International Conservation Planning Expert

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• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination　　
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

Organizational Setting

FAO Azerbaijan Partnership and Liaison Office, in close cooperation with the government and its in-line Ministries/Agencies, contributes to the sustainable agri-food systems, and supports the government with addressing issues food security, agriculture and rural development, natural resource management in the country. FAO’s technical assistance, provided mainly through projects, includes institution building, development of knowledge and competencies, and exchange of experience among FAO member countries.

Reporting Lines

Under the direct supervision of the AFAOR, the technical supervision of the GEF-FAO Project Management team, and in consultation with relevant government departments, non-government organizations and other national and international organizations.

Technical Focus

The International Conservation Planning Expert will lead the development of a landscape-scale Spatial Conservation Plan for Azerbaijan.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Provide professional support to the overall process of developing the Spatial Conservation Plan.
• Consultatively define the scope, objectives and use/rs of the Spatial Conservation Plan.
• Consultatively prepare a work plan to guide the iterative development of the Spatial Conservation Plan, and define the roles and responsibilities of individual consultants, the project management team, and the partnering institutions.
• Provide strategic and professional oversight to the work being undertaken by the National Conservation Planning Specialist and the GIS Specialist in support of the preparation of the National Conservation Plan.
• In liaison with the National Conservation Planning Specialist, identify, and develop conservation management objectives and guidelines, for each category of formal protected area and other conservation area’ in the Spatial Conservation Plan.
• In liaison with the National Conservation Planning Specialist, prepare a medium-term implementation plan which programs and priorities the set of actions necessary to\: (i) expand the protected area network; (ii) expand the conservation area network; (iii) restore, manage and maintain ecological connectivity between protected areas and conservation areas; and (iv) build the planning, management and financial capacities to implement the Spatial Conservation Plan.
• Develop a sub-set of costed ‘investment packages’ (extracted from the medium-term implementation plan above) which could be used by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) to motivate for international funding support for (elements of) the Spatial Conservation Plan
• Compile the information collected and collated by the team of consultants into a consolidated Spatial Conservation Plan.
• In liaison with the National Conservation Planning Specialist, develop and oversee the implementation of a focused training and capacity building program to help strengthen the individual capacities of the MENR staff who would be responsible for the implementation of the Spatial Conservation Plan.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Postgraduate degree in environmental or natural resource planning and management, or equivalent.
• At least 10 years’ experience in the biodiversity conservation sector, of which at least 5 years is in the field of landscape-scale conservation planning.
• Working knowledge of English.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical and Functional Skills

• Experience in providing professional support to state, state-owned enterprise, private, funding, public benefit, or non-government organizations in protected area system planning, ecoregional planning, biodiversity sectoral planning, conservation strategy development, or similar.
• Experience in participating in, or leading, multi-disciplinary teams in biodiversity conservation initiatives.
• Proficiency in English is required. Working knowledge of Azerbaijani, Turkish or Russian will be considered an advantage.
• Previous work on similar international donor-funded initiatives would be considered an advantage.

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

HOW TO APPLY

• To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, and language skills
• Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application
• Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications
• Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Personal information provided on your application may be shared within FAO and with other companies acting on FAO’s behalf to provide employment support services such as pre-screening of applications, assessment tests, background checks and other related services. You will be asked to provide your consent before submitting your application. You may withdraw consent at any time, by withdrawing your application, in such case FAO will no longer be able to consider your application
• Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered
• Your application will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile
• We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.

If you need help or have queries, please create a one-time registration with FAO’s client support team for further assistance\: https\://fao.service-now.com/csp

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