Vacancy Announcement

ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY

Position:                          Project Lead, AgriHub

Term of Employment:   One year with possibility of extension

Duty Station(s):              Addis Ababa

Required Number:         One

Salary & Benefits:           Competitive

Application Deadline:    August 30, 2020

BACKGROUND

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government agency created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

The agency focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results. 

At ATA, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals. 

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Project Lead will assume an overall responsibility of the AgriHub implementation and activities to support the MSMEs; and working with multiple partners by providing high level strategic direction to the project to ensure the overall vision of the project is met. The Project Lead will manage proper performance of the project, develop detailed implementation plans, establish key performance indicators, and ensure project’s milestones and targets are met. In addition, the Project Lead will ensure proper management of the project budget and alignments with other national and regional policies, strategies and programs that are focused on the agribusiness sector.

The Project Lead will be responsible for managing the core team of staff and short-term consultants based in Addis Ababa and across the four main regions of Ethiopia (Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and SNNP). The Project Lead will engage all relevant stakeholders to creatively solve problems and overcome obstacles to achieve desired project’s results. The Lead will work in close consultation with the other ATA projects to ensure effective implementation and scale up of the project’s support. The Project Lead will directly report to the Senior Director, ACC Programs.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Mainstream use of best practice program management approaches in implementing AgriHub in the areas like team capacity development, stakeholder coordination, planning, reporting, problem solving and implementation support.

• Mobilizes needed financial, human and organizational resources for the project execution.

• Plans, organizes and guides AgriHub and MSME project activities to ensure on time completion of tasks and accomplishments.

• Adjust and refine the AgriHub strategy based upon lessons learned during implementation; critically assess capacity gaps hindering effective implementation of the Project and develop approaches for improving capabilities as required.

• Engages a wide variety of stakeholders across the agriculture system (federal and regional governments, smallholder farmers, technical experts, businesses, financiers, investors, etc) to foster effective linkages.

• Integrates and aligns AgriHub with other ATA programs to achieve synergy and outcomes that impact the boarder agricultural system.

• Draws and documents lessons and experiences gained from the project and contributes to the development of an institutional knowledge base for the ATA.
• Prepare the quarterly report for the results of the project and send to AFD based on the agreed standard reporting format.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum of master’s degree in Business Administration, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Development, Agribusiness, Finance, Commerce, Management, Marketing, International trade, International relations, or any other relevant field.

• At least 10 years of experience in either one or more of the following: business development/management/administration, program/project coordination, trade and investment facilitation, agribusiness, corporate finance, stakeholder management.

• Proven experience in directly managing large number of staff with different roles and responsibilities, including in management roles.

• Demonstrated track record of success with program design, performance management, learning systems, and monitoring and evaluation.

• Outstanding track record in a leadership and management capacity on a range of client and/or senior management engagements.

• Practical experiences in piloting, implementing, and scaling up ideas/solutions.

• Experience working with Micro, Small and Medium enterprises in Ethiopia.

• Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty, and desire to be of service.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Strong capabilities in problem solving, project and stakeholder management.

• Strong experience of managing work programs, teams, and their individuals, as well as liaising with senior decision-makers.

• Experience in creating partnerships at the national and international levels with public and private sector partners.

• Exceptional ability to communicate consistently, clearly, and effectively with a range of stakeholders in a cross-cultural environment.

• A proven ability to lead, inspire, coach, and develop others, including people from different backgrounds and culture.

• Familiarity with Ethiopia’s agricultural system, with a broad perspective on how the entire system operates and how public, private, and informal actors operate within the system is a plus.

• Excellent proficiency with Excel and Power Point tools.

• Fluency in English and Amharic, written and spoken, is essential; knowledge of other local and/or foreign languages is a plus.