Senior Technical Adviser - Agriculture (IFAD, Italy)

Organizational context

IFAD is an International Financial Institution and a Specialized United Nations Agency whose mission is to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty. IFAD’s headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and its staff work with very poor rural people, their governments, communities and organisations in more than 80 countries to develop and finance programmes and projects aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and incomes.

The Technical Advisory Division (PT) aims to strengthen the quality of IFAD’s portfolio of country programmes (comprising loans, grants and associated activities) as regards technological, institutional and policy aspects. The Division supports IFAD investment in developing and applying a knowledge base on pro-poor, community-led rural development. This knowledge management provides the basis for PT’s quality enhancement of the Fund’s programmes and partnership development for rural poverty reduction.

As Senior Technical Advisor - Agriculture, the incumbent will work under the management of the Director of the Technical Advisory Division (PT) in close cooperation with the PT-Productive Assets and Technology (PAT) cluster. She/he will also collaborate with the colleagues of the cluster (particularly the Livestock-based Farming Systems), of all other relevant IFAD Divisions, and those divisions of major stakeholders and partners working on related agronomy issues.

The incumbent shall carry out the duties and responsibilities described below:

* Provide IFAD staff and partners with up-to-date professional advice on farming systems and agricultural services.

* Assist and guide country programme teams on pro-poor agronomy issues in country strategy development, project design, review and implementation (including field missions).

* Lead on agricultural knowledge creation and sharing at country, regional and international levels on agronomy issues, involving IFAD and partners’ thematic networks, and including management of applied research work.

* Strengthen IFAD’s contribution on agriculture in policy dialogue and processes (including representing IFAD at national and international fora).

* Strengthen and develop partnerships at national, regional and international levels on agricultural issues and assist in mobilising resources for these activities.

* Perform any other related duties as may be requested by the Director of the PT Division.

Education and experience

* Advanced university degree in at least one of the following disciplines: Agronomy, Agriculture, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development Studies.

* Ten-to- fifteen years of relevant experience in agricultural or rural development in developing countries.

* Familiarity with project development, implementation and supervision.

* Exposure to current issues in agriculture.

Technical/Functional Competencies

* Planner and Organiser/Decision-Maker – you will have excellent judgement and the ability to think strategically, assessing and responding to new challenges in rural development. You will be able to set clear priorities within a boundless and often challenging agenda;

* Team Worker/Builder – you will have strong interpersonal skills, that will allow you to develop a close and effective working relationship with internal and external clients at all levels. You will have the ability both to lead and to work effectively in teams;

* Leader / Performer – you will have excellent management skills, and be able to deploy them in a multicultural setting. You will have the ability to inspire teams to work together to achieve stretching objectives;

* Negotiator and Communicator – you will have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, and the ability to present coherent and convincing strategic analysis. You will have the ability to achieve results through motivating people and influencing partners;

* Facilitator of Change - you will balance a responsive and proactive approach to meeting client needs, encouraging staff to understand client needs and concerns and ensuring provision of customized services and products as appropriate;

* Model of integrity, trustworthy and confident – you will champion IFAD’s core values - Results, Integrity, Professionalism and Respect.

Communication

* Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; including the ability to set out a coherent argument in presentations and group interactions.

* Working knowledge of an additional IFAD language (Arabic, French, Spanish) is an asset.

* Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft packages and electronic communication.

Other information

In principle, this is a Rome based position. However, applicants should note that IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD, and they may be assigned by him/her to any of the activities of IFAD, including field assignments and/or rotation within IFAD.

IFAD reserves the right to appoint a candidate at the appropriate level.

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply by completing IFAD’s Personal History Form and sending their applications to the Office of Human Resources, Via Paolo di Dono 44, 00142 Rome, Italy, Fax +39-06-5043463, Email vacancy@ifad.org. Applications from women candidates are particularly encouraged.

Candidates must indicate clearly the Vacancy Number and are kindly requested not to send their application via multiple routes. Any application received by IFAD after the closing date will not be considered. In the interest of making most cost effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful. Short listed candidates will be required to sit a written test.