Download SCOPE OF WORK CLMATE-SMART

DAI Washington
7600 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite 200
Bethesda, Maryland
20814 USA
Tel: 301 771 7600
Fax: 301 771 7777
www.dai.com
SCOPE OF WORK
CLMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE EXPERT
BASE OF OPERATIONS:
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
1. PURPOSE
DAI, a global development company, is seeking a short-term Climate-Smart
Agriculture Expert to serve the USAID-funded Nexos Locales Project. This five-year
project is based in Quetzaltenango, with a field office located in Huehuetenango,
Guatemala.
2. PROJECT BACKGROUND
The USAID Nexos Locales Project (previously known as LGP), Contract No. AID520-C-14-00002, was awarded to DAI on June 20, 2014. Nexos Locales is a threeyear project, with two option years, and is based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala with
a regional office located in Huehuetenango. The primary goal of Nexos Locales is to
strengthen municipalities in the Western Highlands of the country so they foster more
responsive, inclusive, and effective socio-economic development while reducing
local vulnerabilities such as food insecurity and natural disasters. The Nexos Locales
will increase the capacity of local governments to raise revenue, respond to citizen
concerns related to violence and security, food insecurity and global climate change
as well as to manage public resources in a participatory and financially sound
manner. The Nexos Locales will also strengthen the capacity and systems of local
governments to deliver basic services and develop and implement security plans;
strengthen the National Association of Municipalities (ANAM) and the Guatemalan
Association of Indigenous Mayors and Authorities (AGAAI); and strengthen civil
society participation in decision-making via the Development Council System. In
order to achieve this goal, and the objectives of both USAID and other development
partners, local governments must be able to better manage public resources and
deliver services in an efficient and transparent manner. Strong and inclusive
municipal governments are crucial for local development and is key to the
sustainability of interventions supported by the United States Government (USG) in
Guatemala.
3. GEOGRAPHICAL FOCUS
Nexos Locales will work in the Western Highlands, Guatemala’s region of greatest
need, under a framework for the collaborative implementation of activities in the
departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapan and
Quiche. Nexos Locales will concentrate activities in the five departments around the
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needs of agriculture, health, and education programming. Citizen security and
environment programming will be focused in municipalities and regions where there
is greatest need.
4. WHIP STRATEGY
The Western Highlands Integrated Program (WHIP) is USAID’s conceptual
framework for the collaborative implementation of USG-funded activities in the
departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán and
Quiché. WHIP activities are designed to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition
through programs of food assistance, school feeding, applied agricultural research,
improved access to quality health care, nutrition, increased agricultural income from
high value horticulture crops and handicrafts, sustainable production systems,
increased capacity to adapt to the impacts of climate change and strengthened local
governance entities. WHIP recognizes the comparative advantages of USG-funded
partners and seeks to harness and focus these resources and our partners’ productive
access to communities and understanding of the development context to address
poverty and chronic malnutrition. During the consultation/start-up phase, Nexos
Locales completed a series of meetings with local partners in the Western highlands
region to coordinate alliances and plans to achieve overall WHIP goals.
5. USAID GUATEMALA COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT
COOPERATION STRATEGY
As a key cross-cutting issue for the achievement of USAID Guatemala’s Country
Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), Nexos Locales activities will work
toward the achievement of “A More Secure Guatemala that Fosters Greater Socioeconomic Development in the Western Highlands and Sustainably Manages its
Natural Resources” through activities that support three the Mission’s three
Development Objectives (DOSs), which include: 1) Greater security and justice for
citizens; 2) Improved levels of economic growth and social development in the
Western Highlands; and 3) Improved management of natural resources to mitigate
impacts of global climate change.
The improvement of local government’s ability to raise revenue, respond to citizen
concerns and demands, and deliver services are crucial to development in four key
areas of the CDCS: crime prevention, food security, health, and disaster and risk
mitigation against vulnerabilities to climate change.
6. OBJECTIVES AND DUTIES
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Global climate change is expected to irreversibly impact ecosystems, food production
systems, social structure and stability, and water dynamics around the world before
the end of this century, with some regions projected to be impacted earlier and more
strongly than others. In terms of overall vulnerability and foreseen impact, the
Guatemalan Altiplano places high on every scale of evaluation of risk from climate
driven impacts; and many of the projected effects are already being realized.
Traditional economic development strategies have in many cases worsened the
vulnerability to climate change by promoting land and resource degradation for the
generation of high-value export products, without adequate consideration for the
inter-relation of agriculture and natural systems that support agriculture (soils,
filtration, biota, water demand, forest health, carbon capture); nor for the local value
chains that produce the region’s own food supply.
One of the most important factors defining community vulnerability to climate
change is the dependence of that community’s economy on agricultural practices that
are very susceptible to changing climatic variables. In the case of Guatemala,
changes over the past two decades in the frequency, timing, intensity, and duration of
both normal weather patterns (such as seasonal rains) and the incidence of extreme
weather events (prolonged droughts, intense rains), have placed undue pressure on
water, soils, and both traditional and modern agriculture systems of the Western
Highlands region. Said practices form the economic backbone of the regional
economy, increasing Guatemala’s social and ecologic vulnerability to climate
change.
There is a great need to generate and promote agricultural practices that will add
market, nutritional, and ecologic value to the product by using agricultural adaptation
to specific climatic pressures. Such technologically and culturally appropriate
climate-smart practices will be a key element in meeting development goals for
optimizing human wellbeing, ecological responsibility, income, and acceptance by
the highland population that the DAI PGL project serves.
Nexos Locales will need to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate activities with
climate-smart practices and capacitation of this theme at the core of much
development strategy.
The Climate Smart Agriculture Expert will be based in the Quetzaltenango office
with overall responsibility for providing technical guidance in the assigned area. S/he
will work as part of a highly motivated team and be required to coordinate across the
functional areas of Programs/Clusters, Grants, and Senior Management. The nature
of the work will require coordination with other USAID partner programs.
Roles and responsibilities of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Expert include, but
are not limited to:
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Become knowledgeable in the production, use, and application of climate
change projections and models related to agricultural production.
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Evaluate existing agriculturally based economic development projects, and
bids for new projects, for the presence of, absence of, and suggestions for
inclusion of; regionally appropriate climate smart practices and long-term
climate resilience.
Work with partners in development of practices, training manuals, and
programs that meet climate, income, market, pest control, soil, and water
demands in practices.
Climate risk evaluation of existing supply chains through USAID partner
programs of the PGL project.
Evaluate added value of climate-smart practices selected for use in the
program for: market valuation, application of quality standards, and
development of fair pricing mechanisms.
Develop strategies for inclusion of climate considerations in monitoring and
evaluation of existing and new agricultural projects.
Develop a needs-based plan for short and long-term research, development,
and extension for climate-smart agricultural practices in the area of coverage,
with USAID and other regional partners.
Evaluate soil and water in agricultural production sites for quality and
quantity [where directly related to agricultural use].
Partner with food security program for evaluation of nutritional and health
benefits of climate-smart practices.
Partner with youth and gender program for development of small-scale
economic projects based in climate-smart agricultural practices.
Partner with climate change programs to strategically reduce vulnerability
due to poor land-use practices, intensive water demand, economic reliance on
vulnerable agriculture, and ecological fragility.
Serve as liaison between Nexos Locales and other regional programs where
appropriate to do so.
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7. DUTY STATION
The Climate-Smart Agriculture Expert will be based in the Quetzaltenango office
with frequent travel to the Huehuetenango regional office, and to field sites where
projects are based.
8. REPORTING
The Climate-Smart Agriculture Expert will report to and be supervised directly by
the Technical Director. S/he will receive management support from the Chief of
Party.
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9. QUALIFICATIONS
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A university degree in agronomy, with experience in the development, use,
and/or theory of climate-smart practices;
At least five years’ experience in highland agricultural practices;
Extensive knowledge of soil nutrition, watersheds, and low-intensity irrigation;
Ability to perform climate risk analysis of agricultural practices;
Experience in designing of programs, preparing technical proposals, and
developing methodologies related to integrated agricultural practices;
Ability in agricultural project monitoring and evaluation;
Value chain analysis, marketing strategies, and supply/demand evaluations;
Experience in effectively working with national associations, grass roots
organizations, local government institutions, senior government officials, other
donors and USG projects;
Experience designing appropriate interventions to meet project goals in assisting
women and youth;
Fluency in Spanish is essential; fluency in a Maya language and/or English is
desirable;
Experience in Guatemala and/or Latin America highlands – Central America
preferred.