Job Description

I. About TechnoServe

TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries. Founded in 1968, we are a nonprofit organization that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital and markets. Our work is rooted in the idea that given the opportunity, hardworking men and women in even the poorest places can generate income, jobs and wealth for their families and communities. In East Africa, we operate in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Across the region, we implement a range of large-scale value chain interventions, agribusiness projects and entrepreneurship/economic empowerment projects. With more than four decades of proven results, we believe in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.

II. About the Project

Scaling Ethiopia’s Regenerative Export Sector with Out growers project is four-year project that is aimed to catalyze the growth of Ethiopia’s export sector through efficient, inclusive and regenerative market systems with Ethiopian small-scale farmers. Through sustainable, smallholder-sourced high value exports, Ethiopian small-scale farmers will access higher income generating opportunities and lucrative, premium export markets, contributing to more resilient and improved farming livelihoods, particularly for women and youth. We envision a climate-resilient and inclusive horticulture export sector that strengthens partnerships between small-scale farmers and export enterprises, allows small-scale farmers to produce high-value export crops with access to climate-smart irrigation technology, and responds to end-market consumer demand for regenerative grown products. In partnership with other export enterprises—with strong human rights, environmental sustainability and social impact commitments in place, particularly in regard to women and youth—as well as federal and local government counterparts, we will deploy a combination of technical assistance, innovative rural finance mechanisms for irrigation technologies and sector-wide policy adjustments to reduce barriers to smallholder sourcing. Just as importantly, this project will provide an evidence base and solution for climate-resilient, regenerative agricultural practices and growing consumer demand for smallholder-sourced, regeneratively-grown products.

III. Position Description

The Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring the overall on time delivery of project deliverables, according to cost and quality specifications as well as effectively managing relationships and coordinating with key project counterparts, including government office counterparts. S/he will directly manage and lead at project staff, most of whom are based at regional level and led by one Regional Market Specialist per region. 

IV. Duties and Responsibilities 

The duties and responsibilities of the Project Manager are structured into the following categories:

Refine project approach and ensure successful implementation

• Working with project staff and partners, develop refined approach to key deliverables, including crop selection, farmer mobilization, designing and provision of technical assistance to farmers and crowding in enterprises.

• Provide leadership in determining crop water requirements, availability and selection of smallholder appropriate irrigation technologies, in obtaining GoE exemption for export enterprises to offer irrigation technologies on input credit as well as creating solutions for better access to finances.

• Develop and maintain overall work plan for project and corresponding budget on an annual and quarterly basis; monitor project and update/adjust accordingly;

• Ensure benefit to women and youth

• Work together with and support Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team, integrating them into the team to promote evidence based decision making and adaptive management

• Promote learning and advance gender equality within team and with partners; adapt project approach as needed based on implementation feedback and progress

Team Coaching and Management

• Manage direct reports, through regular follow up and individual coaching as well as regular performance reviews and feedback

• Coach and support project staff to enable them to transfer advanced new agribusiness knowledge and replicate effective technologies at other sites;

• Lead, manage and supervise project team, convening regular team meetings and ensure project staff receive necessary support on HR, financial and administrative matters, as required;

• Oversee and ensure that training and coaching delivered through Project is effectively

Relationship Management and Project Representation

• Manage relationship with implementing partners, donor, and main financial institution partners and federal and regional level government stakeholders, including information sharing, coordination and joint problem solving;

• Manage key relationships with GOE counterparts and other key project partners

• Facilitate donors, partners, and external guests visiting project

• Participate and represent project at external functions, as required;

• Represent the project and present its work to TechnoServe leadership, donors, and other stakeholders;

Learning and Reporting

• Working with MEL staff, compile, develop and deliver on-time, high quality, quarterly donor reports to donor and key stakeholders; consult with the donor and key project stakeholders regarding the report

• Receive and follow up weekly updates; develop and circulate own weekly updates;

• Find opportunities to sharing transferrable insights and learnings with broader TNS Ethiopia team

• Promote learning within team and within TNS Ethiopia through sharing key issues related to the Project, its management and effectiveness 

Job Requirements

I.              Required Qualifications and Capabilities

·  A true passion for and commitment to development and economic empowerment of smallholder farmers, particularly for women and youth;  

·  Bachelor’s Degree with 7-10 years; Master’s Degree with 5-7 years in Agriculture, Economics, Marketing, Finance or related fields

• Minimum of 5 years of managerial level experience

· Demonstrated expertise and experience in market based agriculture, agribusiness; and, in particular, marketing of agricultural products 

· Demonstrated strong analytic capabilities: Value chain analysis, financial analysis, markets analysis

·Experience working with financial institutions and government institutions, such as Ministry of Agriculture, at federal and regional levels,

· Experience supporting smallholder farmers and farmer organizations in rural areas

· Excellent planning skills; Strong and very detailed oriented when planning and preparing documents

· Ability to work according to a work plan and meet deadlines; while at the same time adapting to new information

· Entrepreneurial, creative team player with excellent inter-cultural and inter-personal skills

·Good listener and thoughtful communicator with strong leadership skills; Strong interpersonal/people management and organizational skills and excellent oral and written communication skills a must, including report writing and presentations

· Strong, analytical thinker and ability to systematically and methodically conceptualize

· Excellent problem solving and negotiation skills

· Willingness and experience serving remote rural areas

· Strong skills in business software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.)

·Fluency in written and spoken English and Amharic

·Learning mindset

·Committed to quality and achieving impact; motivated; high level of integrity and honesty

II. Preferred Qualifications and Capabilities

·Prior experience in export commodities.

·Finance Degree

·Experience identifying buyers and facilitating agreements

·Experience working with irrigation schemes in Ethiopia

VII. Success Factors:

Competency is a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) directly related to successful performance on the job.

Core Competencies include:

• Integrity and honesty: Is widely trusted; seen as a direct, truthful individual; presents truthful information in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent himself or herself for personal gain.

• Team Work/ Relationships:  Works co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member and/or leader, to achieve a common goal.  Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.

• Learning attitude:  Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn. Actively identifies new areas for learning; applies and shares new knowledge and skill appropriately.

• Diversity/Inclusiveness:  Demonstrates an understanding and appreciation for diversity and supports diversity efforts. Interacts effectively with and inclusively with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, ages, and genders.

• Communication:  Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations. Listens effectively; shares information, ideas and arguments; adjusts terminology, language and communication modes to the needs of the audience; ensures accurate understanding; acts in a way that facilitates open exchange of ideas and information; uses appropriate non-verbal communication.

• Decision making/Problem Solving:  Is able to analyze situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution.  Is able to make effective decisions on a day-to-day basis, taking ownership of decisions, demonstrating sound judgement in escalating issues where necessary.

• Results Oriented/ High Quality Deliverables:  Stays focused on the efforts necessary to achieve quality results consistent with programmatic or departmental goals. Demonstrates the ability to achieve effective results; works persistently to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. Accomplishes tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks.

• Planning & Time Management:  Establishes a course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a specific goal. Effectively plans, schedules, prioritizes and controls activities; identifies, integrates and orchestrates resources (people, material, information, budget, and/or time) to accomplish goals. Prioritizes work according to the program or department’s goals, not just own job responsibilities; manages own time effectively.

• Business Acumen:  The ability to use information, ask the right questions and take decisions that make an impact on the overall business performance.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:

• Financial & Resource Management: The ability to estimate, justify, and manage appropriate funding levels to support goal accomplishment. Managing Resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions aimed at building and planning efficient project workflows, and at improving overall organizational performance.

• Donor/Partnership Management: Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, or organizations to help achieve business goals.

• Analysis, Research, Report Writing: Experience in business planning and analysis, modeling for feasibility and execution. Able to analyze and express oneself clearly in business writing.

• Innovative Mindset: Curious inquiries, asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, sees change as an opportunity.

Managerial Competencies

·Emotional Intelligence: The act of knowing, understanding, and responding to emotions, overcoming stress in the moment, and being aware of how your words and actions affect others. Emotional intelligence consists of 4 attributes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

·Strategic Thinking: Managers should recognize key actions, underlying problems, make connection and patterns, see consequences and implications. Anticipates obstacles realistically and plans ways to deal with them.

·Staff Development: managers are required to work with employees to plan on the development of skills and abilities so that they can fulfill current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.

·Trust to Delegate: managers should have trust and willingness to assign responsibilities to direct reports and give them discretion and authority to carry them out.

·Feedback/Coaching (mentoring): managers should give instructions, suggestions, explanations, and feedback to subordinates. 

How to Apply

VIII.  Application Instructions:

Qualified and interested applicants should click here to apply and submit a cover letter resume as a single document (either Word or PDF) by August 07,2022. Applications will be reviewed and considered as received/on a rolling basis. Please note that we are not accepting CVs that are not sent through the indicated link.

TECHNOSERVE ENCOURAGES DIVERSITY IN ALL LEVELS AND ACROSS ALL FACETS OF OUR ORGANIZATION. WITH THIS COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, WE ARE PROUD TO BE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DO NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF GENDER, RACE, COLOR, ETHNICITY, RELIGION, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, AGES, DISABILITY, AND ALL OTHER PROTECTED CLASSES. 

TechnoServe has the right to cancel this advertisement. Women are highly encouraged to apply