated with the design and operation of the corporate results-based monitoring and reporting system.
•                 Performs other duties as required.

Specific Functions

•                  Contributes to the development and refinement of results frameworks, logical frameworks, and impact pathways.
•                  Supports sequencing of interventions (policy, institutional, investment) to maximize transformational impact.
•                  Ensures integration of gender equality, social protection, youth, social inclusion, nutrition, and climate resilience into planning instruments.
•                  Provides strategic planning guidance to FAO Representatives and country project teams to ensure coherence between national SURAGGWA interventions and the regional programme.
•                  Revises institutional development plans under SURAGGWA Component 3 in light of GGW audits and GGW Accelerator evaluations.
•                  Assists in revamping the PAGGW’s web site to include dynamic, regularly updated links for member countries.
•                  Provides technical support across climate-related tasks under Africa’s Great Green Wall as needed.
•                  Prepares and updates SURAGGWA work plans, planning matrices, and coordination roadmaps with NAGGWs and PAGGW. Facilitate multi-stakeholder planning workshops and support establishment/functioning of National GGW Coalitions.
•                  Assists countries in using geospatial monitoring tools and integrating monitoring data into national planning.
•                  Compiles data and draft regional progress reports, briefs, and dashboards aligned with GCF requirements.
•                  Supports the preparation of concept notes and proposals to partners (GCF, GEF, IFAD, WB, AfDB, private investors).
•                  Contributes to assessments of carbon-sequestration potential and help identify suitable carbon methodologies.
•                  Supports the development of knowledge products (case studies, policy briefs, technical notes, lessons learned).
•                  Coordinates the preparation of communication materials and contribute to events such as AU Drylands Week.
•                  Prepares strategic notes on risk analysis, including gender, land tenure (VGGT), conflict sensitivity, and youth engagement.
•                  Provides technical assistance and coaching to national GGW institutions to enhance planning, coordination, and reporting functions.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•          Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business or public administration, finance, economics, agriculture, development economics, international development, computer science or related fields.
•          Five years of relevant experience in planning, monitoring and evaluation, financial analysis, business process analysis and/or systems development.
•          Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of English and intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

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 positions, is desirable.
•                       Extent and relevance of experience in collecting and analysing information from textual, database and human sources.
•                       Extent and relevance of experience in analysing strategy and policy issues.
•                       Familiarity with relevant computer tools for communication and data analysis.
•                       Ability to analyse complex strategy and planning issues.
•                       Ability to analyse and integrate complex issues in systems development for business processes.
•                       Extent and relevance of experience in results-based planning, monitoring and reporting; familiarity with the Organization's planning, monitoring and reporting systems, including for country offices, is desirable.
•                       Depth knowledge of the PAGGW and the related actions in the targeted countries is desirable.
•                       Experience in country programming processes and associated coordination with regional teams, including in the context of the United Nations Development System (UNDS) repositioning.
•                       Extent and relevance of experience in collecting and analysing data and information from textual, database and human sources.
•                       Extent and relevance of experience in analysing operational and programmatic issues related to country programming.
•                       Ability to analyse and integrate issues in systems development for business processes.
•                       Strong familiarity with relevant computer tools for communication and data analysis.
•                       Intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency – level B) or Working Knowledge (proficiency – level C) of French would be considered an asset.