Focus Area Team Lead, Irrigation Design Team International Consultant
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Job Title: Focus Area Team Lead, Irrigation Design Team
Mission: To support the Design Phase of the Togo Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA)
Unit/Division: Programme Unit / CO Togo
Contract Type: International Consultancy / CST
Location: Lomé, Togo
Contract Duration: Sept 2022 to 31 January 2023 (5 months) with the possibility of longer-term engagement with the Togo ATA
ABOUT WFP
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.
WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic is one of the smallest countries in Africa and home to 8.6 million people. Situated in the Gulf of Guinea, Togo serves as a critical corridor to enable the COVID-19 response to landlocked countries in the Central Sahel region.
Togo’s economy depends heavily on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, with both sectors providing employment for 60 percent of the labour force. Socio-political and economic turmoil coupled with devastating floods and now COVID-19 have seen a deterioration in its food and nutritional situation.
Agriculture and food systems are vital to food security, livelihoods, and development. The sector has proven to be more effective for poverty alleviation and job creation than others, and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems can underpin economic development for many African countries. One innovative approach to spur transformational change is in the use of a Nodal Agency—successively leveraged by many Asian countries and beyond.
The nodal agency model was successfully leveraged by many Asian countries in the 1960s to 1990s to drive transformational growth and rapidly expand their economies. More recently, the nodal agency model was used successfully by the Government of Ethiopia when it established the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) in 2010.
The nodal agency model leverages key characteristics to achieve impact:
- Operates from a “center of government” position with strong links to senior government officials including the Head of State.
- A high level of authority, independence, and responsibility that allow it to innovate, use evidence to inform decision making, work across public and private sectors, exert influence over actors, and manage and ensure effectiveness.
- High organizational performance that enables efficient systems to be implemented, focuses on results, and ensures learning takes place within and across institutions and programs to adapt to changing contexts and take advantage of opportunities.
The Government of Togo (GoT), in its 2025 Roadmap, has positioned agriculture as a priority engine of growth for production, income, and job creation. The Roadmap specifically identifies mechanization, irrigation, and extension through public-private-partnerships as areas of significant opportunity.
To further support progress on the Roadmap and in recognition of the need for transformational growth in the sector, the GoT in March 2022 made the decision to leverage the Nodal Agency model and create an Agricultural Transformation Agency. The GoT has engaged TASC to support the scope, design, and establishment of this Agency by January 2023. Togolese stakeholders have worked with TASC to complete development of the scope of the Agency, which includes 5 priority focus areas for the new ATA: mechanization, irrigation, digital extension, ZAAPs (agricultural production areas), and value chains.
To further the development of the Togo ATA, the GoT seeks consultants to lead focus area teams and contribute to the development the Agency so that it can begin operations in January 2023.
JOB PURPOSE
The Government of Togo in partnership with WFP is now looking to form a high-performing design team that can develop these priority focus areas into a clear set of projects, initiatives, and workplans to enable the ATA to begin activities in January 2023.
Tentative high-level deliverables for Irrigation have been developed during the scoping phase and are shown below (subject to confirmation based on updated contextual changes):
- Irrigation Focus Area
- Irrigation Master Plan and Strategy review
- Carry out a technical review of the irrigated agriculture master plan and provide a recommendation for implementation.
- Support the identification and sequencing of potential irrigation priority initiatives for the Togo ATA in 2023
- Design these initiatives into a prioritized portfolio of work, including key geographies, owners, and workplans
- Six pilot irrigation sites
- Project design and resource mobilization (if necessary) for the six new pilot sites for irrigation development (sites have already been selected)
- Propose medium-term activities to evaluate and monitor water capacity and recharge in areas in six pilot irrigation sites
- Shallow groundwater mapping
- Validate current water resource maps and, if necessary, propose an approach or actions to provide Togo with these hydrological maps
- Develop a shallow groundwater implementation plan
- Recommend medium-term activities to evaluate and monitor water capacity and recharge in areas used for irrigation
- Irrigation Master Plan and Strategy review
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority)
The Focus Area Team Lead will report to the TASC Design Phase Director, who in turn will report to the overall TASC Managing Director and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Focus Area Team Lead will be expected to lead the design work for the Irrigation Focus Area. Expected activities will broadly include the following:
- Review and identification of key sector documentation (strategies, master plans) to identify gaps and potential priority initiatives which can be developed; or conducting rapid diagnostics where required
- Follow-on problem-solving and analysis to structure, sequence, and prioritize these initiatives into a portfolio of work which can be successfully operationalized in 2023
- Commence project design for initial priority projects and initiatives (key outputs are likely to include a project design document, implementation workplan, human resource requirements, budgets, financial resource mobilization plan, etc.)
- Work closely with technical partners where required (either providing input and/or a project management role) including members of the relevant GoT institution
- Plan and participate in field visits throughout the country to support focus area design
- Ensure high quality outputs are produced
- Build capacity of the team analyst to strengthen contributions
- Act as the key contact point for the priority focus area with stakeholders
- Other general ATA setup and design tasks as required
- Opportunities to line-manage up to 1 or 2 FTEs including technical experts from each focus area
- Work across the focus area team to add value to their outputs
- Other duties within the context of creating an operational Togo ATA
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Education:
Master’s Degree in Economics, Business, International development, Social Science or other relevant area.
Experience:
5 years or more experience in a top-tier consulting firm (or in similar analytical and business development roles), including at least one assignment leading a team in similar complexity and duration as this project.
Experience and interest in agricultural development is required; experience in irrigation is desirable.
Knowledge & Skills:
- Proven record in leading the development of complex analytical studies (qualitative and quantitative)
- Proven record in structuring and leading project design work that delivers a final high-quality design output which is timely, analytical, and operationally sound
- Strong understanding/experience of project management approaches, tools & templates
- Ability to manage timelines, anticipate issues, and solve problems in order to keep the project on track
- Ability to build effective working relationships with both internal/external stakeholders and act as a lead point of contact for the focus area in terms of stakeholder meetings and beneficiary follow-up
- Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with a range of stakeholders in a cross-cultural environment
Language:
Fluency (level C) in French and English required (written and verbal).
WHY WORK WITH US?
This is an opportunity for an exciting and challenging position in a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary team, based in a unique location, on a topic with high relevance. In addition, we offer:
➡️Meaningful and impactful careers:
Our day-to-day work makes a difference in the lives of the people we serve
➡️Continuous learning and training:
We provide learning tools for our staff to continually develop their careers
➡️Multicultural and stimulating work environment:
We encourage gender and cultural diversity to make our teams stronger
Join us to make a difference, watch this video to know more about us!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnaxfnNKdsM&t=7s
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: September 7, 2022
All employment decisions are made based on organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
