The Senior Economist reports to the Deputy Regional Representative (DRR) under the overall guidance and supervision of the Assistant Director-General/Regional Representative (ADG/RR).
Responsibilities :
Manages or leads highly specialized or multidisciplinary teams and provides technical leadership in high-level policy analysis missions or projects, policy networks and/or international policy setting bodies.
Leads the work carried out by technical or policy officers in the Regional Office in collaboration with colleagues from Subregional Offices and headquarters in relation to policy and governance work under the FAO Strategic Framework.
Advocates strategic partnerships, best practices and policy dialogue in support of enhanced policies and governance for food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Interacts with UN Regional and Country Teams to improve cross-sectoral policies and strategies concerning agriculture, food security, nutrition and sustainable development.
Engages with development partners, including international financial institutions, to advocate and strengthen the linkages between knowledge and policy work with investments in food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Analyses regional and country-level issues to provide input into the identification of country and regional priorities and requirements.
Designs, implements and monitors regional and subregional policy work programmes and supporting budgets and/or resourcing strategies.
Plans, organizes and participates in capacity development activities involving the provision of technical advice and assistance, and oversees the development of related materials, on-line tools and information kits.
Represents the Organization at international/inter-governmental meetings and conferences.
Analyses global, regional and country trends in agri-food systems for the provision of policy advice for strategy, planning and decision-making to FAO's member countries in the region.
Identifies gaps, additional issues for consideration and proposes follow-up actions.
Provides foresight and strategic analysis for FAO's work in the region based on recent and past developments, prospects, scenarios and projections from evidence-based reports, data, statistics and institutional sources.
Plans and leads preparation of regional flagship publications such as the Asia-Pacific Regional Overview of State of Food Security and Nutrition, technical papers and regional strategy documents with relevant teams.
Ensures high technical quality, of data, its analysis and the provision of evidence to build the case for policies and interventions to advance FAO's Priority Programme Areas (PPAs).
Coordinates contributions to UN flagship and other reports and technical collaboration with regional UN and development agencies.
Supports the development of programmes with a strong investment orientation and focus on acceleration towards achieving the SDGs.
Acts as the technical focal person for Asia and Pacific Regional Conference (APRC) and other FAO Governing Bodies.
Provides technical advice to the ADG/RR and DRR on multidisciplinary approaches, objectives and goals of the regional work programme including corporate flagship initiatives.
Requirements :
Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in economics, development studies, political sciences, agricultural economics, or a related field relevant to the work and/or programme of the Organization.
Ten years of relevant experience in policy advice and economic analysis relating to food and nutrition security, agriculture and rural development, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes.
Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of English and intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).
Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions, is essential.
Good understanding of complex policy formulation processes.
Extent and relevance of experience in food policy analysis and demonstrated experience in provision of policy, economic and strategic advice to senior management related to food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture and rural development.
Extent and relevance of experience in planning, developing and implementation of field programmes/projects.
Extent and relevance of experience in leading the plan and organization of international meetings, seminars and trainings.
Experience in STATA, R, Python, General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), or similar software.
