Terms of Reference
Title : Agricultural Livelihoods and Resilience Adviser
Project : TOMAK (To’os ba Moris Di’ak) / Farming for Prosperity
Duration : 1 July 2022 – 30 June 2024, with an option to further extend
ARF Level : B2/B3
Location : Dili, Timor-Leste, with regular travel to municipalities
Reports to : Team Leader
------------------------------
About TOMAK
The To’os Ba Moris Di’ak Program (TOMAK) is a 10-year agricultural livelihoods program funded by the Australian Government in Timor-Leste. Its goal is to ensure rural households live more prosperous and sustainable lives.
TOMAK Phase 1 (AUD25 million, 2016-21) aimed to enable more prosperous and sustainable rural livelihoods through an innovative mix of nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA), market systems development (MSD) and women’s economic empowerment (WEE) activities. Phase 1 was extended until June 2022 to allow for evaluative activities and the Phase 2 design update process. TOMAK Phase 2 (up to AUD20 million, 2022-26) is expected to formally commence in July 2022.
TOMAK Phase 2 will take an integrated ‘food system’ perspective to achieve inter-linked objectives relating to food security, nutrition and agriculture-based livelihoods. TOMAK will coordinate with key partners (including Government, NGO and private sector partners) to promote increased production of selected agricultural value chains (crops and small livestock), with a focus on high nutrition and/or high market value products. These activities will be integrated within a suite of interventions designed to also improve household access to finance and dietary practices.
Natural resource management and climate-smart agriculture practices will be key considerations in supporting farmers to sustainably improve their agricultural production, in order to strengthen household resilience to agricultural shocks (incl. drought, floods, erratic rainfall, pest and disease). The program also has a strong inclusion focus, with particular emphasis on women farmers, farmers with disabilities, and youth farmers.
TOMAK is being implemented at community level in Baucau, Bobonaro and Viqueque municipalities, through government and NGO partners, with broader reach achieved through a range of systems strengthening activities with government and private sector partners.
Position Summary
The Agricultural Livelihoods and Resilience Adviser is a key member of the TOMAK leadership team and provides technical leadership across a range of areas including agriculture/agronomy, natural resource management, climate resilience, value chain development, market strengthening and entrepreneurship, and women’s economic empowerment (WEE). Within the TOMAK program design, these themes/areas form part of a suite of layered and sequenced activities which also aim to increase rural households’ access to finance and improve dietary practices.
The Adviser will be expected to work collaboratively as both a member and a leader within TOMAK’s technical team, in order to develop appropriate livelihood and resilience strategies within a complex, integrated program. For the areas in which the Adviser provides technical leadership (listed above), it is expected that the Adviser will be responsible for day-to-day direction-setting, activity implementation, stakeholder engagement, partnerships and overall management.
The Adviser will develop strong and productive working relationships with TOMAK technical personnel including the Team Leader, Social Behaviour Change and Nutrition Adviser, Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Adviser, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Adviser. The Adviser is expected to play an integral role in fostering communication and collaboration across the various parts of the program, and to actively support the implementation of the program’s GEDSI strategy.
The Adviser will provide technical leadership for TOMAK’s agronomic, agribusiness, climate, WEE and value chain research and analysis, including managing any short-term consultants engaged to support these assignments. The Adviser will also guide the development and rollout of various training curricula implemented at community level under these themes. Foundational research and material development is expected to be quite intensive at the start of the assignment, followed by a shift in focus towards monitoring, evaluating and learning as the program establishes momentum in its field level implementation.
The Adviser manages the Agri-Livelihoods and Resilience team (currently a National Value Chain Specialist and a National Rural Development Specialist) and will be expected to work closely with this team to develop and execute an annual workplan. The Adviser is expected to forge productive relationships and actively contribute to the capacity development of any direct reports. This position engages regularly with external stakeholders, particularly within the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) and the private sector, and being able to understand, nurture and leverage these partnerships is essential. With regard to community level approaches, the Adviser will be expected to play both a managerial and technical role in managing TOMAK’s main implementing NGO partner/s (not yet selected) along with other members of the TOMAK leadership team.
As a key member of the TOMAK technical team, the Adviser should have high level leadership skills, whilst still being willing to roll up their sleeves to get work done. Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines are a must. The Adviser should be an excellent communicator, capable of expressing the program’s vision and desired outcomes through a range of formats and with a variety of stakeholders. The Adviser should be willing to travel regularly to the field (Baucau, Bobonaro and Viqueque municipalities) including to rural/farming communities as required.
Duties and responsibilities
- Steer technical assessments of key aspects of the food system in target communities including: agricultural and livestock production trends, key livelihood systems, natural resource management and the impact of climate variability, as well as inclusive value chain and market analyses;
- Ensure natural resource management and climate resilience are key considerations in any activities aimed at developing agricultural livelihoods, including by integrating these themes in good agricultural practice (GAP) training and materials, farmer resources, etc.;
- Ensure TOMAK2 strategies and approaches are market-focused and consider the range of opportunities and barriers across selected value chains; while also supporting the integration of inclusive and nutrition-sensitive approaches within livelihoods-focused activities;
- Work closely with the GEDSI technical team to ensure gender equality, WEE, disability and youth inclusion are integrated into the development, implementation and monitoring of livelihood-focused activities (including through tools such as the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index);
- Develop and manage relationships with key local partners including MAF, private sector businesses (input/output markets), the Institute for Business Support and Development (IADE), civil society organisations and others, with a view to fostering ownership and long-term sustainability;
- Directly supervise and support two national technical staff (with a value chain and agri-livelihoods/resilience focus) and any other direct reports through provision of coaching, and support the Agri-Livelihoods and Resilience team in planning, implementation and monitoring of activities;
- As a member of the TOMAK leadership team, play an active role in stakeholder engagement and the development of key deliverables including writing sections of the annual workplan and annual report, and presenting at donor briefings;
- Recruit and manage any short-term personnel required for key assignments to ensure delivery of high quality deliverables (incl. research, training curricula, analysis, etc.);
- Participate in relevant agriculture, climate, and market systems-related networks (including those convened by DFAT) to ensure regular communication and coordination with other programs, organisations and agencies.
Skills and experience required:
- Demonstrated international development experience in food systems, agricultural livelihoods, market systems and resilience related programming (at least 7 years), with particular emphasis on natural resource management and climate change;
- Demonstrated ability to design and adapt program approaches and strategies in the context of an underdeveloped agriculture sector and thin agricultural markets;
- Demonstrated experience integrating gender equality, WEE, and/or inclusion approaches into agricultural livelihoods and resilience programming;
- Excellent research skills with the ability to understand and synthesise data and use findings to develop programmatic recommendations and identify ways forward;
- Demonstrated high level organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks, competing priorities and complete assignments within timeframes;
- Experience in capacity building, including training and on the job mentoring of national staff, strong leadership and team management skills;
- Exceptional interpersonal and cross-cultural skills, including demonstrated capacity to work collegially with government, private sector, civil society and other partner organisations and to manage effective partnership arrangements;
- Excellent communication skills, analytical and report writing skills, with experience in communicating technical issues to policy makers in order to influence decision making;
- Post-graduate qualifications relating to international development, agriculture, rural/development economics, or similar;
- Prior working experience in Timor-Leste is preferred and fluency in Tetum language is desirable.
To apply:
For further information or to submit your application, please contact Tammy Theikdi
tammy.theikdi@
Applications should include a cover letter which addresses the Terms of Reference and an up-to-date CV. Adam Smith International is an equal opportunity employer – women and candidates from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications received, only short-listed applicants will be contacted.
.png)
.png)
.png)
){kind=link}
0 Comments