VPP Training Specialist at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-UN)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-UN) - An intergovernmental organization, FAO has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: VPP Training Specialist

Location: Abuja
Job Type: Full-time

Background

• As part of FAO’s effort to strengthen One Health workforce at community level, NSA-CJW is implementing the project “Empowering veterinary paraprofessional entrepreneurs”, in Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa.
• This project builds on a first phase of implementation between 2021-2023 and aims to deliver and evaluate a model for sustainable last mile animal health service delivery through capacity development of private sector veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs), and by addressing bottlenecks within the business environment. Gender-sensitive programming is an essential part of the project. Women make up 60% of poor smallholder livestock farmers and are therefore a key target group for last mile animal health services.

The Project Is Centered Around Four Complementary Outcomes

• Outcome 1: Strengthened veterinary paraprofessional businesses providing gender responsive preventive healthcare services.
• Outcome 2: Increased pool of continuous professional development compliant and registered veterinary paraprofessionals
• Outcome 3: Improved business climate for veterinary paraprofessionals
• Outcome 4: Increased awareness of private sector preventive healthcare veterinary paraprofessional business model for improved access to animal health services

Reporting Lines

• The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the VPP country coordinator and with technical support of the VPP Global Training Specialist

Technical Focus

• Support at country level, the implementation of the project “ empowering veterinary paraprofessional entrepreneurs’’ to address gaps and deficiencies in national animal health service delivery by coordinating the development, implementation and monitoring of the training component of the project to equip VPPs with the necessary skills, competencies, resources and recognitions to enhance preventive livestock health care

Tasks And Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of the Assistant FAOR program, direct supervision of the VPP country coordinator and with the technical support of the VPP Global Training Specialist, the incumbent will perform the following duties:

• Support appraisal process for new project state and competitive selection of additional partner training institutes;
• Draft Letters of Agreements for workshop delivery through national training institutes;
• Develop training delivery workplan for each course with clear allocation of roles and ensure coordination with the training institute for course implementation;
• Facilitate review of workshop material with training institutes, develop final workshop outlines and consolidate workshop material;
• Conduct trainers and CPD managers training needs assessment and develop a tailored capacity development program for both trainers and CPD managers;
• Implement training institute capacity development program through training of trainers, monitoring of the quality of training delivery, provide prompt individual feedback post workshops, and coaching;
• Prepare live calls with training institutes, attend live calls monitoring attendance and provide feedback to training institutes post call for improvement;
• Liaise with training institutes to ensure preparations for workshops and timely communication with VPPs;
• Coordinate selection process for veterinary paraprofessionals ensuring highly motivated private sector VPPs are selected and gender balance (at least 40% women);
• Support selection of mentors, matching with VPPs and mentor training;
• Maintain VPP and Mentor contact databases, training archives and workshop photograph archives up to date;
• Draft tweets, articles and lessons learned post-activity and share with communications teams;
• Facilitate at country level the VPP community of Practice and the Training Institute Community of Practice;
• Coordinate with VPPs from cohort 1 regarding additional capacity development measures;
• Support preparation of National Advisory Committee meetings and present training outputs;
• Support M&E of the training including post-training impact assessments at VPP and farm level;
• Prepare in a timely manner training and technical reports and contribute to country project reports in line with partner funding requirements and FAO rules and procedures;
• Document and exchange lessons learned and insights with VPP project team, ECTAD team and broader partners;
• Facilitate gender equitable project implementation at country level including the implementation of specific activities in order to target outreach of VPP services to female smallholder farmers.
• Undertake other relevant tasks mutually agreed and deemed necessary by the project.
• Liaison with the OCC will be maintained, either directly or through an agreed focal point/coordinator, to ensure compliance with OCC standards, appropriate review and clearance processes.
• All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including:

Minimum Requirements
Candidates will be Assessed Against the Following

• University Degree in veterinary science, animal production, animal health, agricultural economics or other related fields for the position
• At least two years of relevant experience in the field of livestock production and animal health management and in the delivery of training programs
• Working knowledge of English (Level C)
• National of Nigeria or resident in the country with a valid work permit.

FAO Core Competencies:

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

Technical / Functional Skills:

• Good knowledge of veterinary paraprofessional training, national competency framework, and working context
• Experience in workshop and training organization and delivery for veterinary paraprofessionals.
• Experience in gender sensitive and transformational approaches.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

Application Closing Date
6th May, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online