Livestock Specialist

Job Description

Precision Agriculture for Development, Inc. (PAD) seeks a Livestock Specialist to support PAD research, operations, and scale-up activities in Ethiopia by supporting multiple projects in collaboration with government partners and other key partner organizations. PAD was established with a keen eye towards rigorous evaluation and constant experimentation. Each of our programs and partnerships have a strong complement of research, ranging from large- and small-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to A/B tests to pilot trials.  Most of PAD's research projects are led by Shawn Cole (Harvard Business School) and Michael Kremer (Harvard University). PAD's research activities are also supported by affiliated researchers from other institutions and are overseen by PAD's Boston-based Senior Researcher.

Ethiopian citizens are strongly encouraged to apply.

Organization background 

PAD is a US-based non-profit organization with a mission to support smallholder farmers in developing countries by providing customized agricultural information and services that increase productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability. PAD is pioneering a model for agricultural extension: delivering farmers personalized agricultural advice via their mobile phones. PAD implements this model in collaboration with partner organizations and gathers evidence on its impact. PAD aims to improve the lives of 100 million farmers in developing countries with its services.

A key element of our approach is helping partners with wide reach such as governments, contract farming organizations, telecommunications firms, agribusiness, and NGOs to design, build, evaluate, and improve customized mobile phone-based agricultural advisory systems. We help partners structure and improve their service offerings through incorporation of the latest availability technologies and data as well as insights from behavioral economics and social learning theory. Taking a global approach, we bring experience on what has worked elsewhere to every engagement and continue to optimize to local contexts using A/B testing and rigorous evaluation.

PAD currently has operations in seven countries - Kenya, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Uganda. These opportunities have allowed PAD to reach over 1.4 million farmers in the first quarter of 2019, both with our own services and research efforts as well as through partnerships.

Responsibilities

• The Livestock Specialist will support PAD research, operations and scale-up activities in Ethiopia by strengthening PAD’s livestock expertise and by working with Ethiopian government agencies and other partners to develop and refine the content of digital livestock advisory services.
• The Livestock Specialist will be responsible for the following tasks:
• Work closely with PAD team members and our partner organizations to implement projects
• Provide overall livestock expertise and information to the team in Ethiopia
• Gather and compile scientific evidence on key agriculture topics to better inform the design of digital agricultural advisory services in Ethiopia
• Collect and maintain an extensive database of all major livestock production activities in Ethiopia, and map out season-wise and territory-wise livestock prospects
• Support current projects that PAD undertakes in collaboration with government and other partners in Ethiopia in content development, simplification, and customization 
• Together with other PAD team members, the livestock specialist will identify new engagement areas and collaboration possibilities with other key stakeholders
• Plan and execute program activities, including identifying priorities, creating timelines, meeting with stakeholders, and monitoring project implementation;
• Coordinate livestock research and implementation activities of PAD 
• Work with project team to ensure that the project adheres to policies, procedures, and timelines
• Support complementary monitoring and evaluation efforts
• Develop and update project documentation, project protocols and processes regularly
• provide support in managing partner relations, and work with external stakeholders for implementation of field operations.

Position details 

• Full time 
• Start date: 1^st September, or ASAP 
• Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with frequent travel to rural areas 
• Compensation: commensurate with experience
  

Job Requirement

Qualifications

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Masters degree in Livestock Management, Animal science, or similar disciplines 
• At least 5 years’ experience implementing livestock, agriculture, livelihood or value chain development projects  in the developing world
• At least 2 years’ experience working directly with smallholder production systems in sub-Saharan Africa
• Practical experience drafting agricultural curricula and implementing trainings
• Experience carrying out focus group discussions and gathering qualitative data from farmers
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English
• Strong organizational and planning skills 
• Experience in writing reports and communicating scientific topics to laypeople
• Willingness and ability to work under tight timelines, and flexibility to engage in multiple projects
• Willingness to travel to field sites in Ethiopia and internationally 
• Ability to work independently and with minimum supervision
• Experience and ability to work in multicultural settings
• Ability to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders

Desired Qualifications and Experience

• Experience working with CGIAR centers and national governments
• Knowledge of the Ethiopian agricultural sector, preferably related to smallholder dairy production system
• Knowledge of at least one Ethiopian language