Sustainable Commodity Value Chain Specialist

UNDP Ghana is implementing a growing portfolio of programmes that promote sustainable agricultural commodity value chains, natural resource management, climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and inclusive rural development. These efforts support Ghana's national priorities on sustainable land use, forest restoration, climate action, food systems transformation, and green economic growth. Current interventions focus on strategic commodities including cocoa, shea and soybean, while UNDP is actively exploring opportunities to expand its engagement in the cashew sector and other sustainable agricultural value chains.

The assignment offers an opportunity to contribute to the design and implementation of innovative programmes that strengthen commodity value chains and offers opportunities to enhance livelihoods while addressing environmental challenges such as deforestation, land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate vulnerability. The position will play an important role in supporting ongoing initiatives and identifying new opportunities for investment, partnerships and programme development, particularly in relation to sustainable cashew value chain development.

The Volunteer will be integrated within UNDP Ghana's Environment and Climate portfolio and will work closely with technical specialists, programme teams and national counterparts. The role will involve collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders, including the Forestry Commission, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and other key national stakeholders.

Under the direct supervision of Team Lead of the Environment and Climate cluster the UN Volunteer will support the design, implementation, monitoring, partnership development and knowledge management of UNDP's sustainable commodity and natural resource management portfolio, with a particular focus on cocoa, shea, soybean and emerging opportunities in the cashew sector. In this regard the UN Volunteer Specialist will undertake the following tasks:

1. Support the Implementation of Sustainable Commodity Programmes
• Provide technical and coordination support to ongoing projects related to cocoa, shea and soybean value chains
• Support the implementation of activities related to climate-smart agriculture, agroforestry, forest landscape restoration, sustainable land management, community re-source management and resilient livelihoods
• Contribute to efforts aimed at strengthening community governance systems for sustainable management of forests, woodlands and other natural resources
• Assist in the preparation and monitoring of annual workplans, activity schedules and project delivery targets.
• Conduct field visits to project sites to support implementation, monitoring and stake-holder engagement activities.
2. Support Development of a Sustainable Cashew Programme
• Undertake analyses and mapping of the cashew value chain in Ghana, including pro-duction systems, market opportunities, environmental challenges, policy issues and investment gaps.
• Identify opportunities for sustainable cashew production, processing, value addition and market development.
• Support stakeholder consultations with government agencies, private sector actors, farmer organizations, development partners and financial institutions.
• Contribute to the preparation of concept notes, project documents, partnership proposals and resource mobilization efforts for future cashew-related interventions.
• Explore opportunities to integrate cashew development with agroforestry, landscape restoration, biodiversity conservation and climate resilience objectives.
3. Support Value Chain Development, Private Sector Engagement and Sustainable Finance
• Liaise with the Innovative Finance and Inclusive Growth Cluster to identify and develop public-private partnerships and innovative financing pathways, undertake assessments of financing needs and investment opportunities, and promote sustainable pro-duction, market access and innovative financing mechanisms for sustainable commodity value chains.
• Support in engaging private sector actors, producer organizations, aggregators, processors and commodity buyers to strengthen value chain development for relevant commodities prioritized by the Ghana country office.
• Support activities aimed at enhancing economic opportunities for women, youth and producer groups across targeted value chains.
4. Monitoring, Reporting and Knowledge Management
• Support the collection, compilation and analysis of project data, results and lessons learned across commodity related work.
• Assist in preparing technical reports, donor reports, briefs, presentations and communication materials.
• Develop case studies, success stories and knowledge products documenting good practices and innovations in sustainable commodity development and natural re-source management.
• Support the organization of workshops, stakeholder dialogues, field missions and knowledge-sharing events.