CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR THE POST OF EXPERT IN ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE, BASED IN N'DJAMENA

The N'Djamena office of the DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FUR INTERNATIONALE ZUSAMMENARBEIT(GIZ) whishes to recruit an expert in adaptation to climate change for the "Sustainable water resources management of the Lake Chad Basin" programme, base in N'Djamena.

Background

The "Sustainable management of the Lake Chad Basin" programme is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Econimic Cooperation and Development(BMZ) and implemented by GIZ in cooperation with the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natutal Resources(BGR) and the Lake Chad Basin commission(LCBC). The aim of the project is to build capacity within the LCBC's Executive Secretariat and improve the implementation and monitoring of projects with a cross border impact. An integrated approach will be taken to achieving the programme's objective, including organisational advice, technical activities in the area of water resources, and adaptation to climate change in agriculture. This approach will involve the LCBC, donors, experts, consultants and other institutions, such as Ministries, NGOs and research bodies, at regional, national and local level. The programme ofice is based in N'Djamena, where the LCBC is headquartered.

The "Adaptation to climate change in the Lake Chad Basin" Project is helping the LCBC to develop a strategy for adapting to regional climate chante. It is based  on systematic assessment of the situation and the sharing of methodological expertise, existing concepts and new approaches.

The project operates at three levels

• Regional level: the exchange and sharing of knowledge between all actors in the Lake Chad Basin will be encouraged and used to develop a regional strategy for adaptation to climate change.
• National level: the exchange of knowledge between government agencies, NGOs and projects operating outside the pilot zone will be encouraged.
• Local/cross-border level: existing methods and approaches to production systems in the pilot zone between Chad and Cameroon will be identified and made available via a public database, Producers, government agencies, NGOs, projects and actors will be put in touch with each other to share their experiences and to promote better adaptation of their production systems to climate change.

The pilot was selected because it represents a very wide variety of existing agricultural systems: 

• Chad: the departements of Chari-Biguirmi, Mayo Lemié and Mayo Bonneye
• Cameroon: the departments of Logone-et-Chari, Mayo Danay, Mayo Kani and Diamaré.

Responsibilities

At GIZ/LCBC level, you will coordinate all activities at regional, national and local level within the "Adaptation to climate change in the Lake Chad Basin" project. You will support the programme manager in developing networks for exchanging information at regional level with relevant administratives bodies and the public within LCBC member countries. Working with the LCBC, you will develop a strategy for adapting agriculture to climate change. At local level, you will work closely with a consultant and a GIZ advisor, focusing particularly on activities in the pilot zone. With the consultant and advisor, you will ensure that agricultural pilot measures(traditional and innovative methods) with agricultural producers and value creation chains, etc. are made available to the LCBC's decision-making support system. This will allow distributinh the experiences make within the Lake Chad region. Our work will support the sharing of experience of our activities between local and regional levels.

PROFILE

• Graduate-level qualifications in geoscience or agriculture with knowledge and/or experience of climate change, for example as an agronomist, geographer or environmental scientist.
• Knowledge of the agricultural sector and  agricultural production methods, such as irrigation techniques and the coordination and combinaition of traditional and innovative agricultural and irrigation methods.
• In-depth knowledge of adaptation of climate change and the use of sustainable resources in agriculture.
• Experience of working within a multilateral, interstate or interministerial environment preferably with a regional organisation.
• A minimum of 10 years' professional experience in a similar post
• Ability to work in a multicultural team
• Good interpersonal skills
• Good writing skills in French and English
• (Spoken) knowledge of the local variant of Arabic desirable
• Excellent organisational skills
• Ability to work on own initiative
• Sounk knowledge of information technology(Word, Excel, and Outlook applications)
• Flexibility
• Integrity

Applications must be received no later than 25.07.2014

The successful applicant will take up the post on september 2014

Applications will be accepted in electronic form only and should be sent to giz-tschad@giz.de, esther.weibel@giz.de