The Agronomist is responsible and accountable to ensure the planning and implementation of ‘back yard gardening’ involves growing vegetables.

The project will allow diversifying diets and thus address micronutrient deficiencies. S/he monitors and measures on a regular basis the progress indicators of the newly introduced farming practices and undertake regular technical follow-up of the beneficiaries, ensuring that the techniques and vegetable gardening management are mastered.

• Ensure observance and respect the dignity of beneficiaries, careers and members of the community at all times.
• Train HDAs as community mobilizers on back yard garden preparation and maintenance, traditional and non-costly methods of disease and pest control, income generation from the sale of surplus production.
• Identify appropriate land for the setup of demonstration farms.
• Select seedlings prior to distribution, according to their agronomical particularities (productivity, resistance, maturation length, compatibility with local conditions, etc), and to their nutritional and economical value and participate in material and seed procurement
• Use vegetable crops which have a short maturity period and long-term benefits.
• Give priority to vegetables that people are familiar with. For the introduction of new vegetables, make sure that people like the taste and know how to use them (cooking demonstrations and basic information on nutrition is necessary).
• Ensure that hygiene and good sanitation is practiced especially near the seedbeds to reduce the risk of plant contamination.
• Encourage beneficiaries to collect their own material to assess their motivation and intervene when collection is too difficult or expensive.
• Consider water used after domestic consumption and harvesting and storage techniques, to allow watering the gardens even in summer without depending solely on water vendors.
• For monitoring and evaluation, ensure that PD heart team is adequately trained in data collection interpretation of information received from the beneficiaries and facilitate data collection and initiation. . 
• Upscaling centre based, house hold & community-based education about maternal nutrition & IYCF by PD promoters
• Participate in IYCF Framework implementation (e.g. orientation, training, referral, message development & distribution, etc.)
• Follow up activity implementation and write, compile and share reports.
• Monitor budget utilization and revise pipeline.
• Perform other duties as assigned. The duties and responsibilities listed above are representative of the nature and level of work assigned and are not necessarily all inclusive.

Job Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS

• BSc Degree in Plant science, Agronomy, Horticulture or related fields with demonstrated experience and specific knowledge in vegetable gardening.
• At least 4 years’ NGO experience in livelihood and agriculture (Backyard gardening) projects.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

• Experience working with private sector, government agencies and beneficiaries on livelihoods programs.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, as well as the proven ability to work collaboratively with many organizations and stakeholders.
• Experience of implementation programs (nutrition related), including monitoring and evaluation
• Proven capacity to supervise, train and coach staff
• Willingness and capacity to be flexible and accommodating when faced with difficult and frustrating working conditions
• Ability and willingness to frequently travel and stay at the field
• Good organization skills and multi-tasking ability
• Positive attitude and collaboration toward other team colleagues
• Strong commitment toward achieving results
• Excellent and demonstrated skills in computer Microsoft office applications’ Word, Excel, PowerPoint and outlooks, emails
• Knowledge of local language (Wolaitgna) is mandatory.

How to Apply

International Medical Corps never asks job applicants for a fee, payment, or other monetary transaction. If you are asked for money in connection with this recruitment, please report to International Medical Corps at the website provided at the end of this document. 

Interested applicants who meet the above requirements should submit their application letter and CV through www.ethiojobs.net before OR on May 28, 2021 nOnly short listed candidates will be contacted. Note: IMC is equal opportunity employer and hence candidate from all background: religion, ethnic group, qualified women and people living with disabilities, etc are all encouraged to apply.

Website for reporting misconduct Please do not submit your CV or application to this website, it will not be considered for review.