Position:                           Project Officer II– 8028 Farmers’ Hotline

Term of Employment:    One Year possibility of extension

Duty Station(s):              Mekelle

Required Number:          One  

Application Deadline:     October 02, 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 teamwork 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:

The 8028 Farmer Hotline is Ethiopia’s first agricultural hotline seeking to support sustainable agriculture by empowering smallholders with access to agronomic best practices. The system’s main objective is to ensure that smallholders have real-time and immediate access to pertinent agronomic information to help them make informed decisions about their farming practices.

 As part of the Digital Ag. Program, the PO-I helpdesk moderator of 8028 reports to the Project team lead and is responsible for ensuring the project’s Helpdesk and Surveys implementation across ATA regions: expanding service depth and locations served, ensuring system accessibility and the provision of timely responses to questions raised from end-users. Achieving successful implementation of the Helpdesk and Surveys will require strong coordination and collaboration with the federal office teams, private sector and partner organizations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

The 8028 PO Helpdesk and Surveys is accountable for the effective delivery of the project’s Helpdesk and Surveys across all ATA regions. S/he is accountable for ensuring that 8028 project contributes to strengthening Research, Extension and Farmer Engagement through effective delivery of the following KPIs:

• Enhancing and scaling-up the 8028 Farmer Hotline Helpdesk and Survey with IVR/SMS.

• Provide helpdesk support for smallholder farmers and DA and regularly follow up with woreda subject matter specialists as needed.

• Review the quality of each questions and answers, submitted through the 8028 Farmers’ Hotline, and follow up with both smallholders and responders 

• Review IVR/SMS contents translated into various local languages and provide first-hand feedback.

• Plan, organize and conduct 8028 Farmers’ Hotline and Helpdesk trainings for various stakeholders

• Collect feedback from subject matter specialists and smallholders and work with the SPO to address and/or incorporate it into the existing processes or systems

• As projects get added under Digital Agriculture, the PO-I Helpdesk and Surveys may be held accountable for other KPIs as well.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsibilities of PO-I Helpdesk and Surveys for 8028 include, but are not limited to:

Assist and coordinate with the federal 8028-team to ensure on time completion of Helpdesk and Survey deliverables

        o   Work with IVR/SMS Senior Project Officer to manage and implement the IVR Helpdesk across the selected woredas, in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP and Tirgay regions

       o  Conduct visits to selected IVR Helpdesk region/zone/woredas periodically to create awareness and ensure the system is being used properly 

       o  Lead and manage respective work streams of the 8028 Farmers’ Hotline project with consultation, guidance and supervision by the Senior Project Officer and ICT team lead

     o  Ensure that identified service interruptions are fixed and communicated back to the users of the system in the area where the service was interrupted

    o  Coordinate cross-regional activities such as trainings and workshops for development agents.

    o  Provide timely reports to implementation partners in the regions.

    o  Support the SPO-I Helpdesk and survey to increase the accuracy of survey responses.

    o  Provide a regular update on any disease related questions asked or reported through the Helpdesk system

 Assist the Project Team lead   in results-focused stakeholder management in order to build collaborative relationships with key internal, Federal, and Regional stakeholders

    o Work with the relevant stakeholders, such as Ethio telecom, MoANR, EIAR, Digital Green, and Regional/Zonal/Woredas BoA to expand and roll out services

   o Liaise with a wide range of stakeholders

   o  Assist the project team lead in creating alignment on projects/interventions to be owned by the ATA and reserved for other stakeholders

   o  Assist ATA program teams and stakeholders develop IVR and/or SMS alerts and surveys

   o Establish a working relationship with implementation partners.

 Assist the Project team lead in refining the program’s strategy and designing new projects in order to ensure the intended impact of using ICT within the Ethiopian agriculture sector

   o Identify additional approaches to create awareness at the region, zone, and specifically with farmers and DAs at the woredas level

   o Assist the project team lead in conducting assessments, prioritize and finalize interventions best implemented by ATA

  o Assist the project team lead by provide problem solving support during the design or enhancement of projects

  o Support the Senior Project Officer update and/or incorporate agronomic content, update menu structure, integrate additional content and information into the system, coordinate national surveys, implement evaluation and diagnostic recommendations

Compile and submit data and reports to ensure internal alignment on project implementation

   o Collaborate with project team on the preparation of all performance reports as required by the Production Director to problem solve for implementation issues, to support strategic decisions, to develop solutions, etc.

  o Support the project team lead in the utilization of standard data collection processes, tools and requirements; work with the Performance Management Unit to ensure project Other

· The Project officer is responsible for additional interventions assigned by the team lead to meet Digital Agriculture program functions

Job Requirements

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Agriculture, Rural Development, and other related fields

• Experience working on ICT4D and/or ICT4AG related projects, preferably in Ethiopia

• At least 4 years of relevant experience, highly preferable as help desk technician, training coordinator, coach and/or other customer support roles

• Familiarity with IVR and/or SMS technologies

• Experience utilizing Information Technologies to collect, share, and disseminate information

• Good understanding of computer systems, mobile devices, smart phones, and other tech products

• Basic analytical skills, experience using excel to analyze 8028 Farmers’ Hotline traffic and other data being generated into the system 

• Ability to diagnose and resolve basic technical issues

• Excellent telephone presence with organized follow-up skills

• Ability to be proactive and able to take direction and establish ownership of projects

• Proficiency in English and Tigrigna

• Ability to build and maintain relationships is key is expanding this system nationwide

• Excellent communication skills

How to Apply

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) a CV (maximum 5 pages) to CLICK HERE

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.