Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute

Job Announcement

Position:                               Senior Project Officer II - Agribusiness  in Livestock

Term of Employment:            One year with a possibility of extension

Duty Station:                           Somali, based in Jigjiga  

Required Number:                  One

Application Deadline:            August 16,2024

BACKGROUND

The Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) was established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify systemic bottlenecks, conduct studies and provide recommendations, provide implementation support, manage projects, create linkages and coordination among activities and  agricultural development programs. The Institute 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 that, to be the leading centre of innovative solutions to catalyse and contribute to the transformation of the Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030 where smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability.

ATI provides a unique platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector. The ATI offers rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  The ATI recognize that its most valuable assets are its staff and is committed to providing its teams with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

The programmatic focus of the Institute responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and other sectors along commodity value chains. Across the programs, the ATI engages public, private, and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models. Currently, ATI is tasked to coordinate the revised Agriculture and Rural Development policy agendas of the sector and such sectoral level delegation requires high level expertise in the policy areas and skillsets in coordination and networking with multiple stakeholders.

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.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) has designed a program called “Agriculture-focused Dignified Employment for Youth in Ethiopia” (ADEY) to address young women and men unemployment and increase the participation of young people in the labor market, particularly in the agriculture sector. ATI has mainstreamed youth employment, gender equality, climate-smart, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture in all its programs and projects with the primary objectives of increased access to sustainable and inclusive job opportunities for youth, inclusivity, and the sustainable use of natural resources while building resilience capacities to shocks at all levels. 

ATI, among others, currently works with more than 3 million smallholder farmers (540,300 are women and youth) engaged in the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) and digital agriculture programs designed to improve smallholder farmers’ production and productivity while supporting other actors along the value chain. Taking ATI’s reputable experience, ADEY program is designed to create inclusive and dignified work opportunities for over 600 thousand youth. The major intervention areas of ADEY program are: enhance skills and mindsets of young women and men through technical and business skill development; increase access for agricultural inputs production and marketing enterprises; introduce youth friendly and cost-effective agricultural production practices and technologies; establish young people owned micro, small and medium agro-processing and value addition enterprises; increased access to inclusive financial products tailored to the needs of young people; enhance access to market tailored to the needs and capacities of young people and create an enabling environment for work opportunities through policy interventions.

The Senior Project Officer will be responsible for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting of ADEY program interventions on livestock agribusiness development (dairy, poultry and apiculture) in the region. He/she will provide technical guidance and supports to the regional partners and youth enterprises to effectively implement the program activities and achieve the planned target indicators. The Senior Project Officer will directly report to the Regional ADEY Program Manager with Matrix reporting to the Livestock Team Lead at the Head Office. He/she will closely work with other ADEY program staffs at the regional and federal levels, and with partners and sub-grantees at the regional level. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES

Duties and responsibilities for the regional SPO II include, but are not limited to the following activities:

• Develop an annual work plan and budget for livestock agribusiness activities of the region based on the program document and in consultation with the program management team and regional partners. 

• Coordinate and manage implementation of livestock agribusiness activities focusing on youth, especially women, employment, and enterprise development. 

• Create and facilitate job opportunities for youth in livestock production, processing, aggregation, and marketing in selected commodities (dairy, poultry, apiculture and fatting)

• Organize and support youth groups engaged in prioritized livestock commodity businesses to make their life out of it

• Create enabling environment for youth groups MSMS/Entrepreneurs to own production, Processing and value addition, inputs production and service providing enterprises in selected livestock commodities (dairy, poultry apiculture.)

•  Select potential and support training institutions to provide demand driven trainings 

• Facilitate and support youth entrepreneur to access finance, feasible technologies, inputs and other service providers required

• In collaboration with the local partners, identify knowledge and skill gaps of youth beneficiaries on livestock agribusiness activities across the program intervention woredas. 

• Organize and facilitate demand-driven technical and business skill training based on the identified skill gaps and agribusiness development needs of the youth beneficiaries.

• Facilitate the provision of continuous business development services to youth enterprises.

• Organize and facilitate knowledge management events such as field days and experience-sharing visits for youths engaged in livestock agribusiness in the region, and document and share best practices and lessons. 

• Organize livestock agribusiness alliance meetings, document action agenda, and follow up on its implementation by the partners.

• Engage regional partners to provide physical resources such as working space and facilities for job creation for youths in livestock agribusinesses. 

• Map and engage stakeholders (government, NGO, and private sector) working in the area of livestock agribusiness for alignment and joint implementation of prioritized interventions.

• Ensure proper regular data collection based on the database and tools shared by the federal ADEY team with high quality and undertake required analysis. 

• Monitor the progress and evaluate the performance of prioritized interventions on livestock agribusiness in the region. 

• Compile and share project progress and performance reports periodically (weekly update, monthly, quarter basis, and yearly) to regional and federal ADEY teams. 

• Introduce, compile, and publish the best experiences and implementation approaches

• Support youth-owned livestock agribusiness enterprises in contract marketing, demand creation, and promotion of new products and services.

• Establish market linkages among input suppliers, producers, processors, and output markets in the region.

• Support the commercialization of livestock and livestock products in the region.

• Closely follow up with implementing partners (subgrants) on the proper implementation of prioritized activities. 

• Organize and prepare stakeholder meetings, workshops, and related activities and prepare materials as needed to expand the outreach and advocacy in the region. 

• Implement other activities as required by the team lead and supervisors.

Job Requirements

Required qualifications, competencies, skills, training, and experience:

• Minimum of master’s degree in Livestock production, Animal Rangeland, Agro-pastoral, dairy technology, Poultry, Apiculture and other related fields.

• Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in the areas of livestock production, livestock Agri-business donor-supported projects related to livestock and livestock products value chain development, and other interventions relevant to the position.

• Deep understanding of Ethiopia’s livestock sub-sector, including dairy, poultry, and apiculture, with a broad perspective on how the systems function and how public, private, and non-government organizations operate in the system. 

• Deep understanding and practical experience in job creation for youth in livestock agribusiness.

• Expertise in planning, prioritizing, sequencing, managing, problem-solving, and reporting on livestock projects.

• Excellent understanding of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), common interest groups and entrepreneurship, and the mechanism of how it functions.

• Good track record of work experience in livestock farming, livestock product processing and development, and livestock product marketing with public and non-governmental organizations, training institutions, and other actors in livestock agribusiness. 

• Excellent understanding and experience in livestock agribusiness development particularly in Ethiopia and in developing countries, with strategies to address bottlenecks in the sub-sector.

• Excellent experience in creating and facilitating public-private partnerships in livestock agribusiness. 

• Self-starter with strong motivation, ownership, and commitment to deliver results.

• Promotes data-driven and evidence-based problem-solving and decision-making.

• Strong team player with excellent relationship-building and communication skills.

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

• Highly developed interpersonal skills with a demonstrated ability to relate to and gain the confidence of the senior leadership immediately.

• Proven leadership ability, with the skills to manage a team and stakeholders and influence others through informal guidance, coaching, and feedback.

• Ability to work effectively with regional teams and partners and ensure timely data exchange and problem-solving between the Federal and Regional levels. 

• Ability to work under pressure and in a constantly evolving and challenging environment.

• Excellent analytical skills and computer literate

• Desire to create job and improve the livelihood of youth in agriculture

• Willingness to undertake frequent field visits.

• Excellent communication skills (both oral and written) in English and Amharic with the ability to create and deliver compelling presentations to diverse groups of stakeholders (knowing regional languages is mandatory). 

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 THIS LINK

• It is mandatory to mention the position title under the subject line of your application email.  

• Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.  

• Women are highly encouraged to apply. 

• NB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.