As an international cooperation enterprise with worldwide operations, the German government owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH operates on behalf of German ministries, the governments of other countries and international clients to provide tailor-made, cost-efficient and effective services for sustainable development. GIZ has a record of more than 60 years working in Thailand. We are looking for a Bangkok-based Integrated (Rice) Landscape Management Advisor to support the Inclusive Sustainable Rice Landscapes (ISRL) project.
Advisor - Integrated (Rice) Landscape Management
Inclusive Sustainable Rice Landscapes (ISRL) Project
Thailand is a global leader in rice production and exports. Increased rice production over the past decades without a sustainable landscape approach has resulted in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and declines in biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The Inclusive Sustainable Rice Landscapes (ISRL) project (2023 – 2026) seeks to transform rice and agricultural production landscapes in Thailand by reconciling competing social, economic, and environmental interests. To achieve this, the project proposes an integrated and multi-disciplinary landscape management approach to support transformational change from conventional rice farming to inclusive, sustainable rice farming by building policies, capacity, and financing to apply and upscale adoption of sustainable rice farming practices while maintaining, restoring, and improving landscapes, ecosystems and biodiversity.
Inter-ministerial land use planning at the national level and at local levels (in the target provinces of Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani) must precede the adoption of sustainable practices by smallholder farmers. As such, the project will support the strengthening of inter-ministerial collaboration to foster national-level policies and agreements for the integrated management of rice production landscapes. Under this framework, provincial governments and national agencies will conduct provincial-level spatial land management planning as a basis for an integrated approach to landscape conservation, connectivity and sector investments for biodiversity and other ecosystem service benefits.
Tasks and responsibilities:
The Advisor will support the project to produce the following outputs:
- Demonstrating economic and environmental benefits of a sustainable rice landscapes approach
- Developing a national roadmap for integrated target setting, management, and monitoring for sustainable rice landscapes and to enable restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Strengthening alignment of public programs to meet the interests of both the rice sector with the financing and protection of lowland and upland hydrological and forest biodiversity services
- Developing landscape management plans at provincial level that integrate sustainable agriculture with improved conservation and restoration of ecosystem services and biodiversity
Specific technical related duties and responsibilities, include:
- Assist the Project Manager(s) in the overall coordination with multi-stakeholders who have a mandate or interest to advance management of landscapes around rice farming areas
- Support the setting up of national and provincial sub-committees for project steering and monitoring
- National level: Coordinate a participatory process to prepare a national roadmap for integrated management of rice production landscapes, and engage with stakeholders and decision-makers for endorsement of final national roadmap
- Provincial level: Coordinate a participatory process to develop provincial landscape management plans (which align with the national roadmap) that integrate sustainable agriculture, landscape conservation, and restoration of ecosystem services and biodiversity, and engage with stakeholders to facilitate agreement on provincial landscape plans
- Design and conduct workshops and meetings
- Prepare terms of references for local consultants
- Provide technical direction and coordination among local consultants to be hired to support delivery of related outputs
- Support information provision and the facilitation of agreements between GIZ and public partners where applicable
- Contribute to knowledge management and exchanges
Qualifications:
- A university degree in, Forestry, Land Use Planning, Integrated Landscape Management, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Policy, Food Systems, Agriculture, or a field related to this assignment (PhD is an asset)
- At least 5 years of experience in designing landscape management plans
- At least 5 years of experience in implementing projects/programmes in one or more of the following topics: land use planning, landscape management and restoration, watershed management, natural resource management, forest protection, biodiversity protection, sustainable agriculture and agri-food systems and/or crop diversification
- Understanding of the political, institutional, and socio-economic contexts in Thailand related to the above listed topics
- Working experience (including in management roles) with ministries, national institutions, national and international private sector in Thailand
- Ability to coordinate multi-stakeholder development processes and work effectively with counterpart staff at all levels
- Strong writing, verbal presentation, and reporting skills
- Excellent command of Thai language (written and spoken) and good English skills (written and spoken)
- Excellent command of MS Office package (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and Microsoft Teams; familiarity with landscape/ land-use modelling software or applications is an asset
Personal attributes and competencies:
- Thai nationality only
- Self-motivated, flexible and resourceful
- Good organizational and conceptualization skill
- Hands-on mentality and detail-oriented work ethics
- Ability to work independently and in a team
- Ability to work under time pressure and meet deadlines with strong attention to consistency, detail, and quality
- Interest and desire to work in a cross-cultural context, climate change mitigation and adaptation and sustainable agriculture value chains
- Ability to travel and work with several partners and actors
This will be a fixed term contract and running until 31 December 2026.
Duty station and timeframe:
The staff will be based in Bangkok, with travel to project sites in Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani. The position is expected to commence on 1 September 2023.
Please carefully read this announcement and submit 1) a CV AND 2) a cover letter in English to aroonratt.soontonbura@giz.de . The deadline for applications is 31 July 2023. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
GIZ Thailand is an equal opportunity employer and actively encourages gender diversity within the company and operations.
GIZ Office Thailand
193/63 Lake Rajada Office Complex, New Ratchadapisek Road, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
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