Programme Assistant

Posiiton: Programme Assistant
Assignment country: Nepal
Duty stations: Janakpur, Dhangadi, Biratnager
Work location: On UN premises
Expected start date: 01/07/2026
Duration: 6 months (with possibility of extension)
Sustainable Development Goal: 2. Zero hunger
Host entity: FAO Nepal
Modality: Onsite
Type: National
Volunteer category: Associate UCoS from Apr2026
Work schedule: Full-time
Number of Assignments: 3

Details

Mission and objectives

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 member states, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide. We believe that everyone can play a part in ending hunger.

Join us in creating a #ZeroHunger world.

Context

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was established in 1945 as a specialized agency of the UN, with a mandate to achieve food security for all by supporting sustainable agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and natural resource management. FAO works with governments and partners to address hunger, rural poverty, climate change, and environmental degradation through policy support, technical assistance, capacity development, and field-based interventions.
In Nepal, FAO supports the Government at federal, provincial, and local levels to advance inclusive, climate resilient, and sustainable development across agriculture, forestry, land use, and livelihoods.
FAO Nepal is strengthening its provincial presence to bring coordination and implementation support closer to government counterparts and field operations, including the establishment/operation of provincial offices in Koshi (Biratnagar) and Sudurpaschim (Dhangadhi) to enhance provincial-level engagement, inter-agency coordination, and timely delivery of FAO-supported programmes. Across the provinces, including Madhesh, Koshi and Sudurpaschim, FAO’s interventions span climate resilience and ecosystem restoration (e.g., landscape-based restoration, forest ecosystem strengthening, and institutional/stakeholder coordination under initiatives such as ReFaME in Sudurpaschim), implemented through structured consultations, inception workshops and coordination with provincial ministries, DFOs and local stakeholders. In parallel, FAO supports agri-food system and livelihood-focused projects implemented at provincial/local levels, such as Digital Village Initiatives (Madhesh and Koshi), sustainable aquaculture value chain support (Madhesh and Koshi), high-value mountain products value chain strengthening (Koshi), and agricultural recovery and resilience activities (Madhesh), in coordination with provincial/local governments and partners. Day-to-day provincial work also includes technical and operational coordination, provincial workshops and missions, UN coordination engagements, and support to field implementation in areas such as geographical indication (GI) awareness activities and emergency/seasonal preparedness coordination, reflecting FAO’s integrated approach to partnerships and programme delivery at provincial level.

Task description

1. Provincial coordination & partnerships: Support and document regular coordination between FAO Country Office and provincial/local counterparts (provincial ministries/PMUs, DFOs, municipalities) and relevant stakeholders/partners or UN inter agency coordination to strengthen collaboration and enable smooth provincial delivery of FAO-supported activities.
2. Implementation support to FAO projects: Provide hands-on implementation support in the respective province by coordinating with government counterparts and partners to follow up on planned activities, mobilize stakeholders, and support timely execution of FAO project interventions across Madhesh/Koshi/Sudurpaschim as required.
3. Data entry, trackers & evidence management: Maintain and update provincial trackers/databases and organize supporting evidence (attendance sheets, photos, reports, approvals) using structured digital filing to strengthen traceability, monitoring/reporting systems, and audit readiness of provincial operations.
4. Impact documentation & visibility support: Collect field-level evidence and support preparation of short impact/visibility inputs (photos with captions, beneficiary highlights, key results) to contribute to evidence-based communication and reporting packages for FAO projects in the province.

Eligibility criteria

Age: 18 – 80

Required experience: 1 month

Nationality

Candidate must be a national, legal resident or hold refugee status in the country of assignment.

Assignment requirements

Relevant experience: 2 years

Languages

English, Level: Fair, Required
Nepalese, Level: Fair, Required

Required education level: Bachelor’s degree in Forestry/Environment/Natural Resource Management/Agriculture/ Rural Development

Competencies and values

• Accountability
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Creativity
•  Judgement and decision-making
•  Planning and organising
•  Professionalism
•  Self-management

Skills and experience

• Overall computer literacy, including proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), email, and internet; familiarity with database/trackers and shared drives is an asset.
•  Affinity with or interest in climate resilience, sustainable natural resource management, and volunteerism, and willingness to promote volunteerism for development within the assignment.
•  Excellent oral and written communication, with strong drafting and reporting skills (working knowledge of English and Nepali preferred).
•  accuracy and professionalism in document preparation, editing, record keeping, and maintaining well organized digital filing systems.

Area(s) of expertise

Administration, Communication, Energy and environment

Driving license
–

Other information

Volunteerism is understood as a wide range of activities undertaken of free will, for the general public good, for which monetary reward is not the principal motivating factor.

Living conditions and remarks

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

Advertisement end date:26/06/2026

Tagged as: Biratnager, Dhangadi, Janakpur