ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY

Position: Project Officer II – RFS

Job Time: Full-Time

Job Type: Contract

Place of Work: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Posted date: 23 minutes ago

Application Deadline: Sep, 16/2021 (10 days left)

BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government agency created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

The agency focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate the development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading several implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private, and development sectors partners across the country.

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 teamwork 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 to 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.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Rural Financial Services (RFS) program within ATA has been established to address the critical issue of access to finance in Ethiopia’s agricultural sector. The team is leading several deliverables designed to build a strong and self-sustaining rural financial sector with improved access to credit for smallholder farmers and mobilization of rural savings.

The Project officer for RFS will assist the Team Lead and/or Director for RFS in the development, implementation, and support of a portfolio of initiatives to improve rural financing in Ethiopia. The project officer will help improve smallholder farmers’, cooperatives’, and agri-business access to finance. This will involve conducting problem-solving activities to identify the highest priority agricultural finance issues affecting farmers, devising innovative strategies for availing finance to smallholder farmers and other agricultural actors.

Reporting to the Director for RFS, the Project officer for RFS is responsible for providing technical support and assisting the effective delivery of the project’s deliverables in all regions where the project is active. The Project officer for RFS should also possess a deep familiarity with Ethiopia’s agricultural system and have extensive knowledge of Ethiopia’s agricultural finance-related policies.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Assist the Team Lead in managing the RFS team workload to ensure on-time completion of deliverables;
• Assist the Team Lead in detailed implementation planning and resource allocation for IVS projects and future RFS projects.
• Support the Team Lead in managing business development-related day-to-day activities, including leading execution of major workstreams.
• Support the Team Lead in the initiation and processing of sub-grants.
• Assist the Team Lead in reprioritizing outputs/deliverables and adjust implementation plans when required.
• Support the Team Lead in coordinating cross-regional activities such as training and workshops.
• Provide technical support and guidance to the regional project officers regarding IVS and future RFS projects.
• Continuously probe on activities in regions through information & data review to / understand implementation progress & challenges.
• Assist the Team Lead in reviewing approach and plans against implementation progress and challenges to improve implementation effectiveness and results.
• Assist the Team Lead in results-focused stakeholder management to build collaborative relationships with key Federal, and regional stakeholders;
• Assist the Team Lead in Working with private banks and financial institutions to pilot and expand access to input credit through IVS in the regions and provide support to bolster their capacity to expand access to finance to SHFs.
• Assist the Team Lead in lobby regional authorities and provide support in facilitating agreements between regions and service providers to introduce and scale up the eVoucher 2.0 system and other KPIs of the project in the regions.
• Support the Team Lead in negotiating with relevant stakeholders to integrate additional inputs (besides fertilizer) into the IVS in the four regions.
• Assist the Team Lead in working directly with the other ATA project team and other external stakeholders in creating an integration of other systems (such as AOSS) into IVS in the four regions.
• Conduct assessments, develop, and lead the implementation of solutions to solve technical and operational challenges. Activities include:
• Identify capacity gaps in implementing partners that hinder effective implementation of the project.
• Support the development of approaches for improving capabilities as required
• Provide problem-solving support during the design and/or enhancement of the RFS Pilot Project.
• Contribute to the identification and documentation of lessons and experiences from the project to refine the project design.
• Compile and submit data and reports to ensure alignment on project implementation. Activities include:
• Prepare regular reports on own workstreams and guide regional POs in the utilization of reporting tools.
• Support the Team Lead in the preparation of all biweekly, quarterly, and annual performance reports.

Other

• The Project Officer is responsible for additional interventions assigned by the RFS Director to meet the RFS team’s functions.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• MA/MSc in Business, Economics, Information Technology, Public Policy, International Development, or other relevant subject areas.
• At least 4 years of relevant work experience in rural financial services especially in Digital financial services (DFS), agricultural payment systems and/or digital payment system projects and initiatives, project management, management consulting, or other strategically and analytically focused roles in public, private or development sectors.
• Deep understanding of Ethiopia’s rural/agricultural finance system, including an agricultural digital payment system.
• Knowledge in modern agricultural financing systems, products, distribution channels, and ICT in agriculture.
• A certificate in digital finance has an additional advantage.
• Interest in and familiarity with Ethiopia’s agricultural sector, agricultural and rural development.
• Genuine intellectual curiosity and desire to innovate and bring large-scale change.
• Excellent oral and written communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and data gathering skills.
• Strong willingness to learn, and ability to be a real team player.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment, with an emphasis on high-performance, results, and accountability.
• Strong personal values including integrity, honesty, and desire to be of service.
• Fluency in English and Amharic is required.

How to apply

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) a CV (maximum 5 pages) to Recruitment@ata.gov.et 

Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.

Women are highly encouraged to apply.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.