Tree Project Cluster Lead 110 views0 applications

About One Acre Fund

One Acre Fund works to make African smallholder farmers more prosperous. We supply everything farmers need to grow more food and earn more income. We deliver quality farm supplies on credit, deep in rural areas, and trainings to improve farmers’ harvests. We currently serve 600,000 clients in six countries across Eastern and Southern Africa, and we aim to reach 1 million farm families by 2020.

One Acre Fund started working in Ethiopia in 2014, centered in the Amhara region. For three years we supported Teff extension work to promote good agricultural practices and yields, but our current projects are supporting community-based multiplication of improved teff seed and supporting production and dissemination of agroforestry tree species through kebele-level nurseries. Last season, we helped 38,000 farmers to plant over 4.8 million trees. For 2019, we are expanding the project to 4 more woredas in Amhara Region with the TREE (Trees for Resilience, Environment and Economy) project and we plan to expand more in the future.

Woredas of Operation

The project will be working across 8 woredas in 2020:

• Cluster 1:Banja, Burie Zuria, Jabi Tehnan and Quarit – Finote Selam is the center
• Cluster 2:Gonji, Bibugn, Hulet Eju Enesie and Goncha Siso Enesi – Motta is the center

Job Description 

Serve as TREE project Cluster Lead, mainly leading Field Extension Experts’ management for the cluster and leading the field operations in the cluster. Responsibilities of this role include:

Project management responsibilities

• Conduct regular field visits to observe these staffers’ work, assess the quality of their work, give them advice on how to improve
• Deliver trainings as necessary both on technical topics (e.g. nursery establishment and management) and soft skills (e.g. critical thinking, & problem solving) to both the Field Extension Experts and the full teams under them
• Ensure that the team and all external partners understand the vision of the project and are committed to achieving the goals
• Collect, compile and analyze Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from Field Extension Experts each week and make suggestions for action items needed to achieve KPI goals
• Use your knowledge of tree production and your field observations to identify problems in a timely manner and help to solve them, and ideally to anticipate and prevent potential problems before they happen
• Make sure Field Assistants, Field Extension Agents and Field Extension Experts are well equipped to do marketing/convincing farmers to buy trees
• Run field tests of draft trainings and written tools and share lessons learned for improving the materials, as requested by your manager
• Provide high level strategic ideas and feedback to HQ

People management responsibilities

• Manage around 4-5 woredas/TREE Project Field Extension Experts and 16-25 TREE Project Field Extension Agents
• Develop your staff through expectations, feedback, training, spot coaching, mentoring and development plans
• Communicate performance expectations and formally evaluate your direct reports’ performance regularly twice per year
• Recommend poor performers for disciplinary action and work with your manager to take appropriate action
• Identify high performers and helping with career pathing for future promotion

Communications with headquarters responsibilities

• Help to ensure excellent communication between your field team and headquarters (HQ) by writing your own detailed, insightful weekly reports of what you have observed and sharing messages clearly from HQ back to the field team during your visits and meetings

Woreda relationship responsibilities

• Monitor the lower level day to day woreda government relation work of Field Extension Experts to give support as needed
• Manage bigger picture issues, complex problem solving with woredas, and high level relationships with woreda office heads

Other responsibilities as requested by your manager

• Note that this position is a field position and requires very frequent, on average 3-4 days per week, of travel to other woredas of operation and remote rural kebeles plus 1x travel to Bahir Dar for weekly meeting. You will be based in one of the 4 woredas of your cluster (Finote Selam/Motta). You will be required to travel by public transport, foot and the occasionally by mule. 

Compensation

• Gross salary of between 9,064-13,414 birr depending on work experience. Opportunity to earn discretionary performance bonuses of up to 50% of monthly salary every six months. Promotion and advancement also depend on performance, budget and position availability.

Benefits

• Communication and transport allowance. 14 days paid vacation per year during first year in addition to standard Ethiopian holidays.

Number of Positions:   

• 2 (1 for Finote Selam and 1 for Motta clusters)

Job Location:

• Motta/Finote Selam, Ethiopia (with frequent field visits to rural villages)

Duration:

• Full time job, one-year, renewable with excellent performance

Job Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in Natural Resource Management, Forestry, Plant Science, Agronomy or a related field
• At least four years of related work experience
• At least one year of experience in a team management role
• At least two years of working experience in rural Ethiopia on project(s) related to tree planting or production, agricultural development or farmer livelihood improvement
• Enthusiasm for traveling to the field and working in a rural setting, with farmers
• Enthusiasm for learning and openness to feedback
• Demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Native or Near-Native Amharic (written, spoken and typed)
• Good English (written and spoken)
• Good computer skills (in basic Microsoft office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) applications, skills and experience with web searches and communications)

How to Apply

Interested applicants from woredas of operation are encouraged to apply

Women are encouraged to apply

To Apply:

Submit CV and cover letter ONLY at [email protected] and [email protected] with subject line “Tree Cluster Lead Application”

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for a first-round phone interview

In person application isn’t accepted

Applications after September 17 won’t be accepted