Job Title: Regional Project Manager

The position:  The International Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology (icipe) seeks to hire a Regional Project Manager for its operations in the Amhara Regional State. Part of the MOre Young Entrepreneurs in Silk and Honey (MOYESH) program will be implemented in the Amhara Region to meet the needs of unemployed youth and women for dignified and fulfilling jobs in the apiculture and sericulture value chains. The job holder of this position will lead the planning, implementation and supervision of program activities in the region in harmony with the overall implementation framework and timelines set at the federal level, and applicable policies of the regional government. The regional program manager will guide and supervise program teams in the Amhara Region and oversee the effective management of deployed program resources. The manager will also represent the program on official meetings and events in the Amhara Region and manage interactions with partnering regional institutions and stakeholders., working closely with the federal MOYESH Program team in Addis Ababa.  The Regional Program Office for the Amhara Region will be in Bahir Dar.

General: The International Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology (icipe) is a pan-African and non-profit Centre of Excellence for research and development and capacity building in insect science and its applications. Its mission is to help alleviate poverty, ensure food and nutritional security and improve the overall health status of peoples of the tropics by developing and extending management tools and strategies for harmful and useful arthropods, while preserving the natural resource base through research and capacity building. Since its establishment in 1970, icipe has become a significant contributor to science and innovation required to meet the health and food security challenges of sub-Saharan Africa. The Centre has achieved this status by developing alternative and environmentally friendly pest and vector management technologies and products that are effective, selective, non-polluting, non-resistance inducing, and are affordable to resource-limited rural and urban communities. Employing close to 500 international and national staff, icipe also has approximately 150 graduate students who contribute to its research portfolio annually. The Centre currently has operations in more than 40 African countries, and thriving partnerships with universities and research organizations across the world.  For more information visit: www.icipe.org.

icipe is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation to implement the MOre Young Entrepreneurs in Silk and Honey (MOYESH) program. The purpose of this partnership intervention is to secure fulfilling and dignified employment and income for unemployed young women and men by scaling up integrated beekeeping and silk farming businesses, building on lessons learned from YESH project and leveraging the public-private partnerships that are already created. The MOYESH program targets to provide 100,000 youth (of which 60% are female) with appropriate skills and knowledge and enable them to secure dignified and fulfilling work in four target regions of Ethiopia including the Amhara Region.

Main Responsibilities:

• Lead and oversee all activities of the MOYESH program in the Amhara Region
• Provide support to all partners and project team for smooth implementation of program activities in the region
• Organize workshops and regional program meetings in the Region and provide regular reporting of overall program progress to the regional program steering committee and program coordinators
• Prepare a detail program activities and execution plan as per the program activities and carry out regular monitoring of the program activities
• Supervise program teams located at Zone, Woreda, and village levels and provide technical backstopping to all field staff.
• Represent the MOYESH program on official region level engagements in the Amhara Region
• Coordinate the planning and implementation of program activities in the Amhara Region
• Manage collaboration and interaction with key public-private partners and in the Amhara Region
• Collaborate and mobilize resources within the Region that complement the MOYESH program activities
• Manage program finances and assets in the Region
• Serve as secretary of the MOYESH Program Regional Steering Committee, and
• Prepare and submit the program with regular technical and financial reports.

Minimum Requirements:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or above in agriculture, project management, agricultural and development economics or related field.
• Relevant professional certification
• Broad / specialized knowledge of methods, techniques, and processes

Experience:

• At least seven years demonstrated hands-on experience in implementing agricultural development or rural development projects
• Experience in promoting apiculture and sericulture activities as a business
• Experience in the management and supervision of development projects
• Multi-tasking skills, with the ability to coordinate, prioritize, and organize workload, meet deadlines and work under pressure
• Sound experience in stakeholder engagement and management
• Proven track record of initiating and developing research for development projects will be an advantage

Skills:

• Solid knowledge on management of multi-stakeholder rural development projects
• Good leadership quality, ability to develop partnership network, and convince partners, policymakers to show impact visibility of MOYESH program.
• Demonstrated skills in report writing
• Excellent communication, presentation, and team-building skills
• Experience of managing and supervising staff
• Comprehensive understanding of the current state of the agriculture sector and the socioeconomics of smallholder farming in the Amhara Region,
• Broad understanding of current agricultural development priorities of the Amhara Region, including roles and constraints of the private sector
• Good understanding of the current policy environment within which smallholder farmers and private companies operate
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in a multicultural work environment
• Good appreciation of gender-related constraints of the agriculture sector and various barriers to the active participation of women in agricultural businesses

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability in managing similar development projects
• Experience working effectively in a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional work environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English 
• Capacity to take initiative, demonstrate good judgment, and work under minimal supervision
• Strong organizational and analytical skills

Duty Station: Bahir Dar

Grade:   HG 15

Minimum Base salary: Birr 43,956 per month (Negotiable depending on the salary history of the candidate)

Terms of appointment: This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position, initial appointment is for three years with the possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and the availability of funding. icipe offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with a competitive salary and excellent benefits in line with ILRI salary applicable for its Nationally Recruited Staff. icipe is an international and equal opportunity organization and believes that diversity of its staff contributes to excellence. 

The ILRI campus is set in a secure, attractive campus with dining and sports facilities that are located on-site.

Applications: Applicants should provide a cover letter, a detailed curriculum vitae including names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees and a letter providing a point by point response to the essential and desirable person specifications. The position and reference number: RPM/01/2020 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter. All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ on or before 25 January 2020.