Support and encourage market actors, agricultural input suppliers, horticulture producers, and other stakeholders (farmers, farmers’ cooperatives and unions, Small and Micro Enterprises, local government, research centers, traders, and agribusinesses) to implement TOV interventions, which will require negotiating, collaborating with, and providing follow-up support to these players. The Business Advisors will support the cooperatives’ by providing training on good governance, financial management, and day-to-day technical support to increase productivity and produce high quality horticulture product. The BA will also support SMEs by providing training and technical support to implement the project goals and objectives effectively.
Job Specific Responsibilities
1. Implement TOV project interventions:
§ Participate actively in client selection
§ At the field level, doing continuous follow-up and technical support to the women groups, youths and individual farmers to ensure adoption of new technologies by the farmers to increase the horticulture production;
§ Provide technical support on post-harvest handling of vegetables to reduce product loss;
§ Facilitate market linkage to the producers;
§ Providing technical support to SMEs that includes Farmers cooperatives, Unions and other business organizations engaged in horticulture input supply, marketing and other related activities.
§ Working with woreda experts and Development Agents (DAs) and private actors to implement the project activities effectively.
§ Facilitating roundtables and collaborative problem solving meetings with a range of market system actors at the field and woreda levels;
§ Negotiating with potential private sector or other implementing partners; Persuade market system players of the business benefits and means to adopt more inclusive business models;
2. Provide/facilitate capacity building activities
§ Ensure all training materials reach on time
§ Deliver trainings to cooperatives on business plans, financial management, good governance, post-harvest handling and quality;
§ Facilitate and support farmers’ cooperatives, group of farmers, women group, youths and individual farmers access to credit;
§ Deliver capacity building trainings to Small and Micro Enterprises.
§ Check attendance of trainees for reporting and follow-up practical implementation of the training.
3. Planning and management of demonstration plots
§ Submit BA weekly work plan
§ Participate in site selection, design and implementation process
§ Facilitate timely delivery of new technologies to the sites.
§ Follow-up farm activities and application of new technologies,
§ Follow-up demo plots activities regularly,
§ Check demo plot status, complete form and give feedback
4. Stakeholder Management
§ Create a good working relationship with stakeholders.
§ Holding meeting with Agriculture and administration offices of the respective Weredas once every month/quarter.
§ Meet with Cooperatives, unions, SMEs to give progress report every quarter.
§ Perform other duties as assigned by the Project manager.
5. Planning and Reporting
§ Working with MEL staff and facilitate the data collection at the field level;
§ Plan weekly and monthly activities and submit to the Project manager
§ Deliver weekly updates to project manager
§ Participate in regular team meeting and training activities to build own training skills;
§ Bachelor’s Degree in Horticulture, Irrigation, Agronomy, Plant science, Crop sciences, Agricultural Science etc.
§ Experience in drip irrigation installation and management is a MUST
§ Three to five years’ work experience from this, at least one to two years’ related experience – ideally private sector – in one or more of the following areas: horticulture, irrigation, agronomy, cooperative management or agriculture.
§ Strong planning skills and experience working to strict time-guidelines
§ Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills
§ Willingness to spend significant time in rural areas
§ Excellent communication skills, written and oral, in both English and local language
§ Computer literacy, Business Acumen
VI. Preferred Skills:
§ Knowledge of second local language is an advantage.
§ Motor bicycle riding license, ability and willingness to ride a motor bicycle.