LEAD TECHNICAL ADVISOR

Organizational Context

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Subregional Office for Southern Africa (SFS) supports countries in addressing food, agriculture, and rural development priorities. It provides technical assistance to governments and country offices, focusing on food security, malnutrition reduction, and sustainable resource management. In Zambia, FAO implements projects aligned with its Country Programming Framework, emphasizing climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable agriculture, forestry, and natural resources. The Facility for Action for Climate Empowerment to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions (FACE-NDC) project, funded by Germany, aims to build Zambia's capacity for climate action through education and public awareness.

Job Purpose

The Lead Technical Advisor (LTA) will provide overall leadership, coordination, and technical quality assurance for the FACE-NDC project in Zambia. This role involves comprehensive planning, organizing, monitoring, and controlling the delivery of activities across nine Work Packages. The LTA will be responsible for coordinating the project consortium, ensuring effective governance, and maintaining alignment with the project document, Zambia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) priorities, and the requirements of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The position requires ensuring coherent, evidence-driven planning and delivery across all project components.

Responsibilities

The Lead Technical Advisor will spearhead the overall implementation of the FACE-NDC project, offering strategic direction and technical guidance to the Project Management Unit (PMU), consortium partners, and implementing entities. Key responsibilities include establishing and maintaining an effective consortium coordination framework with clear roles, accountabilities, and communication channels. The LTA will coordinate the planning and delivery across nine Work Packages, developing and updating a harmonized Annual Work Plan and Budget, and overseeing its implementation and reporting. Ensuring the integration of core methodological disciplines, such as needs diagnostics and behavioural science, and overseeing the project-wide monitoring, evaluation, and learning system are crucial. The role also involves leading the preparation of high-quality progress and financial reports for the donor (BMWK/IKI) and FAO, servicing project governance bodies, supporting operational processing for project implementation, and fostering strong collaborations with government departments, donors, academia, and civil society. Additionally, the LTA will supervise the PMU team, advise on the communication and visibility plan, manage implementation risks, promote knowledge management, and carry out other assigned tasks.

Work Experience

A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience is required, specifically in managing and coordinating complex, multi-partner development or climate programmes, including field-level leadership responsibilities. Experience with climate-finance-funded projects and donor reporting is highly desirable.

Skills

Essential skills include Results Focus, Teamwork, Communication, Building Effective Relationships, and Knowledge Sharing. Proven experience with climate-finance-funded projects (e.g., IKI, GCF, GEF), including donor reporting and results-based management, is crucial. Technical knowledge of climate change mitigation, NDC implementation, and familiarity with GHG accounting approaches are assets. Strong planning, budgeting, M&E, report-writing, facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills are necessary. Experience with capacity development and education programmes, leading multi-agency consortia, and working in Southern Africa, particularly Zambia, are desirable. Knowledge of German is an asset.

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