National Social Safeguards and Gender Specialist - SURAGGWA
Organizational Context
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) country offices, led by an FAO Representative, support governments in developing policies and programs to achieve food security, reduce hunger, and promote sustainable agricultural, fisheries, and forestry sectors. FAO focuses on increasing production and productivity, fostering agriculture-based economic growth, and enhancing livelihood resilience. In Nigeria, FAO's project portfolio covers agriculture, livestock, fisheries, natural resource management, and food security information. The incumbent will contribute to the country's program and project portfolio by providing essential technical support.
Job Purpose
The primary purpose of this role is to ensure the effective implementation, monitoring, and reporting of environmental and social safeguards, gender mainstreaming, and social inclusion interventions. This position is critical for supporting the successful delivery of project objectives. The specialist will be responsible for integrating these crucial aspects into all project activities, ensuring that vulnerable groups, including women and indigenous communities, benefit equitably and that environmental and social risks are effectively managed throughout the project lifecycle. This role directly contributes to the sustainability and inclusivity of project outcomes.
Responsibilities
The specialist will lead the implementation and monitoring of the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs), and Gender Action Plan (GAP) to ensure compliance with FAO and Green Climate Fund (GCF) requirements. This includes integrating gender-responsive and socially inclusive approaches into project activities, territorialization of project components, and monitoring compliance with safeguards. The role involves evaluating and following up on mitigation measures for small farmers and indigenous communities, with a focus on equitable participation and benefit-sharing for women, youth, and vulnerable groups. Support will be provided for environmental impact mitigation and the restoration of agri-food systems, ensuring gender-differentiated needs are considered. The specialist will orient the project team on safeguards policies, develop management indicators, and mainstream ESS, gender equality, and social inclusion into capacity-building and stakeholder engagement. They will support the integration of safeguards and gender approaches in non-timber forest product value chains and systematize project information, ensuring sex-disaggregated and inclusive data. The role also includes accompanying the dissemination of citizen attention mechanisms and conflict resolution processes, providing technical inputs for project reports, and designing intercultural tools to integrate differential approaches. Methodologies for differentiated application linked to community and municipal territories will be developed, ensuring gender-responsive approaches in land and resource management. Coordination of technical reports and other necessary documents, ensuring integration of gender equality, social inclusion, and safeguards, is also a key responsibility. The incumbent will undertake any other related tasks as requested.
Work Experience
A minimum of three years of relevant experience is required in implementing FAO, government, or donor-funded projects. This experience should be specifically related to environmental and social safeguards, land restoration, natural resources management, or rural development. Experience in field implementation of environmental or natural resource management programs is essential.
Skills
Key competencies include Results Focus, Teamwork, Communication, Building Effective Relationships, and Knowledge Sharing. Essential functional skills involve extensive experience in environmental and social safeguards implementation, including risk management, and gender mainstreaming within community-based initiatives. Demonstrated understanding of environmental and social management frameworks and safeguard information systems is crucial. Experience in stakeholder engagement, community participation, grievance redress mechanisms, land restoration, sustainable landscape management, and non-timber forest product value chains is highly valued. Proficiency in programme monitoring, safeguards reporting, and experience working in Northern Nigeria, particularly in areas affected by environmental challenges, is also important.