****Contract Length****: 12 months
****Date Needed By****: January 2016
****New Post or Replacement****: Replacement
****Accompanied / Unaccompanied****: Unaccompanied (due to short duration and high levels of travel)
****Exact Job Location****: Mongu, Zambia (with approximately 30% travel to Lusaka, and if required to other countries in Southern Africa)
****Reports To****: Programmes Director (PD)
****Responsible For****: Project Manager Conservation Agriculture (CA)
****Liaises With****: District Programme Coordinators (all locations), Project Support Officers (all locations), PM&E Coordinator, Nutrition Coordinator, Female Youth Nutrition and Livelihoods Enhancement Programme (FYNEP) Programme Coordinator, Livelihoods Programme Manager Malawi
****Job Purpose****
The principal purpose of the position will be to provide overall strategic, technical and management leadership for agricultural components (including linkages to markets and related advocacy) of Concern Zambia Programmes at micro, meso and macro levels ensuring that the highest standards of programme design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting are attained. The post holder will be responsible to develop and strengthen approaches to climate smart agriculture (CSA), that is also nutrition sensitive, and drive analysis and innovation on CSA across the country programme and represent Concern Zambia at meso and macro level on agriculture and Climate smart agriculture related forums. The adviser takes part in programme development through innovative approaches that incorporate learning in programme design.
****Main Duties and Responsibilities****
Programme development:
- Take a lead in development of climate smart related programme/projects/components based on assessment of the contextual information
- Actively take part in proposal and concept note writing for CSA related interventions
****Technical leadership in programme implementation****
- Support project managers and coordinators in Preparing detailed activity plans for programme components related to agriculture/CSA and ensure that the programme activities are implemented within agreed technical standards and resources
- Support in quantification of agricultural related activities during programme planning and in subsequent implementation process.
- Closely control the quality of different agricultural related training.
- Technical lead the implementation of agricultural components of different programmes of Concern Zambia.
- Support the CA manager in planning and review of project budget as appropriate
****Representation and Meso and Macro level advocacy****
- Actively represent Concern in terms of promoting Concern’s advocacy messages including through the Africa Climate Smart Agricultural Alliance (ACSAA), CA Task Force and other fora.
- Lead on research related to government agricultural extension services and prepare policy note as input for advocacy.
- Together with the Malawi staff manage a CA link/blog on the Concern website and intranet on a quarterly basis and maintain the CA Facebook page.
- Link with regional CA networks (ACT, FAO, FANRPAN) and represent Concern at CA related stakeholder meetings, conferences, and workshops.
- Work with country staff and support them to write technical papers for publication and dissemination at relevant workshops, trainings, and liaison with Strategy Advocacy Learning Dept (SAL) in Dublin Head Office to ensure Concern programmes and other stakeholders are kept informed of developments within the CA project.
- Support roll out and revision of Concern Zambia advocacy strategy, in particular assist in building alliances and support for the key messages around CSA, Ministry of Agriculture, agriculture and nutrition In collaboration with other CA stakeholders.
****Human Resource Management****
- Manage and support Conservation Agriculture (CA) project manager to implement the conservation agriculture project effectively
- Closely follow up on the performance of the CA team and make sure the team are working in a more result oriented manner.
- Facilitate the required technical and management support for the staff and partners to implement planned agriculture activities across all projects in a timely manner and within the available resource.
- Contribute towards building team work to enhance synergy between different projects
****Monitoring and evaluation****
- Conduct regular field visits with staff, review the performance of the staff at the field level, and provide regular feedback to the field team.
- Review CA project monitoring data on a monthly basis, collate and undertake joint analysis with the CA team.
- Prepare monthly report.
- Contribute to the annual report and facilitate collection of different case studies that demonstrate programme result
- Facilitate annual programme reviews, and ensure implementation of recommendation from different reviews.
- Initiate and lead different CSA related surveys such as baselines, endline surveys, and final evaluation
- Facilitate regular project review meetings with Concern and partner staff as appropriate and follow on the implementation of the action points from reviews.
- Coordinate reporting on project activities and finances semi-annually with the Malawi CA and Finance teams to ensure optimal quality and timely submission of reports for Concern and external donors.
HIV and AIDS and gender Mainstreaming
- In collaboration with the Gender Officers, facilitate integration of gender and HIV and AIDS issues within Climate Smart Agriculture programme components
****Other:****
- Actively participate in the implementation and review of the CSP.
- To adhere to and support the implementation of the Concern staff Code of Conduct and Programme Participant Protection Policy as described in the National Staff HR Manual
- Actively participate in the development, revision and roll out of organisational and country specific policies and procedures.
- Other tasks at the request of the Programmes Director
****PERSON SPECIFICATION****
****Education, Qualifications & Experience Required****:
****ESSENTIAL****
- Minimum Master’s Degree in Agriculture or Natural Resource Management related subject
- A minimum of 2 years’ experience working in a developing country context
- Demonstrable experience in Climate Smart Agriculture, preferably Conservation Agriculture
- Demonstrable experience, confidence and competence in networking and effective relationship building with peers, donors and government.
- Experience of project management including support to staff, financial management and reporting
- Demonstrable experience in all phases of the monitoring and evaluation process, including the use of data and results to improve programme quality.
- Skills in training and extension with a participatory and farmer led approach.
- Demonstrable experience in addressing gender inequality with agriculture and agricultural extension.
- Experience in creating links between farmers and markets.
DESIRABLE
- Experience of programme design, successful proposal development.
- Good understanding of ICT in particular the use of digital devices for data collection and extension.
- Experience with HIV and AIDS and disaster risk reduction.
- Emergency response experience
- Previous experience in a similar capacity (desirable) in a developing country
- Previous experience in Zambia
Special Skills, Aptitude or Personality Requirements:
· Effective networking abilities· A strong commitment to helping the poorest people in the world to improve their wellbeing and achieve their goals.
· Strong interpersonal and influencing skills.
· A high standard of spoken and written English,
· A strong team player with a can do attitude
· Effective data management and analysis skills – basic statistical analysis of programme M+E
· Ability to work to deadlines and under pressure
All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.
Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.
HOW TO APPLY:
All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.
Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.
