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Agricultural Finance and Investment Advisor (GCF Thai Rice)

: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

: Nonprofits / องค์กรไม่แสวงหาผลกำไร

: 838

: 24 May 2024

20 June 2024

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. With over 60 years of experience implementing projects in Thailand, GIZ provides policy and technical advice on various topics and sectors relating to Thailand’s reform process, including: climate policy, sustainable economic development, and sustainable agriculture.

 

Agricultural Finance and Investment Advisor

 

We are looking for an Agricultural Finance and Investment Advisor to develop financial mechanism and investment analysis and package for Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in close cooperation and partnership with Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and set up the Thai Rice Facility with consortium partners under the project “Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming”, to be implemented by GIZ with four executing entities. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved a 38-million euro grant contribution towards the project. The co-financing is provided by Thai public sector partners, and executing entities, including the Thai Rice Department, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Planning (ONEP), and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and international private sector partners. Further information: https://www.greenclimate.fund/project/fp214.

 

Thai Rice GCF:  Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming

 

Rice is Thailand’s most important food crop, accounting for roughly half of agricultural land and employing 18 million smallholder farmers. Rice farmers are among the poorest occupational groups in Thailand. They are extremely vulnerable to climate change: rice farming is a water-intensive and temperature-sensitive activity conducted in a climate that is becoming increasingly characterised by longer dry spells and higher temperatures. At the same time, rice farming is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Smallholder farmers have limited capacity to adapt, given their small farm sizes and low incomes, and their limited access to technical assistance, markets and credit.

The “Thai Rice: Strengthening Climate-Smart Rice Farming” project aims to promote low-emission and climate-resilient rice farming. It aims to benefit more than 250,000 smallholder farmers – strengthening their yields, livelihoods, food security, and ability to cope with climate risks. It also has potential to mitigate 2.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The project follows a bottom-up logic: empower vulnerable smallholder farmers to make improved decisions in the face of climate change and scale access to climate-smart farming technologies. Policymakers will be supported with technical assistance, monitoring tools, and organizational support to achieve a more ‘joined up’ institutional and policy environment for climate-smart rice. Governments across the region will benefit through knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning.
 

Job highlights:

• Job with purpose: Work for a paradigm shift in Thai rice farming to achieve ambitious climate targets
• Pioneering topics: Making innovative climate finance accessible to smallholder farmers
• Dynamic team: Join an international and dedicated team

 

Tasks and responsibilities:

The Agricultural Finance and Investment Advisor will

serve as a focal point, coordinator and resource person for the operationalization, implementation and monitoring of the financial mechanism and investment package for climate smart agriculture which will be operated by Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) as one of Executing Entities (EE). S/he will serve as a focal point, coordinator and resource person for the development of the Thai Rice Facility with stakeholders. S/he will ensure the delivery of selected outputs of the financial component.

The Agricultural Finance and Investment Advisor will carry out the following tasks as part of the project financial component team:

 Responsibilities

• Act as the main focal point in the BAAC-GIZ cooperation in the Thai Rice GCF project
• Coordinate and facilitate the establishment and operationalization of the project’s financial mechanism in cooperation with BAAC, covering both grant-based mechanisms and loan-based mechanisms, as own contributions to the project, including
  • Negotiation of grant agreements with national Executing Entities
  • Overseeing consultants, e.g. for developing climate smart agriculture investment analysis and green credit programme
  • Technical assessment and monitoring of running grant agreements, including monitoring of impacts and disbursements
• Coordinate and monitor the implementation of the activities of the financial component in close collaboration with BAAC and assigned consultants/ specialists covering the following topics, among others

• Support to implementing Gender Action Plan and Environmental Social Safeguards Management in the financial component
• Development of financial literacy and trainings in cooperation with BAAC
• Link with field financial officers and advisory to relevant units within BAAC, such as customer development, ESG, and risk management

Active monitoring and backstopping of running grant agreements

• Support the design, operationalization and monitoring of other elements of the financial mechanisms of the project with respective stakeholders
• Facilitate the work of a working group under the Project Steering Committee on a Thai Rice Facility, and support stakeholder coordination and consultation
• Support conceptualizing the Thai Rice Facility under the project
• Proactively initiate relationships and engagement with national and international stakeholders, including development banks, and support to raising of further co-financing and investments towards climate finance in the Thai agricultural sector

 

Other duties:

• Support the development of work plans to fulfill the project objective(s)
• Regularly update manager(s) on relevant progress and seek advice as needed to ensure high-quality, effective and timely execution of activities
• Design, prepare and organize meetings, workshops, seminars and other events on issues related to the project’s outputs and work packages
• Prepare meeting materials, presentation documents, and summaries
• Liaise with partners to develop communication materials and outreach activities
• Ensure proper documentation of project information to promote knowledge transfer
• Develop strategies and technical concepts, including guidelines, manuals and procedures
• Formulate appropriate input for reports including annual reports, and contribute to other reports required by the project director, GIZ Head Office, and/or commissioners
• Assist with research activities and studies which benefit the project
• Perform other duties and tasks at the request of management

 

Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in a relevant field, e.g. Economics, Finance, or Agriculture
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in developing financial mechanism and operationalizing of green or climate finance projects.  Previous experience working on Climate change in agriculture sector in Thailand or in the Asian region is a strong asset
• Demonstrated ability and relevant experience working with international organisations or international donor-funded projects on professional topics, preferably in Thailand or in the Asian region
• Excellent communication, interpersonal skills and also strong analytical skills with ability to work/deliver independently with minimal supervision
• Fluent command of Thai and English both spoken and written is absolutely required
• Excellent command of MS Office package (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and Microsoft Teams

 

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 work with several partners and actors.

 

Duty station and timeframe:

The position will be based in Bangkok.

This will be a fixed-term contract, starting as soon as possible and running until 31 December 2025, with possibility for extension.

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 20 June 2024. 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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Contact : aroonratt.soontonbura@giz.de

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ที่ปรึกษา / Consultant