Job Description
Realizing Sorghum and Millet Agricultural Productivity Gains in the Sahel/ Nigeria.
Background
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) seeks to establish a practical understanding of how the production of sorghum and pearl millet features in Sahelian farming households’ overall livelihoods, and what that means for the investment choices farmers make regarding the production of these crops. Therefore BMGF awarded a grant to Context Global Development (Context) to manage a pilot program in Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria that tests different intervention hypotheses through action-research with farming households.
Context selected the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) as a sub-grantee to implement a two-year (2016-2017) pilot project in Northern Nigeria. The purpose of the pilot project is to strengthen the resilience of sorghum/ millet farming systems in Northwestern Nigeria, by empowering smallholder farmers to develop farming as a sustainable business. Building on the approach set by its 2SCALE program (www.2scale.org), IFDC will partner with a lead agrifood company interested in sourcing high-quality sorghum and/or millet from Nigerian smallholder farmers, and facilitate the development and strengthening of business relationships among the value chain actors and supporters.
The objective is to deepen our understanding of how partnerships, built with grassroots actors (farmers and their local networks, called agribusiness clusters), and the companies and entrepreneurs driving the value chain, achieve impact; and what the business models are that support both competitiveness and inclusiveness. This learning agenda will help identify incentives for smallholders to invest (or not) in sorghum/ millet productivity, and possible scaling pathways for the post-pilot phase.
The project’s team in Nigeria will be composed of two full time technical staff: a Team Leader and a Training Specialist. They will be supported by part-time technical assistants and consultants, a monitoring & evaluation (M&E) specialist and support staff (administrative/ financial staff and drivers).
This job description focuses on the Team Leader position.
Duties
The Team Leader is responsible for setting the strategy and intervention model of the pilot project in Northern Nigeria, and for managing project activities.
S/he will be on the front line in leading the formation of sorghum/ millet agribusiness clusters and inclusive value chains driven by private off-taker partners.
Specific duties include:
Develop a partnership agreement with the selected private agri-food company driving the chain, clarifying (among others) the shared ambition, objectives, strategy, key activities, roles and responsibilities, governance structure and mechanisms, as well as risks and mitigation measures.
The agreement must add value to the societal commitments and initiatives of the private lead firm, both in terms of activities and measurement of impact at farm- and other levels in the value chain.
Through multi-stakeholder activities, facilitate the development of inclusive value chain(s) and business models, with a specific attention to women stakeholders. Identify how to engage intermediaries like aggregators in a sustainable way.
Throughout the project lifetime, facilitate governance processes at the partnership level and at the chain level, ensuring that transparency and trust are built among parties.
Lead the development of action plans with different parties, and oversee and coordinate the implementation of field-level activities agreed upon, including but not limited to technical and business capacity building activities of grassroots actors; business planning; facilitation of access to finance and of access to market information; promotion of technical innovations (e.g. at farm-level) and institutional innovations (e.g. to reduce transaction costs and improve business ethics).
Whenever needed, identify and select technical assistants and consultants, contract them (e.g. professional service contracts, grants, no-cost terms of reference – for 2SCALE staff) and monitor their performance.
Promote the integration of women throughout the project.
In close collaboration with the M&E specialist and Context, develop and manage a M&E system.
Promote the pilot’s co-learning agenda with all stakeholders and ensure its alignment with the learning approach set by Context.
Write and submit quality progress and other technical reports or notes with a strict respect of deadlines, in good (international-level) English.
Document field achievements, innovations, failures and lessons learned; integrate lessons learned into subsequent project activities.
Oversee financial aspects of the project, including but not limited to the development and monitoring of budgets, financial reporting, preparation of monthly fund requests, review of monthly financial statements.
Supervise other project staff and consultants.
Ensure the integration of the pilot in the 2SCALE portfolio from a technical/ methodological point of view, and develop synergies with other IFDC projects and with other programs in the country.
Develop and ensure good working relationships with key regional and national partner organizations, including local authorities.
Represent the project at relevant national events.
The Team Leader is also responsible for any other assignment that IFDC’s management deems necessary for the success of the project.
Position and Duty Station:
The Team Leader’s position is a national one with a duty station in one of IFDC’s offices, either in a major city of Northwest Nigeria or in Abuja.
The position requires intensive travels (minimum 50% of the time) in Northwest Nigeria, from time to time to other parts of the country and exceptionally to other African countries like Ghana.
Supervision:
The Team Leader is supervised by and reports to the Regional Agribusiness Coordinator for 2SCALE in West Africa (based in Accra).
S/he will works in very close collaboration with the 2SCALE Cluster Advisor in Nigeria, and other cross-cutting thematic specialists.
Qualifications
Minimum Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics, Agronomy or Business Administration.
At least 6 years of relevant experience in agribusiness, with a minimum of 4 years in the private sector or with public-private partnerships. A professional experience in Northwestern Nigeria would be an advantage.
Proven track record in leading a multi-disciplinary team and managing complex projects.
Result-orientation and ability to take initiative, reach targets and respect deadlines.
Rigorous work ethic and well organized.
Ability to communicate effectively and in a participatory way with stakeholders of diverse interests and at all levels (from farmers to high-level officials), from both public and private sectors, and ability to work in a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment.
Ability to write quality documents in English (international standards).
Fluent in Hausa and English.
go to method of application »
Interested and qualified candidates should send their applications in English in the form of an email, indicating clearly the target position in the subject line of the email, and including as separate attachments a cover letter and a CV to: rvogelsperger@ifdc.org with copy to: barthur@ifdc.org Note:
Apply via :
rvogelsperger@ifdc.org
