Farm Africa, founded in 1985, is an international non-governmental organization working in Ethiopia since 1988. Farm Africa works to end hunger and bring prosperity to rural Africa. We believe Africa has the power to feed itself and are helping make this happen by establishing and spreading the best farming and forestry techniques so that poor farmers and herders have more food to feed their families and to sell. We help smallholders manage their natural resources sustainably so that they can withstand climate change challenges and shocks and ensure their families have enough food in the future as well as now. Farm Africa works in partnership with communities, government, local and international organizations, and the private sector to innovate, learn and share best practices for maximum impact of our projects.
JOB TITLE: Inclusive Market Engagement Advisor
PROJECT: Integrated approach to improving rural livelihoods, empowering communities and partners
REPORTS TO: SIDA Programme Manager
STAFF REPORTING TO POSTHOLDER: None
LOCATION: Addis Ababa
DURATION & HOURS: Three years with probation period of 45 days
BACKGROUND
Farm Africa will be implementing a project titled ‘Integrated approach to improve rural livelihoods, empowering communities and partners programme’ which is funded by SIDA (The Swedish International Development Agency). This project will be implemented by Farm Africa and the Union of Ethiopian Women Charitable Associations (UEWCA).
The overall goal of the programme is to contribute to achievement of the Ethiopia's Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTPII) through agriculture business development, capacity building in project implementation and delivery, civil society strengthening and embedding climate smart practices in identified development interventions. This overarching programme is divided into three key projects:
Project 1: Delivery of institutional capacity building services to local institutions and partners contributing to Ethiopia’s GTPII. This will involve the development and delivery of bespoke training packages for institutional development for government institutions and civil society organisations.
Project 2: Close collaboration, capacity building and technical support to the project partner UEWCA (Union of Ethiopian Women’s Charitable Association) in natural resource management and climate resilience. The project will support the organisation to build its member associations ability to support women to increase their socioeconomic resilience and integration.
Project 3: The cultivation of climate-smart focused agricultural value chains to empower smallholder famers in SNNPR. This project will be delivered directly by a Farm Africa team under the Programme Manager and will work with several producer cooperatives and farmers.
The programme will operate in Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, SNNPRS, Somali and Beneshangul Gumuz Regional states and Addis Ababa City Administration. Farm Africa will take a lead role for the programme implementation, quality assurance, technical backstopping, monitoring and evaluation, partner management and donor reporting.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
The Inclusive Market Engagement Advisor (IMEA) is a technical post responsible for ensuring high quality implementation of market engagement activities which mainstream gender-inclusion in their approaches and delivery. The IMEA will be responsible for delivering and coordinating market engagement activities with the team and building the capacity of staff and partners in the implementation market engagement activities.
The IMEA will have particular focus on project 3 and ensuring best practices are taking for supporting the development of inclusive market systems are developed to empower smallholders and ensure women are engaged in the project. The IMEA will also support the PM and project partners to implement projects 1 and 2. In particular the IMEA will be expected to utilise best industry practice such as the M4P and M4P WEE approaches to ensure the best sustainable outcomes for farmers engaged in markets. This will include working with cooperatives to ensure member and governance structures are inclusive and designing market engagement approaches which support women to access value.
The IMEA will work with the Programme team, partners and stakeholders to ensure a clear understanding of the programme’s market engagement approaches and aims. S/he will also work closely with partner organisations, including the UEWCA, to provide technical as well as capacity building support - developing appropriate tools, systems and training to support programme’s field teams and partner organisations.
The role also acts as an interface between the SIDA programme and Farm Africa’s Country Office on issues relating to market engagement work and mainstreaming gender in market interventions; the role will work closely with Farm Africa’s Regional Technical Advisors and the Programme Manager to ensure continual improvement of organisational systems and processes.
KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Technical oversight and leadership for the market engagement work within the programme
Responsible for the technical direction of market engagement works within the programme, providing technical advice to management on all aspects of the project.
Ensure that all programme activities are contributing towards the development of sustainable and scalable gender-inclusive market systems.
Specifically, lead on a gender-inclusive market analysis to review opportunities for interventions to strengthen opportunities for women’s economic growth within the programme.
Lead studies and activities related to market engagement within the programme to ensure technical excellence of all work.
Advise management on best practices to ensure quality outcomes for all (inclusive) market engagement activities.
Assist in the development and operation of an effective system of monitoring and evaluation of the whole market process
Support Farm Africa in facilitating market linkages between producers and off-takers and provide guidance to contract facilitation.
Capacity building of staff and partners to ensure high quality of market engagement activities in the programme.
Work with partner organisations, including UEWCA, to identify capacity development gaps on inclusive market developments.
Develop and execute, in coordination with the PM and Farm Africa’s Regional Technical Advisors, tailor made capacity development trainings for project teams to increase capacity to deliver high quality impact in market engagement work.
Work with the Programme Support Team and Technical Advisors to develop and refine tools and systems for use by programme staff and partners.
Provide on the job mentoring and support programme’s field teams and partner organisations on gender and market engagement where necessary
Organize capacity building trainings on other topics (i.e. Project 1) by developing TOR and facilitating the training, etc as required by the PM.
Delivery of tailored inclusive market engagement activities and delivery of products to directly impact beneficiaries
Identify, design and implement, in collaboration with field teams and the PM, tailored high-impact activities that directly benefit the target community
Develop and deliver tools and systems and training to support programme’s field teams and partner organisations on gender-inclusive market engagement.
Work with programme stakeholders, including cooperatives and local government, to ensure they are inclusive and designing market engagement approaches that support women.
Coordination
Oversee and support the implementation of inclusive market engagement activities. Ensure that project activities are implemented and outputs achieved as planned within the agreed budget
Together with the PM, proactively identify and monitor any risks to non-delivery and, where required, develop and implement action plans to address issues identified
Work with the PM, the programme’s MEL Expert and Farm Africa’s Quality and Impact team, to ensure the programme’s M&E system properly monitors and evaluates gender and market engagement objectives
Ensure the use of relevant FA’s standards; provide critical analysis and technical input to implementation processes, ensuring Farm Africa can maximise its impact and the learning potential.
Work closely with partner organisations to contribute lessons learned, ensure dissemination and maintain dialogue on key learnings
Play an active role as a member of the Farm Africa Country team
Contribute to the development and implementation of Farm Africa’s strategy
Contribute to a wider Farm Africa market engagement agenda
Support senior staff to represent Farm Africa in national and regional networks and interest groups relevant to the Market Engagement Thematic area, and personally contribute to policy and thematic debates
Identify and explore opportunities to grow and expand the country project pipeline, both in relation to the current project (e.g., potential scale-up opportunities to take existing work to meso- or macro-level, replication in other geographies/regions) or related to new project opportunities
Work, where appropriate, with the Country Director and the UK Programme Funding Unit to prepare funding proposals where requested, ensuring that any lessons learned during implementation are documented and built into future project design
Participate in country-level or pan-Farm Africa programme meetings with other project coordinators, as requested by the Country Director or PM.
Job Requirement
Education, Qualifications & other knowledge
MSc qualification or equivalent in either of the following fields: agri-economics, agriculture, business, international development, rural development, or any other relevant discipline. .
Knowledge of agri-value chain development and integrating CSA practices
Strong knowledge of and firm belief in gender equality, gender issues in rural communities and gender mainstreaming
Demonstrated professional and personal attitude towards gender equality
Experience
A minimum of 5 years of progressive and relevant experience in gender and market engagement in the development sector
Experience in working in similar sized INGOs
Evidenced knowledge and understanding of project strategy, design, implementation, monitoring and reporting.
Experience in developing, implementing and reviewing capacity building trajectories with partner organisation and project staff
Proven track record of establishing and building strong and effective relationships with partners, donors, government and private sector organizations
Hands on experience in agri-value chain development.
Experience in developing spices and chickpea value chains
Demonstrable experience in facilitating farmers to access profitable markets
Experience working in the SNNPR
Hands on experience in ensuring gender mainstreaming in the design and implementation of programmes
Experience in working with gender responsive tools and methodologies to enhance the capacity of project staff and partner organisations
A deep understanding of participatory community-based project approaches in development and economic opportunities.
Skills & Abilities
Excellent ability to develop and translate plans into cost-effective operations and activities, in line with identified and available resources and budgets, and donor and other conditions
Proven experience in stimulating successful delivery of the project by all team members as well as partner organisations, creating open and collaborative team environments that encourages the contributions of all
Experience in combining coaching with effective and insightful feedback on strengths, development areas and ways to grow
Strong ability to identify problems and solve complex issue strategically.
Proven experience and ability in co-ordination, management and negotiation within partners and other stakeholders
Excellent information management, networking and communication skills
Other skills
Good knowledge of Windows including Outlook, Excel, and Power Point
Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills with the ability to work with a wide range of partners (Local NGOs, Field teams, Government, donor and Private Sector stakeholders)
Experience in managing SIDA funded programmes
Fluent written and spoken Amharic and English
Ability and willingness to travel widely and frequently to rural areas.
VALUES
Farm Africa seeks to employ those who believe, as we do, that farmers can and will play a key role in achieving long-term rural prosperity in Africa and who seek to deliver on those beliefs by:
Being experts in our field, delivering insightful/impactful evidence-based solutions
Pushing boundaries, being creative with new and old solutions
Acting for the long-term, building relationships and delivering long-lasting change for farmers
Working flexibly, taking advantage of the most effective solutions, whether from the communities, private sector or government
Sharing knowledge with others, reaching more farmers than we do alone, ensuring effective technologies are widely accessed.