Scope of Work:

 The National Project Agricultural Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the CBARD Project Manager and in close collaboration with UNDP field teams based in the western, eastern, southern and northern regions of Afghanistan. The incumbent will have the following duties and responsibilities: ·Support the CBARD Project Management Team to ensure rigorous and robust monitoring of project implementation as per annual workplans (AWPs) and monitoring and evaluation plans. ·Coordinate regularly and consistently with implementing partners and responsible parties at the local, regional, provincial and national levels to leverage each parties’ respective strengths in pursuit of efficient and effective implementation of project interventions. ·Coordinate accurate, timely, and high-quality results-based reporting on project implementation progress, especially with respect to the achievement of annual, quarterly, and monthly targets set by the Project Board, Project Management Team, and donor. ·Harvest data and information on alternative development, opportunities, interests and prospects in consultation and coordination with local authorities, partners, and community-based organizations. ·Assess and monitor project risks by working with CBARD Project Manager, M&E Specialist, technical staff, and implementing partners to regularly update risk frameworks for consideration of the Project Board and decision-making on possible mitigating actions as required. ·Coordinate organization of and participation in project coordination meetings and/or technical working groups as per the project document and annual workplans. Share information on technical project-related issues with donors, other partners and stakeholders. ·Identify bottlenecks to effective and efficient implementation of interventions at the field level and help develop appropriate and locally suited solutions, as well as document lessons learned as they evolve in order to inform adaptive project management. ·Facilitate the Project’s representation and/or participation in national and international knowledge networks to draw on and share best practice and lessons learned for application in CBARD project areas in Afghanistan. ·Map competencies in the areas of community based rural and alternative development available in different countries and development organizations. ·Analyze media documents and other information products produced by the international media, stakeholders, donors, Afghan Government and think tanks, and use it to design appropriate project-level responses and content. ·Support the coordination, development, and dissemination of project communication activities in close collaboration with the UNDP Communications Team. ·Promote skills development of project staff through coaching and mentoring. ·Promote teamwork, information sharing and collaboration within various Project Teams and task managers, and between the Project Team and the Project Partners. ·Ensure that the Project systematically builds capacities of Implementing Partners and other national partners through introduction of innovation and best practices, access to knowledge and expertise and promotion of their application to project implementation.

Expected Outputs:

·Under the supervision of the M&E Specialist, curate a log of evidence and means of verification for project interventions (updated quarterly). ·Conduct regular spot checks to field sites and with field-level responsible parties to validate accuracy of project implementation, monitoring, and reporting. ·Review of weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting documents to improve the accuracy, quality, and transparency of project reporting frameworks. ·Update the status of project risks as conditions fluctuate and curate the project risk log (quarterly). ·Identification and drafting of success stories to regularly highlight CBARD achievements to be shared with relevant stakeholders, partners, and donors. ·Attend trainings and events organized by implementing partners to observe and document the quality and consistency of engagement with responsible parties and beneficiaries at the local level. ·Regularly review documents related to production, marketing, and sales (domestic and international) of agricultural products from CBARD beneficiaries. ·Assist with drafting of training and event report templates, and regular review of reports as events are held to ensure consistency and accuracy of reporting from implementing partners across all project areas. ·Maintain a list of external media sources that reference CBARD achievements, including news outlets, social media, briefings, radio, TV, etc.

Institutional arrangement: The National Project Agricultural Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the CBARD Project Manager and work closely with the Project M&E Specialist (home-based).

Payment: Monthly basis

Duration of the assignment: Four (04) months with possibility of extension

Duty station: Kabul, with frequent travel to project operational locations in Badghis, Balkh, Farah, Kandahar, Laghman and Nangarhar.

Experience and Skills:

·Bachelor’s degree in agriculture-related sciences, Alternative Development; Economics; Sciences; Management; Development Studies, Rural Development; or any other closely related field. ·Seven (7) years of relevant experience with proven managerial competence to administer large and complex, multi-dimensional development projects with international organizations is required. ·Proven track with monitoring project implementation. ·Solid technical knowledge in the field of alternative development. ·Experience in management of international projects is a strong asset.

Competencies:

·Ability to speak, read and write technical and conversational English. ·Ability to understand new terminology and concepts easily and to synthesize information from different sources into a coherent project document. ·Skill in negotiating effectively in sensitive situations. ·Skill in achieving results through persuading, influencing, and working with others. ·Skill in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently and to resolve conflicts as they arise. ·Good team player, self-starter, has ability to work under minimum supervision and maintain good relationships.

Language Requirements:

Proficiency in written and spoken English and fluency in the national languages (Dari / Pashto).