Regional Project Officer I 81 views0 applications

Vacancy Announcement

ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY

Position:                         Regional Project Officer I – Problem Solving  (Re-Advert)

Term of Employment:   One Year with possibility of extension

Duty Station(s):              Amhara

Required Number:         One

Salary & Benefits:           Competitive

Application Deadline:    July 29, 2019

BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a strategy and delivery oriented government agency created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

The agency focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoALR), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate 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, 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 team work to achieve excellent results.

At ATA, 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 Project Officer I will be key member of Regional office of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), reporting to the Regional Implementation Support Director. The position holder is expected to provide effective support in areas such as strategy development, strategic and operational planning, program management, problem solving around implementation issues, stakeholder coordination and reporting.

The Project Officer I position is therefore very fast-paced and varied, and often quite challenging but also very rewarding. This is a fantastic opportunity for a very motivated individual with strong analytical skills, and with some experience with strategy development, program planning and management, to step up into a career focused on delivering agricultural sector transformation. ATA provides best-in-class training to our staff, as well as regular actionable feedback taking into account each staff member’s specific development objectives and career goals. Through these and other professional development activities, the holder of PO I position develop her/his skills at a highly accelerated pace.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support strategy development, strategic and operational planning, including:
• Structure own work stream, develop and apply appropriate analytical frameworks and approaches, collect data and complete high-impact analysis for robust recommendations;
• Prioritize assigned tasks and manage own work stream from start to finish, including timelines, content, and stakeholder input and validation;
• Identify and mobilize key required resources, including budgetary, human resources, etc. to ensure execution;
• Proactively identify risks and issues affecting work stream delivery, support problem solving on overcoming implementation obstacles, promptly communicate upward with solution options;
• Organize and conduct interviews with junior-to-senior level stakeholders;
• Deliver high-quality analyses, documents and presentations with communicating key insights;
• Where applicable, provide assistance to JPO in completing their activities.
• Support program management, stakeholder management and coordination, implementation problem-solving, and reporting, including:
• Present ideas and respond to queries clearly and concisely in team meetings and externally.
• Prepare, engage in and lead regular briefings and update with stakeholders;
• Prepare performance and financial reporting utilizing standard tools and templates;
• Synthesize implementation lessons learned for future refinement / best practice sharing.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree focus on Business, Economics, Agriculture, Public Policy, International Development, Business Administration and other relevant subject areas.
• 2-3/5-6 years’ relevant work experience for Msc/BSc degree respectively in management consulting or other strategically and analytically focused roles in public, private or development sector organizations;
• Interest in and familiarity with Ethiopia’s agricultural sector, agricultural and rural development.
• Genuine intellectual curiosity and desire to innovate and bring large-scale change.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and data gathering skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with highly collaborative working style.
• Experience with project and stakeholder management preferred.
• Experience in working within multi-cultural teams preferred.
• Strong willingness to learn, and ability to be a real team player.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment, with an emphasis on high-performance, results and accountability.
• Strong personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service.
• Fluency in English and Amharic, and the working language of the specific region is required.

How to Apply

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) CV (maximum 3 pages) to https://apply.ata.gov.et

Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.

Women are highly encouraged to apply.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.