Project Manager

Vacancy number: FVAC17.016 Name: FVAC17.016 Job Title: Project Manager Division/Department: FAO Representation in Lebanon Programme/Project Number: “Promotion of Good Agricultural Practices, Including Integrated Pest Management, to reduce agrochemical pollution in upper Litani basin”- Duty Station: Baabda and Chtaura with extensive travel to project sites Expected Start Date of Assignment: November 1, 2017 Duration: 1 year, renewable for 4 years Reports to: Name: Maurice Saade Title: FAO Representative in Lebanon General Description of task(s) and objectives to be achieved Background The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is currently implementing a unilateral trust fund project entitled “Promotion of Good Agricultural Practices, Including Integrated Pest Management, to reduce agrochemical pollution in upper Litani basin”. The Project is  implemented by FAO in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the CDR. The project responds to the increased pollution of the Qaraoun Lake. It addresses the negative impact caused by the irrational use of Agro-chemicals, especially fertilizers  in the upper Litani basin on the pollution of the Qaraoun lake. The project aims at reducing the Litani River and Qaraoun lake water pollution from agrochemicals by adopting sustainable crop production systems in the upper Litani basin through introduction and promotion of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) including IPM in the project area. The main objective of the proposed project is to: a)       Reduce the total amount of Agro-chemicals used by farmers in the upper Litani basin and Qaraoun Lake area b)       Assess and analyse the  current agricultural practices and farmers’ (men and women) roles and knowledge in the project area, and develop good agricultural practices, including IPM, programmes c)       Build the capacity of the MoA professionals/facilitators, other stakeholders and farmers in GAP and IPM d)       Test and implement GAP practices including IPM programmes at the farm-level Specific objective of the assignment FAO is looking to recruit an experienced Project Manager to be responsible for the day-to-day management and implementation of the Qaraoun project. He/She is expected to lead a project team consisting national technical experts and consultants in addition to short-term international consultants. The Project Manager will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative in Lebanon and the technical guidance of the FAO Lead Technical Officer (LTO), in close consultation with the National Project Coordinator (NPC) representing the Ministry of Agriculture.  The Project Manager will be responsible for the overall planning, coordination of project activities, and monitoring of project results. Duties, Responsibilities and Scope of Work The Project Manager reports directly to the FAO Representative in Lebanon. In particular, the incumbents will have the following tasks: 1-       Management Tasks: -       Liaise with the MoA and other stakeholders to ensure the flow of cooperation and coordination in the implementation of the project; -       Prepare detailed project annual work plans in collaboration with stakeholders, and make necessary arrangements for their successful implementation in a timely manner; -       Monitor the project budget and prepare yearly expenditure plans; -       Review the progress made in the implementation of the project and lessons learned and make recommendations for improving the performance and the necessary adjustments to the work plan and budget; -       Ensure in a timely manner, in consultation with the budget holder, procurement of the project local inputs including administrative facilities, offices, equipment, personnel and access to data and information necessary to carry out the project activities; -       Coordinate the work of the project’s experts and international consultants; -       Make all necessary local arrangements and logistics for the successful implementation of the project activities in accordance with the agreed work plan and schedule, including travel arrangements for employees and consultants in the project; -       Review on a regular basis amounts and type of inputs and services to be provided to the project by FAO and MoA; -       Review all communication material of the project and provide inputs. -       Contribute to technical material or working documents prepared by FAO. -       Prepare project progress reports to review and monitor the outputs and results of the project against agreed work plan, and identify constraints and issues that require timely resolution and corrective actions; -       Prepare the draft terminal report of the project; 2-       Plant Protection, IPM and FFS Tasks: -       Facilitate, prepare and organize Training of Trainers (ToT) for technicians and FFS facilitators on establishment and running of FFSs including preparation of the FFS curricula; -       Ensure coordination with the appointed facilitators and the international IPM-FFS expert on the related authorities numbers and educational level of farmers expected to join each school number and duration of sessions; -       Follow up and coordinate with the related authorities their contribution to the FFSs; -       Make sure that the facilitators are well aware of the prepared training curricula and provide continuous technical assistance; -       Contribute to the development of the IPM-GAP programmes for the target crops; -       Supervise and contribute to the establishment and running of the FFS and demo plots; -       Report the progress of the FFS and demonstrations plots activities; Qualifications and Experience Requirements -       Advanced degree in Agriculture/Crop Production and protection or related fields -       Minimum seven years of demonstrated work experience in agricultural assistance projects with more than five years of experience in IPM and FFS. Technical Competencies -       Results focused -       Good team building and leadership skills -       Ability to develop good working relations with a variety of stakeholders -       Good project management skills including familiarity with the development of results frameworks project work plans and budget -       Good reporting skills -       Good organizational and communication capacity; -       Good written and oral working knowledge in English and Arabic; -       Computer literacy of the Microsoft package including Excel or database software Flexibility and ability to work within a team and to travel to project sites key performance indicators Expected Outputs: Required Completion Date: -       Project’s progress report -       Terminal report -       Every Six months -       Six Months before end of project