Vacancy Announcement
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Junior Project Officer – Analytical Support, Domestic & Export Market Development
Term of Employment: One year
Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa
Required Number: One
Salary & Benefits: Competitive
Application Deadline: October 20, 2016
BACKGROUND:
The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) has been established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to Ethiopia’s agricultural development. The Agency does this through problem-solving, implementation support, and capacity building of stakeholders involved in implementation of interventions that address the systemic bottlenecks. The Agency reports to a Transformation Council chaired by the Prime Minister and whose co-chair is the Minister of Agriculture.
The programmatic focus of the Agency responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Transformation Council. Within the Agency, issues are divided into four different groups: Production and Productivity which includes Inputs and Crop Protection, Livestock, Research and Extension, Mechanization, Rural Finance & Agro-Processing Value Addition; Agribusiness and Markets including Market Services, Market Infrastructure, Commercial & Contract Farming, Domestic and Export Market Development, and Cooperatives Development; Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Agricultural Growth including Sustainable Irrigation & Watershed Management, Sustainable Land Management, Gender and Nutrition, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, and Planning and MLE; and Enhanced Implementation Capacity which includes ICT, Private Sector, and Organizational and Human Capacity. Across the programs, the ATA engages public, private and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models.
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 competitiveness of Ethiopian commodities on domestic and international markets are often characterized by their lack of consistency. In this increasingly globalized world where market competition is intense and barriers to market penetration high, it is imperative that Ethiopia identifies and addresses key systemic bottlenecks to domestic and export market development if to succeed in becoming a global player in select commodities. While the effective development of market infrastructure and market services will have a major impact on the overall development of market conditions, readying market actors to increase the volume and value of commodities marketed in domestic and export markets will require additional interventions. These will include improving the competitiveness of commodities and the private sector, strengthening the capacity of aggregators to optimize their supply chains, building effective linkages to local and global wholesale and retail markets, and designing effective branding and promotion strategies.
With large scale value addition and agro-industrialization becoming more robust on the domestic front, and clear comparative advantages emerging for Ethiopian commodities such as honey and tef on the international front, critical interventions are needed to support aggregators such as cooperative unions and exporters to enhance their sourcing capabilities from smallholder farmers. These aggregators also require support to strengthen supply chain management, uphold food safety and quality standards, and increase wholesaling and retailing activities. This, in turn, will improve domestic supply and affordability as well as meet export market quality and quantity demands.
The Junior Project Officer will be a core member of the Domestic & Export Market Development Team and will be primarily responsible for providing analytical, technical, and problem solving support on a range of areas that include, but not limited to: identifying and addressing systemic and structural challenges to implement solutions for domestic and export market development, undertaking research on market incentives to encourage domestic supply; analysis of the effectiveness of export incentives, research on marketing and branding, and inputting to the design of effective sourcing and supply chain strategies. Stakeholder engagement and management will also be an important area of responsibility of the Junior Project Officer.
The Junior Project Officer will work closely with Program Teams within ATA’s Agribusiness and Markets and Enhanced Implementation Capacity Verticals as well as across other ATA Program Teams, and with external stakeholders such as the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Federal and Regional level government bodies, relevant associations, and other private sector market actors.
This position will officially report to Director of Domestic and Export Market Development.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
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