Vacancy Announcement
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Senior Project Officer – National Shallow Groundwater Mapping
Term of Employment: Project based – initially one year with possibility of extension
Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa
Required Number: One
Salary & Benefits: Competitive
Application Deadline: April 9, 2017
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 the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Development and is Secretary to the Transformation Council chaired by the Prime Minister.
The programmatic focus of the Agency responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Development and the Transformation Council. Within the Agency, issues are divided into four different pillars: Production and Productivity which includes Inputs and Crop Protection, Livestock, Research and Extension, Mechanization and Rural Finance; Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Agricultural Growth including Sustainable Irrigation and Watershed Management, Sustainable Land Management, Gender and Nutrition, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Targeted Livelihood Support, Biodiversity and (temporarily) Planning and MLE; Agribusiness and Markets including Market Support Services, Commercial Farming, Agro-processing & Market Development, and Cooperatives Development; and Enhanced Implementation Capacity which includes ICT, Private Sector, and Organizational and Human Capacity. In addition, the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters Initiative is another critical focus area for the Agency. 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 Senior Project Officer in the Sustainable Irrigation and Watershed Development Program (SPO) will be responsible for national shallow groundwater mapping, which primarily needs high expertise and experience on all technology packages and methodologies for shallow groundwater resource mapping at a national level to use groundwater for the development of household irrigation and prepares yearly detail work plan.
This shallow groundwater mapping exercise is expected to help determine the types and quantity of water lifting technologies for each study Woredas, with the objective of enabling smallholder farmers to produce at least twice a year, to withstand the impact of recurrent drought, and to increase production and productivity.
This position will report to the Director of the Sustainable Irrigation and Watershed Development Program.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
The SPO will be responsible for the following:
Problem Solving: Lead the effort in the shallow groundwater mapping, development and management for HHI which can define help to solve the critical bottlenecks in the sector and defining implementable recommendations and work-plan for project implementation with clear activities, milestones and targets;
Implementation support: Provide technical support in analyzing and examining the work of hired institutions to make sure that high quality outputs are delivered and identify areas where there is a need to support partners provide implementation support to enable partners execute the output of the SGW mapping outputs;
Work plan execution: Act as a point and resource person for any shallow groundwater mapping technical issues in Sustainable Irrigation and Watershed Development Program area and manage the execution of the work plan with the support of a high performance team of coordinators and contact persons from external implementing institutions, mainly the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Ministry of Water, Irrigation & Electricity, and Regional Bureaus of Agriculture, and other stakeholders;
Coordination: Organize workshops and training sessions related to shallow groundwater mapping assignments and ensure alignment and primarily with other implementation areas of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Ministry of Water, Irrigation & Electricity, and Regional Bureaus of Agriculture, and other stakeholders and secondarily engage with stakeholders in the sector, to obtain relevant data to support the mapping exercise;
Capacity building: Ensure sharing of competencies for building the capacity of implementing institutions in relation with shallow groundwater resource identification, development and management for HHI;
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning: Support design and execution of MEL strategy/plan for each deliverables/activity in Sustainable Irrigation and Watershed Development Program in accordance with ATA’s overall MEL framework
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: