Vacancy Announcement
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Junior Project Officer – Analytical Support, Market Services Team
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:
Ethiopia’s agricultural marketing system from primary to terminal markets continues to be severely constrained despite significant investments in both primary market place structures as well as modern transaction centres such as ECX. Rural-urban market linkages continue to be weak, and without efficient market infrastructure and services at all stages of the supply chain, from local retail and assembly through to wholesale and retail markets in major urban market centres, the return on investments in markets will be limited. To address these challenges, the ATA has a newly established Agribusiness and markets Vertical, whose main objectives during GTP II are to improve specific aspects of agricultural marketing system for the benefit of smallholder farmers and consumers. More specifically, the programs will aim, among other things, to modernize market information systems, market services and promoting domestic and export markets development, strengthen operation of market transaction centres, and improve the enabling environment for attracting investment in storage facilities. The ultimate goal of the programs is to create an efficient and improved agricultural marketing system that guarantees farmers access to sustainable markets while enabling them to capture the maximum value of production.
The Junior Project Officer will be primarily responsible for providing analytical support with identifying and addressing systemic and structural challenges to implement solutions in priority areas such as market centre development, storage availability expansion, market services provision (i.e. certification and traceability) and the promotion of market linkages that are critical for improving agricultural markets.
S/he will work closely with Program Teams within ATA’s Agribusiness and Markets Vertical as well as with external stakeholders such as the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Federal and Regional level government bodies and other private sector market actors to improve and expand market infrastructure and services for agricultural commodities in Ethiopia.
This position will officially report to Directors of Market Services.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: