Vacancy Announcement
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Unit Lead, ACC National Coordination and Capacity-building Unit
Term of Employment: Project-based - 1 Year Term with Possible Extension
Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa (with travel)
Required Number: 1
Salary & Benefits: Competitive
Application Deadline: November 30, 2014
BACKGROUND:
The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) has been established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to Ethiopia’s agricultural development and transformation. The Agency does this through problem-solving, project implementation and support, and coordination and capacity building of stakeholders involved in implementation.
The National Framework for Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) is being introduced in Ethiopia by ATA, the Synergos Institute, and partners at the Federal and Regional levels, and from the development and private sectors. ACCs apply a geographically-focused approach for rapidly enhancing priority agricultural commodity value chains throughout the country. The implementation of this National Framework will support agricultural sector transformation by enhancing and supporting existing structures to address systemic as well as commodity- and geography-specific bottlenecks across priority commodities value chains. This Framework builds on previous federal and regional efforts for value chain development and advocates for a more focused and market-driven solution with significant coordination between diverse public, private and development sector actors.
To support implementation of this National Framework for ACCs, the National Coordination and Capacity-building Unit (NCCU) will be established with the following main responsibilities:
POSITION SUMMARY:
The National Coordination and Capacity-building Unit (NCCU) will consist of a Unit Lead, Program Manager and several additional professional staff. The Unit Lead will lead and oversee all operations of the NCCU, and report to the Prime Minister as well as the National ACC Board. The overall responsibility of the Unit Lead is to ensure the NCCU effectively carries out its duties as noted above. Specific duties are listed below.
The ideal candidate will therefore possess very strong public and private stakeholder relationships at the National level, backed by detailed knowledge of Federal and Regional institutions and understanding of dynamics between various public sector structures at these levels. He/she will also have in-depth experience and knowledge of agricultural commercialization, agri-business / agro-industry promotion, or industrial development initiatives in Ethiopia and abroad, with a particular emphasis on policy enhancement and implementation modalities (e.g. governance and operational structures, strategic and operational planning, program management, financing, human resourcing, MLE). Market based programing experience with a particular focus with smallholder farmers as well as large program / project management experience is also preferred. Finally, the candidate will demonstrate a passion for transforming agriculture and improving the lives of small-holder farmers.