Note: The LO FAO position has now been filled – 27th December 2014

A new and exciting opportunity is here. If you are looking for ways to get more involved in IFSA, this might be your big chance. The position for LO FAO is now open.

You might be asking yourself what an LO is? An LO (Liaison Officer) is the correspondent between IFSA and one of its professional partners. He/she is elected by the General Assembly (or in special cases like this one, by the Council with consultation of the Direction). FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations is one of those partners IFSA cooperates with.

The FAO looks to achieve food security for all – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives. One of the ways in which this can be done is through making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, and enabling inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems.

The LO’s have the following main tasks:

  • Maintaining regular contact with both the IFSA President and the Partner organization;
  • Working with both parties to find suitable arrangements for collaborative activities;
  • Raising awareness of one organization to the other;
  • Ensuring an efficient changeover to the next LO and providing support at least until the end of the calendar year.

The LO FAO would have specific main tasks, such as:

  • Making the FAO reachable for students
  • Cooperating with the FAO to jointly support each organization’s missions
  • Sustaining and developing the cooperation between FAO and IFSA
  • Communicating constantly with the focal points within the FAO
  • Creating joint projects to involve students in FAO projects and vice-versa.
  • Finding and providing internship possibilities for students at the FAO

And, in this particular case;

  • Organizing the Youth Special Event in the FAO World Congress that will be held in Durban in 2015.

It is strongly recommended that the LO FAO has excellent English skills; has acquired previous experiences and skills in communicating and cooperating with professional partner organizations; has a deep understanding of IFSA or other youth organizations, meaning that the person should have been involved for a reasonable time period in the organization. All in all, a great and sensitive common sense and the capacity for strategic thinking is the best asset to meet the requirements of this demanding position.

By applying to this position, you could broaden your horizons, meet interesting leading people from other international student organizations, and learn about the functioning of organizations in general. You would be part of the team of IFSA Officials until the next General Assembly (August 2015), hence getting to learn about online teamwork in an international context. Overall, it is a real chance to develop many useful skills!

Those of you who are interested in this position, please send the following to Natalia Cisneros, (natalia.ifsa@gmail.com) by the 31st of December 2014 at 5 pm GMT-5:

  • A motivation letter (Why you think you would make a good candidate, and why you are motivated to do it);
  • Your CV;
  • A recommendation letter written by your LC President.
Looking forward to hearing from you 🙂 The Direction  ]]>