Position Announcement PROJECT TEAM LEADER FOR CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is seeking a qualified candidate to serve as a Project Team Leader for Climate and Environmental Sustainability Program.
BACKGROUND:
The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (the Agency or ATA) is an initiative of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE), established by federal regulation. The primary aim of the Agency is to promote agricultural sector transformation by supporting existing structures of government, private sector and other non-governmental partners to address systemic bottlenecks in delivering on a priority national agenda for achieving growth and food security.
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 three different groups; systems which includes seeds, soil health and fertility management, cooperatives, input/output markets and extension/research; high priority value chains and special initiatives that are cross-cutting including technology access and adoption, gender mainstreaming, climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability, and monitoring and evaluation. 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.
The Climate and Environmental Sustainability program, within the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, is designed to coordinate and support the strategic direction of the ATA’s overall activities linked to climate-smart rural development. Activities of the program include programmatic integration of climate information and environment sustainability issues in substantive ways into the ATA’s different programs to ensure optimal leverage and sharing of existing climate knowledge and experience, as well as coordination of ATA’s interaction with climate and environment governmental and non-governmental institutions to support the realization of climate-smart rural development.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Project Team Leader will be tasked to coordinate and manage the activities of the initiative for enhancement and expansion of agro-meteorology information use for climate change adaptation planning and agronomic decision making so as to improve smallholder farmer production and productivity, which is managed as a project within ATA (referred to as the agro-met project).
The major duties of the Project Team Leader include, but are not limited to, the following:
Oversight: overall oversight and follow-up of the activities of the agro-met project Coordination: alignment of different stakeholders to coordinate activities and efforts to expand the use of agro-meteorology information and maintain strong and integrated work relationship. Plan and follow up implementation of stakeholders meetings, workshops and training programs on relevant issues.
Work plan development: prepare plan of intervention to enhance agro-meteorological information use for climate change adaptation planning and agronomic decision making. Prepare TORs for consultancies and a procurement plan for supply of services, equipment and materials for related interventions of the agro-met project and follow up to ensure proper implementation. Plan and coordinate the identification Woredas/Agro-ecologies in close collaboration with NMA, MoA, and BoAs, relevant ATA programs for expansion of target Woredas for the project’s interventions. Plan and coordinate the development and testing of automated agromet information communication and feedback system.
Administration: ensure proper and efficient management of project resources (budget) and identify additional resource needs to successfully implement the project. Prepare project financial reports regularly as required by ATA’s financial management system.
Reporting: document and report project progress and associated risks to ATA’s leadership (program director) regularly (weekly, monthly, and Quarterly).
Monitoring, learning and evaluation: lead the monitoring and tracking of project activities as well as assessment of results and outputs in accordance with ATA’s overall MLE framework. Ad hoc support: provide ad hoc support to climate and environmental sustainability program and senior management team as required on issues of core organizational development, prioritization of interventions, problem solving, planning as they relate to climate and environment.
The ideal Project Team Leader possesses a passion for improving the lives of small-holder farmers, and a deep familiarity with Ethiopia’s agricultural system. The candidate should have strong skills and experience in project management, interpersonal communication, stakeholder management and coordination. Moreover, the candidate is expected to have background, knowledge and experience on issues of climate information generation and dissemination, and environmentally sustainable agriculture.
This position will officially report to the Director of the Climate and Environmental Sustainability Program.
Job Requirement
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Education: MA/MSc degree in fields such as Agricultural Economics, Rural Development, Agricultural Business Management, Resource and Environmental Economics, Geography and Environmental Studies, Agro-meteorology or other closely related fields.
Experience: at least 7-8 years of work experience in areas related to Sustainable Rural Development, Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change, Sustainable Natural Resource Management and other related disciplines. The candidate should have worked 4-5 years assuming managerial positions.
Skills: the following are the key skills expected from the candidate:
Understanding of Ethiopia’s agricultural system with a broad perspective on the impact of climate change on production and productivity.
Experience in project management, program design, performance management, stakeholder management, contract management, and MLE systems
Practical experience in developing and maintaining linkages between multiple stakeholders.
Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, start-up environment, with an emphasis on high-performance, teamwork and accountability.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service.
Fluency in Amharic and proficiency in English are essential. Knowledge of other Ethiopian languages desired.
Employment type: Contract employment for one year with possibility of extension for additional one year based on project needs and performance.