Afghanistan: International Consultant, Agriculture Value Chain/Mechanization Specialist

Jul 25, 2021 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
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Through its Country Offices, or FAO Representations, FAO assists governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to address hunger, food security and malnutrition, and provides technical support for the sustainable development of their agricultural, livestock, animal health, and irrigation and forestry sectors as well as emergency preparedness and response to conflict and natural affected events. The activities of the FAO Representation include design and implementation of country-tailored field programmes, liaison with local donor representatives and active public awareness raising and outreach activities related to the mandate of FAO.


FAO assistance in Afghanistan achieves its objectives through capacity development and direct project implementation in four specific areas of FAO’s technical expertise:

  • Better governance through improved capacity for policy planning, land reform, decentralization, and management of common natural resources;
  • Fostering expansion of irrigation and field water management;
  • Intensive agriculture for surplus commercialization, value chains development, and job creation; and
  • Supporting vulnerable farmers for improved food & nutrition security, resilience, and emergency response to natural and man-made disasters and climate change.

Project Background:


FAO has been actively supporting the Government of Afghanistan in COVID-19 response. As soon as the pandemic started showing its impacts, MAIL and FAO jointly designed and undertook a rapid assessment of COVID-19 impacts on the agriculture production and marketing. The findings were used by both MAIL and FAO to inform the reprogramming/repurposing of various ongoing and pipeline programmes to respond to the immediate adverse impacts of the pandemic. With technical inputs from FAO, MAIL and the World Bank quickly formulated the Emergency Agriculture And Food Supply (EATS) Project aiming to support critical food supply chains and create short-term economic opportunities to boost smallholders resilience and recovery (by focusing on provision of certified seeds, generation of short-term employment, increasing agriculture's resilience to shocks, and strengthening food supply chains).

Further, MAIL accelerated the provision of budgetary resources for a rapid scale-up in the ongoing programme on strengthening cold storage and zero energy storage and processing facilities in key provinces adversely impacted by border closures / stoppage of exports of Afghan agriculture products. The assessment’s findings were used by FAO to: (i) revise its component of the Afghanistan HRP and GHRP; (ii) design and implement necessary measures to mitigate the risk of spreading covid-19 through project activities across its development and humanitarian programme; (iii) initiate innovative actions like COVID-19 sensitization in agriculture markets and provision of COVID-PPE to market stakeholders, all beneficiaries and implementing partners' staff; (vi) reprogramme/repurpose ongoing projects in consultation with donors (IFAD RFSP, USAID PVC-W) to directly address the impact of the pandemic; and (v) mobilize additional resources to response to new and increased needs directly resulting from the covid-19 impact.

This proposed project will support NEPA/NDA in developing a strategic framework and enhancing its coordination capacity to ensure that COVID-19 response and recovery plans and programmes will contribute to or even accelerate national climate change targets and global commitments. In line with the GCF pre-defined results under this Readiness window, the project will:

  • Support NEPA to develop a framework with appropriate indicators to guide and track green, resilient and inclusive COVID-19 recovery policies, and programmes
  • Support strategic planning for green, resilient, and inclusive COVID-19 recovery in the agriculture, land and water sectors
  • Provide inputs to the revision of the NDC and foreseen National Adaptation Planning (NAP)
  • The project through its specific support to green, resilient, and inclusive COVID-19 recovery in the agriculture, land and water sectors above will also prepare these sectors for the NAP process.

Reporting Lines:


The International Consultant – Agriculture Value Chain / Mechanization Specialist will be under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative in Afghanistan, technical guidance of the Lead Technical Officer, direct supervision of National Field Manager, and close consultation with relevant FAO staff/NPP and NDA; the international consultant will perform following duties:


Technical Focus

The main objective of the consultancy is to support NEPA and the project to ensure the achievement of quality deliverables under the project. The International Agriculture Value Chain/Mechanization Expert will focus on:

  • Analysis of COVID-19 impacts on agriculture and identification of green, resilient and inclusive recovery priorities Assessment of key agri-food value chains and associated post-harvest management and small - scale processing technologies with greatest potentials for boosting resilient recovery of smallholder farmers.

Tasks and responsibilities


The International Consultant – Agriculture Value Chain / Mechanization Specialist will perform the below key tasks:

Green, resilient and inclusive recovery in agriculture sector:

  • In consultation with MAIL and FAO, identify available assessments of COVID-19 impacts on agriculture and food security
  • Identify required additional data/information including i.e. on agriculture, disaster and climate change and guide the national consultant in data/information collection and undertaking additional analyses
  • Gather information and analyse COVID-19 recovery policies, plans and programmes in the agriculture sectors
  • Identify options for green and resilient recovery in the agriculture sectors, building on FAO and other development partners’ support to MAIL in COVID-19 response and recovery and other agencies’ work.
  • Ensure the alignment of green and resilient COVID-19 recovery in agriculture and the country’s climate change agenda
  • Guide/support sector specific stakeholder consultations, facilitate MAIL’s adoption of the recommended green, resilient and inclusive recovery priorities and their consideration in national or sectoral strategies, planning, decision making and monitoring process.
  • Provide inputs to the update of the NDC with a focus on the agriculture sector related priorities and targets.
  • Assessment of value chains and technologies for green, resilient and inclusive agriculture recovery:
  • Draw on FAO work (i.e. the USAID-funded value chain project and COVID-19 response), identify key agriculture value chains with greatest potentials for green and resilient agriculture recovery, especially of smallholder farmers.
  • Identify green and resilient technologies and practices (in post-harvest management, processing, small-scale infrastructure/assets development, etc.) that are proven effective in Afghanistan.
  • Gather evidence on the cost benefit of these technologies and practices.
  • Assess opportunities for financing these technologies and practices including government, the private sector and others
  • Recommendations for further development and/or adoption at scale.
  • Contribute to the project reports including final report.


Candidates will be assessed against the following


Minimum Requirements

  • University degree in agriculture development, agriculture economics,, climate change /finance, , environmental or natural resource management, food security or related fields;
  • At least five (05) years of relevant experience in agriculture value chain development, agribusiness, rural development, value chain management and analysis, climate change, capacity building, knowledge management, as well as developing institution capacity, and other related work experience, particularly in the south Asian countries for environment and GCF projects;
  • Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian.  

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 positions is desirable;
  • Relevant experience in identifying green technology in agriculture sector;
  • Extent of relevant experience with internationally funded projects;
  • Good knowledge and experience of GCF and climate financial mechanisms;
  • Extend working experience in a complex, international, geographically dispersed, with inter-disciplinary team environment;
  • Good communication, analytical and writing skills;
  • Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset;
  • General knowledge and skills in the use of standard office software, such as MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point)

Selection Criteria

  • Expertise in management of climate finance, resilience, and agriculture, MRV or related area;
  • Relevant experience in programme/project formulation, analysis, planning and implementation;
  • Extend working experience in a complex, international, geographically dispersed, with inter-disciplinary team environment.

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

Additional Information

FAO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)

Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list

If you are in possession of language certificate/s from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT), please attach the certificate/s when submitting the application.

For more information, visit the FAO employment website

How to apply

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered.

We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline

If you need help please contact: Careers@fao.org