Position: Senior Technical Expert I - Project Coordination

Term of Employment: Six months with possible extension  

Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa

Required Number: One

Deadline: September 17, 2022

BACKGROUND

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government Institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions that smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability, contributing to transformed agriculture by 2030.

ATI’s major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly implementing pilot projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, with regional transformation centers such as in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regions, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

ATI launched a Delivery Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in 2017 G.C to provide technical support to MoA’s work to address systemic bottlenecks of the sector, to facilitate the implementation of the 10 programs identified by the Ministry, and particularly the implementation of irrigated wheat production. The MoA Delivery Unit is jointly overseen by the Minister of Agriculture and ATI’s senior management. The Delivery Unit team has been playing a highly visible and pivotal role in accelerating agricultural transformation and development in Ethiopia.

In general, the MoA Delivery Unit will be active in several key areas such as:

• Support the rolling out of enhanced planning, project management and reporting tools, processes and systems to track and report on the progress of priority activities

• Support the development of robust targets, plans and budgets by initiative owners

• Strengthen execution and day-to-day project and activity management capacity of staff

• Strengthen preparation, quality control and close follow up of activity reporting by staff

• Support proactive identification of key issues in specific activities or overall initiatives, analytical and technical problem solving on these issues, and escalation for senior decision-making

• Provide analytical problem-solving support to senior leadership on high priority requests, such as analysis of trends, strategic planning or policy analysis

• Facilitate the provision of or directly provide technical advisory and input, contributing to ToRs, concept notes, and studies and also develop training materials on specific topics.

 Our Culture

ATI has 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 teamwork to achieve excellent results. 

At ATI, 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 Senior Technical Expert for Project Coordination will directly report to the manager of DU and focuses on the implementation, technical support, monitoring and evaluation of the irrigated wheat project and the 10 agricultural programs identified by the Ministry to be implemented in 10 years. He/she also assesses the overall efficacy of programs and makes recommendations to improve their implementation.  

He/she will work closely with the MoA-DU manager and office of the Minister to align on DU priorities, agree on annual plans and targets, put in place regular performance monitoring and management routines, seek feedback on DU performance, and escalate critical issues that require the senior leader’s involvement. The Senior Technical Expert will also be responsible to produce a monthly performance report on the implementation of the irrigated wheat project and the 10 in 10 programs so that the challenges can be quickly identified, and solutions proactively made.

The position holder is expected to have a problem-solving & can-do attitude and enjoy working in a fast-paced organization that is mission and results-driven. She/he will have to have very strong leadership, senior stakeholder management, and team management experience, and a track record of effectively leading the planning and execution of major programs, projects or initiatives.

 DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POSITION

• Participate and assist in developing project proposals in the 10 in 10 programs and the irrigated wheat project and solicit funding from the Government of Ethiopia and Development Partners.

• Develop an implementation plan for the projects (research and extension), share it with relevant partners, receive & incorporate feedback, reach a consensus on the plan and get approval.

• Participate in budget preparation, review and monitoring and facilitate the programs’ budget distribution to regional bureaus of agriculture and regional research institutes.

• Support regions in the acquisition of inputs on time for the implementation of the projects.

• Build and enhance the capacity of implementing partners and provide technical backup to ensure effective implementation of the projects/programs.

• Conduct regular monitoring and learning reviews with implementing partners and evaluation of the projects to keep the projects/programs on track.

• Reporting on the project/program implementation in line with the reporting requirement of development partners.

• Regularly schedule and attend meetings between stakeholders to take appropriate and timely action and ensure effective delivery as planned.

• Providing media briefings on the projects/programs in line with the communication protocol of the Ministry.

• Organize projects/programs launch events and facilitate workshops to recognize stakeholders. 

Job Requirements

• Minimum of MSc degree in Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Economics, Natural Resource Management, Project Management, and other related fields.

• At least six years of work experience in large-scale program/project management and implementation.

• Experience in project management (Project proposal development, planning, execution, time and budget management).

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities

• Ability to exercise good judgment in a variety of situations, multitask and work under pressure and competing priorities with meeting strict deadlines.

• Excellent writing and interpersonal communication skills and proven stakeholder management experience

• Experience in project documentation management and ability to use project management tools

• Proactively seeks and acts on feedback to drive own development and contributes to others’ development through active coaching and sharing knowledge and best practices

• Strong knowledge and skills in Microsoft office Suite, and various program/project management and data and reporting systems

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

• Fluency in English, Amharic required, and other regional languages is an advantage.

How to Apply

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) a CV (maximum 5 pages) to https://apply.ata.gov.et

It is mandatory to mention the position title under the subject line of your cover letter.

Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.

Women are highly encouraged to apply.

NB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.