Company Description

SNV is a global development partner, deeply rooted in the countries where we operate. We are driven by a vision of a better world: A world where across every society all people live with dignity and have equitable opportunities to thrive sustainably. To make this vision a reality, we need transformations in vital agri-food, energy, and water systems. SNV contributes by strengthening capacities and catalyzing partnerships in these sectors. We help strengthen institutions and effective governance, reduce gender inequalities and barriers to social inclusion, and enable adaptation and mitigation to the climate and biodiversity crises. Building on 60 years of experience we support our partners with our technical and process expertise and methodological rigor. We do this in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia with a team of approximately 1,600 colleagues. By being adaptable and tailoring our approaches to these different contexts, we can contribute to impact at scale, resulting in more equitable lives for all.

Our core values of people-centeredness and respect, equity and equality, and diversity and inclusion, are fundamental to who we are, and what we do. This is reflected in our vision mission, and strategy, which sets out our aspirations and commitments as our compass towards 2030.

For more information on our operations in Ethiopia and SNV generally visit our website: www.snv.org

Project background

SNV Ethiopia is recruiting an experienced, Deputy Programme Manager- Partnership & Youth Engagement for an anticipated flagship programme. The programme aims to secure 800,000 dignified and fulfilling job opportunities for rural young women. The programme will embrace a market system approach in high-potential value chains, (horticulture, poultry, dairy and complementary value chains), grounded in seven regional clusters. It will deliberately integrate Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) transformative approaches and safeguarding mechanisms across all programme interventions, empowering young women to secure jobs through initiatives on market and socio-economic barriers and on location-specific gendered root causes.

SNV will implement the programme jointly with five other Ethiopian/ international NGOs, who will deliver their work in specific clusters. Together, these clusters will integrate technical expertise, and they will support the programme’s ecosystem to achieve longer-term systems change for youth employment in agriculture.

Role of the Deputy Programme Manager – Partnership and Youth Engagement

This is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about creating entrepreneurial opportunities for young women in the agricultural sector. We are looking for a strong professional with considerable experience in partnership development, coordination of field-level implementation, gender equality and inclusion, safeguarding and youth engagement.

 In this role, you will work with consortium partners of the programme, and key governmental stakeholders helping to develop and deliver a range of opportunities and activities to engage young agri-preneurs in the programme, with a special focus on young women. You will develop positive relationships with young people, networks of agri-preneurs, and with programme-implementing partners, so that our work is driven by the voices of young agri-preneurs, with a special focus on the needs of young women, and you will create innovative ways for young people to engage in the programme

You will develop positive relationships with stakeholders, design programme partnerships, maintain smooth implementation, guide partners, facilitate collaboration, and regularly evaluate partnership effectiveness to maximize impact and align with project goals and objectives.

The role is expected to coordinate the cluster-level implementation directly supervising SNV and five implementing partners, and oversee partnerships with government, private sector, and other actors in the Ethiopian agriculture employment ecosystem.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic and technical Leadership :

• Provide primary technical direction to the programme, ensuring alignment and technical guidance on youth engagement on SNV and consortium implementing partners.

• Primary delivery responsibility for leading the engagement and involvement of young Agri-entrepreneurs.

• Guide the design of youth engagement together with consortium partners.

• Create and deliver an inclusive engagement programme that builds awareness and understanding of the needs of young agri-preneurs.

• Guide the design of safeguarding strategies, and ensure the implementation is aligned with SNV quality standards on safeguarding.

• Guide and nurture the development of partnerships with government, private sector, and other actors in the agriculture employment ecosystem

• Primary delivery responsibility for leading the engagement and involvement of public and private partnerships in the programme

• Create and deliver an advocacy strategy for the programme that builds awareness and understanding of the needs of young agri-preneurs.

• Coordinates with the technical team to develop a holistic strategy for capacity building for consortium partners and other local implementing partners.

• Provide technical guidance for the advisors for effective coordination, synergy and sharing of experiences

• Coordinate and quality control the development and review of annual work plans, budgets, and progress reporting for all components, ensuring synergies between different workstreams across the programme as well as coherence with the work plans of implementing partners

• Develop mitigation plans to reduce risks and take timely, corrective actions to remedy any deviation from the work plans.

Reporting, M&E, knowledge development and quality assurance

• Contribute to the preparation of perioding reports for donors and other stakeholders

• Ensures the quality of the different technical reports and papers

• Oversee periodic (quarterly and annual) project reflection processes to ensure adaptation to delivery approaches in line with project outcomes

• Conduct regular monitoring of the implementation of the interventions at various levels and provide feedback

• Follow up with the advisors and partners on the actions taken based on the feedback provided

• In collaboration with the MEAL coordinator develop knowledge management strategies for the projects

• Support team-wide efforts to make learning (including across geographies and value chains) a core part of the programme management process so that key learning questions are answered.

• Contribute to internal and external knowledge sharing by documenting project insights, attending workshops/conferences, and applying lessons learned.

• Contribute to the development of timely, accurate, consistent and informed reports for the donor and SNV

Team management

• Provide team leadership and line manage five technical advisors (Gender Advisor, Inclusion and Youth Engagement Advisor, Safeguarding Advisor, Partnerships and Policy Advisor), and 7 cluster coordinators including effective performance management and ensuring the provision of support as required to ensure a highly engaged team.

Stakeholder relationship management:

• Develop and maintain an effective network and relationships with key public and private stakeholders for project delivery especially about outcomes

• Present results and represent the project as required in national, regional, and international forums.

Job Requirements

Basic Qualifications:

• Master's degree related to Gender and Rural Development, Social development, Agriculture, Economics, Business management, and other related fields and at least 15 years of work experience in these fields in development

• More than 8 years of experience leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams with a high level of leadership, interpersonal, technical and analytical experience, as a team leader.

• Experience in leading transformative programming using a systems change lens and positive impact on youth employment in the agri sector and gender equality and social inclusion.

• Proven leadership in the design, management, implementation, and M&E of programmes with large budgets, with skills in strategic planning and thinking

• Experience managing complex activities involving coordination with multiple programme partner institutions

• Proven ability to collaborate successfully with host-country government officials, international donors, and private-sector stakeholders

• Extensive management and technical experience working with young people networks of agri-entrepreneurs

• Strong reputation and network with government and private sector actors in agriculture and agribusiness, with extensive knowledge of political economy.

• Experience managing large budgets above EUR 10 million.

• Solid understanding of young woman agri-premiership specificities in the Ethiopian context

• Fluency in both written and spoken English

• Experience in collaborative and adaptive monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Additional qualifications:

• Familiar with both national and regional agricultural sector policies as well as national-level strategies related to agriculture, youth employment, women and market development.

• Understanding of public-private partnerships, private sector development, and working with farmer organizations.

• Female candidates are encouraged to apply

• Flexible and able to adapt to a multicultural environment and complex situations.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

• Fluency in English is required.

Additional Information

• Contract Type: National - Full time

• This position will be based on Donor Funding and approval confirmation.

• Expected start date: February 2025

• Duty Station: Addis Ababa - Ethiopia

• Contract Duration: Two years with the possibility of extension based on performance. 

How to Apply

If you believe that your credentials meet the outlined profile, we invite you to apply by uploading your CV and a letter of motivation online by using THIS LINK. All information will be kept in the strictest confidentiality.

If your experience and skills match the position's requirements, we will contact you to advise on the next steps in the recruitment process.