National Specialist – Development Of Lac Strategic Plan

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Organizational Setting The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
FAO's 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 Members
- countries and the European Union, FAO works in over countries worldwide.
The FAO-Country Office for Lesotho is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed-upon strategies and projects for transforming food, agriculture and rural development.
(FAO) is supporting the Lesotho Agricultural College (LAC), under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition (MAFSN), to implement the project "Transforming Lesotho Agricultural College into a Centre of Excellence for Skills on Education, Innovation, Extension and Agribusiness Development" (TCP/LES//C1).
The project supports LAC to develop a five-year Strategic Plan (–), a Teaching and Learning Policy, and a Programme Design and Development and Quality Assurance Policy, positioning the College as a centre of excellence for agricultural education, innovation, extension and agribusiness development.
Programme design and development is a central determinant of institutional quality and accreditation readiness.
LAC currently lacks a codified Programme Design and Development Policy setting out the principles, procedures and governance arrangements that guide the development, validation, periodic review and discontinuation of the academic programmes it designs and delivers as their sole owner and provider.
The absence of such a policy creates inconsistency in curriculum practice and constrains the College's ability to demonstrate compliance with the standards of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) — specifically Criterion 2.1.7(a), Programme Design and Development (Programme Review) — and with the requirements of the Lesotho Qualifications Framework (LQF).
To address this gap, LAC, with FAO's support, wishes to engage a national consultant to lead the development of a comprehensive Programme Design and Development Policy that is aligned with national and international quality assurance standards and positions the College favourably for full accreditation.
The overall objective of the assignment is to guide and facilitate a participatory, evidence-based process that results in a comprehensive, actionable and measurable five-year Strategic Plan for the Lesotho Agricultural College, serving as the College's core blueprint for guiding its growth, research focus and operational effectiveness.
Reporting Lines The specialist shall work under the overall supervision of the FAO Country Representative in Lesotho, direct supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative for programme and in liaison with the relevant technical units in HQ and Sub-regional office.
The incumbent will also report to the LAC Principal and work closely with a Ministry-designated Core Strategic Planning Team, the LAC Focal Point/Coordinator, LAC staff, and the FAO Project Task Force, including the Lead Technical Officer.
Technical Focus Assist the management of LAC in undertaking the necessary analytical work, soliciting inputs from different role players and drafting the strategic plan Tasks and responsibilities The primary responsibility of incumbent is to assist the leadership of the LAC in:
• Reviewing all relevant institutional documents, including previous strategic plans, financial audits, departmental reports, accreditation reports and research output data, and submit a formal Inception Report setting out the specialist's interpretation of these Terms of Reference, a detailed work plan, and a stakeholder mapping and engagement strategy;
• Conducting a PESTLE analysis of the higher education sector, identifyi