Chief Fisheries Officer (Coordinator Blue Economy) at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/17/282
Location: Africa
Grade: PL 3
Position N°: 50067857

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department / Division

• The Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department provides support for the delivery of Feed Africa: Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, 2016-2025.
• The strategy aims to end hunger and rural poverty in the next decade through self-sufficiency in 15 priority commodity value chains specific to the continent’s agro-ecological zones. 
• Realizing the objectives set forth in the strategy requires increased productivity; value addition; investment in infrastructure; an enabling agribusiness environment; capital flows; and inclusivity, sustainability and effective nutrition.
• The Department leads the effort to transform African agricultural systems for greater competitiveness, inclusivity and sustainability, and for enhanced job creation and poverty reduction in Regional Member Countries.

The role of the Agriculture Research, Production and Sustainability Division is amongst others, to:

• Coordinate the implementation of the Flagship - Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation
• Support wide-scale deployment of innovative farmer extension models including effective private sector led approaches to the provision of farmer extension services;
• Provide specialist advice and support to internal and external clients on a range of fisheries, aquaculture, blue economy development issues including, knowledge generation and sharing, policy development advice, fish commodity value addition, complex operations formulation, training and marine and inland water bodies ecosystems resilience building;
• Support increasing investment into livestock research and technology dissemination on the continent and support the scaling up of proven technologies and  wide-scale deployment of innovative livestock producers extension models;
• Coordinate climate resilience actions to support climate adaptation and climate-smart agriculture practices including large-scale sustainable and climate-smart agriculture, agroforestry, ecotourism, and agri-tourism projects;
• Support Bank engagements in global and continental climate change events of interest to the Bank such as the Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa and The Conference of Parties on Climate Change, the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture.

The Position
The main purpose of the position of Chief Fisheries Officer (Coordinator, Blue Economy) will be to:

• Provide specialist advice and support to internal and external clients on a range of fisheries, aquaculture, blue economy development issues including, knowledge generation and sharing, policy development advice, fish commodity value addition, complex operations formulation, training and marine and inland water-bodies ecosystem resilience building.
• Work in partnership with the client group to proactively seek to understand business priorities to identify and implement a range of creative solutions in fisheries and aquaculture that support the Feed Africa implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the oversight of the Division Manager, Agriculture Research, Production and Sustainability, the main duties of the Chief Fisheries Officer will include the following:

• Serve as the Bank focal point to deliver clear and concise advice in fisheries, aquaculture and blue economy issues to regional member countries;
• Develop specialist knowledge, create new offerings/products and convene African and global leaders to generate support for and commitment to Feed Africa Strategy in the area of fisheries management, aquaculture value chain, blue economy initiative, fisheries governance and marine/inland water ecosystems resilience;
• Develop and work with the regional hubs to execute the Feed Africa strategy in the area of fisheries, aquaculture, blue economy, fisheries governance and marine/inland water-bodies ecosystem resilience; and coordinate peer-review sessions for process improvement and strategy
• Provide adequate expertise and advise to regional member countries, especially to vulnerable countries (Small Island Developing States and Costal countries) to promote their blue economy strategy, and fisheries governance (combatting Unreported and Unregulated fishing and marine pollution);
• Provide adequate expertise in agribusiness environment related to fish commodity value chain development;
• Represent the Bank with external stakeholders dealing with fisheries, aquaculture, blue economy, climate change, etc.;
• Assist the regional member countries to scale-up and replicate success stories in the fisheries, aquaculture and blue economy programs;
• Provide expertise to the Bank Directors General and the Ministries in charge in fisheries, aquaculture and blue economy in the Regional Member Countries to design policies and multisector programs to support the increased production of fish for all in Africa; to assess, research and advise on the sustainable exploitation of fisheries and aquaculture resources;
• Provide advice and technical support to Pan-African leadership initiatives in fisheries, aquaculture, fisheries governance and blue economy, etc.
• Provide advice and expertise to support Technologies for Africa's Agricultural Transformation flagship program through increase investment into wide-scale deployment of innovative aquaculture models;
• Support climate resilience funding by implementing the African Package for climate-resilient Ocean-economies in Africa ;
• Act as advocate and spokesperson for fish commodity promotion and ecosystem concerns to increase public awareness of the importance of fisheries sector and the value in Ocean services, during the Conference of Parties, African Development Forum, Food and Agriculture Organisation Committee on Fisheries, International Symposium on Fish Crime, Food and Agriculture Organisation technical consultations
• Network with other fisheries personnel, researchers, professionals, and advocacy groups to preserve and monitor fish habitats and stocks;
• Prepare reports and presentations for internal and external stakeholders, policy-makers, commercial interests, and the public.
• Prepare effective communication strategies to build strong working relationships with regional hubs, key government departments and other partner agencies

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master’s degree or its equivalent in the areas of Fisheries/Aquaculture Management Operations and Advice, Agriculture or other relevant fields.
• Have a minimum of seven (7) years of relevant experience, five (5) of which should be in multilateral development institutions) with relevant work experience in Fisheries and aquaculture project management.
• Relevant work experience in fisheries and aquaculture development programs with multilateral development banks; Experience in support government administration in fisheries sector; Experience in participating at international scientific meetings is an added advantages.
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
• Solid experience in applying experienced level of Fisheries and aquaculture knowledge to deliver full scope of strategic services in line with the Bank’s strategy needs/situation.
• Effective consulting and advisory skills that enable clients (internal and external) to deal with Fisheries, aquaculture and Blue economy issues.
• Ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment.
• Ability to meet multiple, important deadlines.
• Ability to provide technical advice to develop aquaculture and blue economy projects.
• Proven leadership and management skills.
• Ability to work with others to maximize the effectiveness of the team as a whole, sharing the knowledge and workload.
• Ability to develops strong working relationships with colleagues and contributes to creation of a positive team environment.
• Communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.