Vacancy Announcement (re-advert)
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Junior Project Officer – IVR Helpdesk Moderator
Term of Employment: Project Based
Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa
Required Number: One
Salary & Benefits: Competitive
Application Deadline: July 30, 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 ATA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR), the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), and Ethio Telecom launched an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Short Message Service (SMS) system to disseminate agronomic best practice advice to farmers/ development agents (DAs) year round. These agronomic best practices are encouraged to be utilized throughout the year and intended to improve the flow of information (1) between stakeholders implementing farmer-targeted interventions, and (2) towards the farmers that these interventions are intended to benefit. This system provides and collects information to farmers and decision-makers in four ways: (1) a call-in automated helpline (2) a push-based alert system using IVR/SMS (3) an IVR helpdesk that allows farmers to ask question and experts to respond to their inquiries (4) an IVR Survey that is pushed to all users of the system and the information is arrogated and shared with experts.
The IVR/SMS system was first piloted in February 2014, in 21 woredas (districts) in the four main regions Oromia, Amhara, SNNPR and Tigray for approximately five months. Following the pilot, the ATA, in collaboration with its partners, expanded the service nationwide. To date, the system has handled more than 15 million calls from over 2 million registered callers. Users of the system can call into and receive information on a wide range of agricultural activities on all major cereal, pulses and high-value crops. Keypad menu options allow farmers and Development Agents to select their particular areas.
Currently, the ATA has integrated an IVR Helpdesk into the system. This IVR Helpdesk provides smallholders and DAs with the opportunity to call into the system and ask specific agriculture related questions and have experts in their woredas answer these questions. The role of the Junior Project Officer-IVR Helpdesk Moderator (JPO) is to assist smallholders and DAs by redirecting and managing the questions and responses submitted into the IVR Helpdesk.
The JPO will be responsible for implementing and supporting the IVR Helpdesk across select woredas in SNNPR. The JPO will primarily work on the IVR Helpdesk system; manage incoming questions and answers, and support woreda experts and subject matter specialists. The JPO is expected redirect the smallholder’s questions to the correct subject matter specialist. The JPO is also responsible with creating awareness at the various bureaus and offices of agriculture.
The ATA is looking for one JPO, who will be expected to support SNNPR region and expected to be fluent in language spoken in the region. This position will officially report to the Project Lead.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
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