Program Specialist – Agroforestry Training and Research 153 views0 applications

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. We are growing quickly. We currently serve more than 800,000 farm families in Eastern and Southern Africa, with more than 7,500 full-time staff, and we aim to serve 1 million farm families by 2020.

One Acre Fund – Ethiopia, that was established in 2014, is partnering with the ANRS Bureau of Agriculture, ANRS Environment, Forest and Wildlife Protection and Development Authority (EFWPaDA), ANRS Bureau of Finance and Economic Cooperation (BoFEC), ANRS Cooperative Promotion Agency (CPA), and Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI) to improve farmer incomes and environmental outcomes via agroforestry entrepreneurs and teff seed multiplication. We are in an exciting phase of work in which we are trialing novel approaches and preparing for scale-up in the coming years.

Job Description

Develop excellent new or revise existing technical training materials using OAF recommended techniques.

• Materials must be specific, accurate and to the point whereby timelines, quantities and techniques are very clear to the audience.
• Keep track of information of resources and flag any controversial or vague recommendations to manager before incorporating into the material.
• Materials must be restructured and tailored to specific audience as needed. This may include OAF field team, OAF’s Tree Nursery Operators, Woreda and Kebele stakeholders and farmers.
• Keep track of critical questions that require different inputs from different stakeholders and keep an excellent track of any inputs gathered in an organized manner.

Conduct thorough research on proper agroforestry recommendations

•  Must be able to conducting desk research, discus with internal and external experts to gather and triangulate different recommendations.
• It is important to have excellent communication and follow up by email, phone or in person, with internal and external experts to ensure you are making informed decisions when developing new materials or revising existing materials.

Field test technical training materials

• Go out to the field and field test the materials in the intended scenario and see if there are any problems that need to be fixed. You would do this through keen observation and inputs from the field team.
• Discuss the required changes with manager on how to best incorporate input into the final version. Then develop final English and Amharic versions of these materials.

Translate technical training manuals and farmer training talking points from English to Amharic and visa versa.

• These include but not limited to: Nursery establishment and management trainings ; fruit grafting training, tree planting training; tree management training; various data quality trainings and surveys.
• Ensure quality of translation through peer and manager review

Participate in the Weekly Tree Meetings

• You will be responsible to attend these weekly meetings as way to gather different insights into the tree program.
• Use these opportunity to gather feedback from the field team on material revisions, gather new ideas to develop new materials and inputs to answering critical questions on materials.
• Conduct field qualitative research
• Understand and learn OAF qualitative research methodologies.
• Conduct key informant interviews with farmers, tree nursery operators and government stakeholders to gather initial input for designing strategy and materials.
• Compile findings into structured report to support design different strategies and material structuring.

Support other projects and other teams when need arises

Live the value of One Acre Fund throughout your work

• Work full-time days and overtime in busy periods to ensure the work gets done well.
• Be willing to work a flexible schedule, as sometimes weekends will be the best time to work with farmers.
• Be willing to physically demonstrate best practices and then to do work tasks alongside your team and the farmers during nursery establishment, land prep for trees, tree planting, and other tree production steps.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

• We are seeking for an exceptional professional with 4-5 years of work experience and ideally a demonstrated passion for our mission.  Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

Required Qualifications

• BSc or BA or higher in NRM, Environmental Science, Agriculture or a related field with at least 4 years of experience
• Demonstrated ability to conduct research: desk research and primary data through interviews
• Demonstrated ability in creating and revising training and/or communication materials
• Experience working with farmers in community projects, especially related to trees
• Excellent translation skills from Amharic to English and vis a versa
• Excellent English and Amharic Grammar
• Excellent English and Amharic Typing Speed
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills
• Demonstrated organizational and communication skills
• Strong command of the basics of email, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Power Geez
• Experience in synthesizing large volume of information or information gathered from different sources
• Candidate must be flexible to accommodate different scope of work and different working hours.
• Candidate must be humble, hardworking and result oriented.

Additional Desired (not Required) Qualifications

• Experience in conducting key informant interviews and focus group discussions with farmers
• Training facilitation skills especially experience in delivering trainings to farmers and/or other audiences

Preferred Start Date

• As soon as possible

Benefits

• Health insurance, housing stipend and paid time off

Sponsor International Candidates

• No; must have existing rights to work in Ethiopia. Ethiopian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.