ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTE

Job Description and Job SpecificationJob Title:Head, Director General OfficeTerm of Employment:  One year with a possibility of extensionDuty Station(s):Addis Ababa, EthiopiaRequired number:OneApplication deadline:February 20, 2023

 BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government Institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions to be the leading center of innovative solutions for the transformation of Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030.

The Institute focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture (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 a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Sidama, South-West, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector 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 team work to achieve excellent results. 

At ATI, 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.

 POSITION SUMMARY:

This position is responsible for planning and managing all administrative, financial, and operational activities for the Director General, DDG, and Functional Units (Legal, Internal Audit, Ethics, Women and Social Affairs and Communications) under the DG Office. The Head of DG Office plays a critical role in coordinating and overseeing the Director General’s office activities. The position holder will often help the Director General manage his/her time effectively while providing thought partnership and advisory roles for important decisions. The incumbent will have an immediate impact on our productivity by streamlining strategic initiatives, overseeing program management, tracking, reporting, and coordinating planning and performance progresses in collaboration with other Verticals and Teams. He/she works closely with the DG and other Senior Management Team, SMT, members, guide and support stakeholder and team management, as well as analytical approaches, content development and quality control of outputs. He/she also may engage and manage senior stakeholders, create, and build strong relationships, and arrange and coordinate high-priority discussions and meetings. In addition, the candidate works closely with the DG and Deputy DG to drive the growth and development of the Institute, through taking on strategic initiatives, leading organizational systems enhancement activities, and professional development programs.

The ideal candidate will have proven success in a business management role, with a special focus on executive-level advising and interdepartmental collaboration.  This position provides an ideal opportunity to stretch and develop the candidate’s skills through managing multiple teams and sets of clients and stakeholders while gaining more experience with policy and program design within the sector and beyond. He/she will be exposed to a variety of new opportunities in a fast-paced environment with a focus on strategic thinking, analysis and results while working with a highly motivated and talented group of Ethiopian and international staff dedicated to service millions of our smallholder farmers. Success in this role requires strong leadership, communication, organizational, and decision-making competencies.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

• Provide coordination and leadership in administrative and program management at the DG’s office

• Setting a leader’s strategic priorities: helping a leader identify the areas where they must direct their focus and identifying metrics for success. Oversee planning and execution of the DG office, serve as strategic thought partner to initiate high-impact development programs, org system enhancement initiatives and priorities.

• Coordinate and liaise with teams to prepare plan, track and evaluate performance progresses regularly. Provide support to verticals to solve problems and drive implementations while nurturing effective partnership with internal and external stakeholders

• Support the DG and D/DG in coordinating internal and external meetings, and engagements with senior stakeholders and development partners on various development initiatives that may arise from time to time.

• Support the DG, D/DG and the broader SMT activities as required on such as special assignment prioritization, performance management, and delivery of professional development and other organizational initiatives, and knowledge management.

• Liaise and work closely with the DG ’s Assistant, looking at long term travel calendar, evaluating opportunities and determining fit with priorities.

• Meeting preparation and follow up: reviewing upcoming meetings for the week to ensure the leader has all the information needed to be as productive as possible and sending out agendas or documents to meeting attendees as necessary.

• Reviewing Internal and External Communications: drafting company newsletters, reports, pitch decks, speeches, or presentations for the DG.

• Monitoring information flow: Sometimes acting as a gatekeeper, ensuring a DG’s involvement in a project or decision-making process at the right moment. Ensure proper documentation and record keeping of reports, and communications digitally and manually.

• Oversee, support, coach and manage the performance of the functional units (Legal, Audit, Ethics, Women and Social Affairs and Communications) under the DG Office.

o   Project Management and Stakeholder Engagements

• Overseeing large, often cross-functional organization-wide projects or initiatives.

• Bring together multiple stakeholders and help drive decisions.

• Researching, benchmarking, analyzing data, and making recommendations.

• Creating systems and processes to streamline operations.

• Engaging key high-level stakeholders including developing partners to create, build and maintain strategic partnerships.

o   Strategic Planning & Reporting

• Lead annual strategic planning, performance evaluations and reporting of the Institute.

• Creating & updating dashboards for reviewing institutional key performance indicators. 

o   Meeting & Event Preparation

• Managing the meeting cadence for the leadership team, ensuring materials are sent in advance, time is well spent, and objectives are achieved.

• Planning and leading Institution’s retreats and other special events.

 o   Human Resource Management

• Develop the DG Office annual HR Plan and participate in the recruitment and selection process for roles reporting to the DG and functional units under DG Office.

• Manage the Teams under the DG Office which includes executive assistants, communication, partnership, ethics, audit, and legal.

• Manage staff performance by setting annual performance goals/KPIs, providing ongoing monitoring, and feedback & taking timely action, and conducting mid-year check-in & annual performance evaluation.

• Ensure that employees have the required competencies to successfully deliver what is expected through providing learning, development and growth opportunities and building their capacity. 

• Effectively manage HR issues on a timely manner in consultation with HR

Job Requirements

• Masters or PhD Degree in Economics, Business Management/Administration, and/or relevant field of studies,

• Minimum 14 years for Masters and 8 years for Ph.D. relevant work experience out of which Seven or more years of experience in leadership, a business management or executive role,

• Demonstrated competencies in strategic management, general management/Leadership, team building, effective communication, Stakeholder management,

• Experience in planning and leading strategic initiatives,

• Strong analytical and project-reporting skills, with focus on internal and external communications,

• Excellent written, and verbal communication and presentation skills both in English and Amharic languages,

• Experience in planning and coordinating high-level teams in consulting or other highly competitive and fast-pacing professional sectors,

• Highly collaborative leadership style and demonstrated success in leading, managing and developing high-performance teams,

• Strong ability to effectively liaise with internal teams and external senior stakeholders and partners.

• Nimble business mind, focused on developing creative problem-solving acumen,

• Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty, dedication, and desire to be of service.

How to Apply

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit a cover letter and a CV (maximum 5 pages) to https://bit.ly/3Yj7nV3

It is mandatory to mention the position title under the subject line of your cover letter.

Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.

Women are highly encouraged to apply.

NB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.