Technical Officer (Regional GEF/Eastern Europe Central Asia)

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 Secretariats of the International 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). FAO is a specialized technical UN Agency, applying unique technical knowledge, information and capacity to one of the world's great challenges: feeding 9 billion people while maintaining and restoring the environment. The FAO-GEF portfolio - currently comprised of over 400 projects worth over USD 2 billion in GEF investments - is growing steadily as countries demand more of what FAO has to offer. As a GEF Agency, FAO works with Member Nations and partners to access GEF financing for strategic projects that help countries achieve sustainable food systems transformation to improve agriculture production, access value chains, reduce hunger and improve nutrition all while sustainably utilizing and conserving biodiversity, improving land and water management, reducing pollution, and mitigating and adapting to climate change. The GEF Programme is aligned with FAO's core competencies and strategic priority areas, including sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land and water management. FAO's GEF portfolio extends across all five of GEF's focal areas (Biodiversity, Climate Change, Land Degradation, International Waters, and Chemicals and Waste) as well as the Least Developed Countries Fund, the Special Climate Change Fund (LDCF/SCCF) and the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF).' The Europe and Central Asia Region is a small but mighty part of FAO's GEF programme, comprising 7% of the total FAO-GEF portfolio. The OCB-GEF Unit provides thematic advice and guidance to FAO in the key priority programming areas of the GEF and works closely with colleagues from across FAO to help Member Nations in developing projects for GEF financing and their implementation. This position will serve as a key member of the FAO-GEF team in the Europe - Central Asia region while providing high-quality thematic guidance and specific technical knowledge to OCB-GEF team, FAO-GEF teams in other regions, countries, and partners to support project development and implementation. 

This position is located in the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines 
The Technical Officer (Regional GEF/Eastern Europe Central Asia) reports to the Executive Coordinator, OCB-GEF Unit, and works in close coordination with REU-GEF Focal Point, REU BH and the OCB-GEF team.

Technical Focus 
Identification, design, implementation support and monitoring of FAO-GEF projects and programmes and those of other environmental financing mechanisms. It includes supporting and contributing to strategic and policy work, with a focus on the nexus between global environmental challenges and sustainable agriculture, including climate change and resilience, land, water, fisheries, forestry, biological diversity and other environmental services.

Key Results

Research, technical analysis and project related services to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services. 

Key Functions 
• Researches and analyses technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional and technology related information, data and statistics and/or related policy issues to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services. 
• Produces a variety of technical information, data, statistics and reports as well as input for technical documents and web pages. 
• Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives; provides technical backstopping to field projects. 
• Collaborates in the development of improved/updated tools, systems, processes and databases. 
• Participates in multidisciplinary teams and/or leads working groups/teams; collaborates with other Divisions/Offices/Centres and promotes best practices. • Collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development activities within Member Nations such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events, including preparation of related information, learning materials and on-line tools. 
• Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at international meetings and conferences and influences partners in stakeholder consultations. 
• Supports resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

Specific Functions 

Regional GEF Technical Officer: 
• Supports OCB-GEF regional teamwork and strategic programming in REU and participates in regular OCB-GEF management meetings 
• Collaborates with Finance and Project Implementation Support (FPIS) and Monitoring - Reporting (M-R) teams to maintain regional GEF portfolio information, ensures the timely implementation of project milestones across the regional portfolio, facilitates follow up on at risk projects, identifies and mitigates implementation challenges, and provides targeted support to Country Offices in the implementation, operation and monitoring of GEFs projects. 
• Works with Executive Coordinator to set and achieve resource mobilization targets for the region for a typical GEF replenishment period. 
• Supports the implementation of the FAO-GEF Strategy and Action Plan in the region and contributes to establishing and strengthening strategic partnerships in the region. 
• Serves as the main point of contact for RAF and RNE on GEF programme and policy development and when requested, participates in regular Regional Office management meetings to support resource mobilization and pipeline planning reviews with RO management and FAO Representation 
• Promotes and ensure synergies with regional programming and policy priorities and supports the development of a high-quality GEF project pipeline in the RAF and RNE based on regional priorities, GEF replenishment opportunities, and FAO-GEF Programmatic Areas of Work (PAWs). 
• Works with FPIS, M-R lead, Regional Office field programme officers and technical leads to support the RO and SRO operational and technical roles in delivering the FAO-GEF portfolio 
• Supports and contributes to knowledge management and sharing in regional portfolio, working with the Regional Offices and the M-R and Communications team in OCB-GEF to capture and disseminate lessons learned and success stories between countries, headquarters, and Regional Offices.

FAO-GEF Technical Officer: 
• Serves as a FAO-GEF Technical Officer (GTO) for selected programmes and projects in the Europe and Central Asia region and serves as a member of the FAO Project Task Force (PTF) for each of the projects under her/his responsibility. 
• Supports the formulation and implementation of complex GEF programmes and projects within the regional portfolio, ensuring operational viability and due compliance with the FAO policy standards and best practices, as well as convergence with GEF policies and priorities 
• Collaborates with OCB-GEF Unit colleagues to ensure programmes and projects in the region are prepared effectively and efficiently within the specified project preparation phase from concept approval to project document submission/approval and are managed efficiently to achieve milestones and results throughout the cycle in a timely manner, including start up, first disbursement, full implementation and closure. 
• Provides critical technical inputs to robust GEF regional portfolio management including improvements of FAO project operation implementation modality and risk management and the maintenance of programme/project and portfolio information and FAO project information/knowledge management systems.
• Provides high-quality products, inputs and support to meet the standards of the Project Implementation Reviews, Midterm Reviews and Terminal Evaluations. 
• Supports the OCB-GEF Unit and FAO-GEF community in the development of a robust portfolio of projects and programmes targeting one of the global priorities in the emerging GEF-9 program and subsequent GEF programmes. Works with the Executive Coordinator and OCB-GEF team to strengthen the efficiency of GEF team operations. 
• Identifies and pursues opportunities for synergies with other vertical funds and to strengthen a programmatic approach at country level in the fields of climate change, biodiversity and environment.