Vacancy Announcement (re-advert)
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Senior Project Officer-Horticulture Value Chain Expert
Teams: ATA SNNPR (Hawassa) offices
Term of Employment: Project-based
Duty Station(s): Hawassa, with field travel as required
Required Number: One (1)
Salary & Benefits: Competitive
Application Deadline: May 31, 2017
BACKGROUND:
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.
Project Background
The ATA’s project implementation activities are focused in the Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regions, and coordinated through the organization’s Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative. The ACC Initiative aims to improve the coordination and market-orientation of agriculture interventions by government and development partners in 25 high-potential geographic clusters, while also enhancing the commercial opportunities for smallholder farmers and the private sector. To support Regional Governments in coordinating and implementing activities in these clusters, ACC Initiative staff is organized into the Federal ACC Team at the national level and ATA’s four Regional Offices.
A major area of focus with in the ACC Initiative is the implementation of Integrated Value Chain (IVC) project, which targets ten market-demanded commodities that smallholder farmers can prioritize for specialization and intensification in suitable agro-ecologies. Prioritized commodity value chains include maize, wheat, malt barley, tef, sesame, haricot bean, horticulture crops (mixed), honey/wax, beef and dairy. Two to three of these commodities, as well as rotation crops important for soil health and human nutrition, are prioritized in each of the 25 clusters identified under the ACC Initiative based on the mixed cropping system prevalent in Ethiopia.
The IVC project comprises a set of market-driven interventions for each commodity value chain across research, extension and input supply, commodity production, aggregation and transport, processing and value addition, and domestic and export marketing. These interventions have been identified and prioritized by multi-stakeholder Value Chain Alliances established in each cluster, with analytical support from ATA, and alignment with other regional and federal government stakeholders. In addition to coordinating implementation of these interventions across government, private sector and development partners, ATA will also implement certain of these interventions during the GTP II period.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The role of the Senior Project Officer-Horticulture Value Chain Expert (SPO) within the Federal ACC Team and ATA Regional Offices working closely with staff in ATA’s Regional Offices, is to lead this coordination of efforts across partners for the Horticulture value chain as well as implement key interventions that are owned by ATA but sit outside the purview of other ATA teams. Specifically, the SPO will be instrumental in the design, development of value add programs while providing implementation support to bring about efficiency across the Value chain alongside key Government , private sector and development partners . The SPO will also be responsible to develop operational planning, budgeting and reporting on Horticulture activities at the regional and cluster levels, and provide technical backstopping, capacity building and support across implementing partners.
Critical gaps and interventions have been identified in the prioritized commodity value chains related to:
The SPO is responsible for the successful delivery of the horticulture initiative in these areas, working closely with a range of other ATA teams, and coordinating implementing partners and stakeholders across horticulture value chains. He/she will report to the ACC program manager and respective regional director under the Senior Director of the ACC Initiative, and will work closely with other staff in the Federal ACC Team, Regional Office Directors, and other ATA staff at various levels.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
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