Senior Agronomy Advisor at TechnoServe

TechnoServe

Position: Senior Agronomy Advisor

Job Time: Full-Time

Job Type: Contract

Place of Work: Hawassa - Ethiopia

Posted date: 8 months ago

Deadline: Submition date is over

Description

TechnoServe Background

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of businesses and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

Program Description

The five-year CREW program aims to increase climate-resilient economic empowerment of women coffee farmers in Southern Ethiopia. CREW will advance this vision through targeted approaches at the farm/household, wet mill, and industry levels. CREW’s design embraces the mutually reinforcing relationship of women’s economic empowerment (WEE) with our aim to increase thriving and resilient coffee production. CREW’s ultimate beneficiaries will be 76,000 women and men and 80 coffee processing businesses in coffee-growing communities in targeted zones of the Ethiopian regions of Sidama and Oromia.

Position Description

The Senior Agronomy Advisor shall implement and refine agronomy strategies that will enable smallholder coffee growers under the program to increase coffee quality and yields. The Advisor will play a pivotal role in meeting the beneficiary's target and specifically training 50% of women beneficiaries in Agronomy and other best practices including leadership and gender practices.

Key roles and responsibilities

• Supervise a team of Agronomy Advisors and Farmer Trainers through work planning, coaching, technical support, feedback, and personal development activities related to work performance improvement.
• Provide support with key program start-up activities such as:
• Identification, selection and sign-up of project beneficiary clients (cooperatives).
• Sensitization of the leadership and membership of the cooperatives on project objectives and requirements.
• Registration of farmers into the Coffee Farm College, formation of focal farmer groups and identification of focal farmers and demonstration plots.
• Recruitment, training, selection and deployment of Farmer Trainers.
• Conducting baseline surveys, spot checks and back checks as necessary.
• Ensure that the Coffee Farm College and other trainings are delivered according to the annual training program agreed with the Regional Senior Agronomy Manager farmers:
• Oversee that Farmer Trainers deliver training according to calendars agreed with focal farmer groups.
• Arrange and lead the monthly training of Farmer Trainers.
• Ensure that demonstration plots built during training are established and maintained correctly.
• Liaise with cooperative leadership to keep them abreast of the progress of the training program.
• Support the development and review of various technical materials such as lesson plans, data collection tools, fact sheets, program progress reports and farmers’ stories.
• Provide support as may be required directly or through the agronomy staff to monitoring and evaluation activities:
• Ensure that accurate Attendance Sheets are submitted for all monthly trainings within the framework agreed with the M & E Manager.
• On a weekly basis, monitor the PIMA (an internal field activities monitoring tool): attendance light, Training observation, demo plots observations and visits dashboards, summarize and share feedback with respective Agronomy Advisors and Farmer Trainers
• Participate in the design and conduct, as may be necessary, of surveys and other data collection activities. This includes testing of surveys and monitoring tools
• Support the Program’s continuous interaction with relevant stakeholders such as local government officers and coffee service providers (exporters, cooperatives, private mill owners and other local relevant institutions).
• Support administrative activities such as staff performance appraisals, approval of field expenses of direct reports, and leave planning for staff.
• Agronomy Budget:
• Implement and manage the agronomy budget for the area
• Prepare monthly agronomy budget and submit to area finance office
• Timely submission of all internal reporting requirements.
• Collect expense receipts from BAs and FTs including accommodation and transport costs and prepare necessary paperwork for payment. Ensure all original receipts are submitted to the main office finance team on a timely basis
• Any other duties assigned by the Program Manager.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant field such as agriculture, environmental or natural sciences, business, or economics.
• At least five years for BA or three years for master professional work experience, ideally in the private sector, in one or more of the following areas: coffee processing or agronomy, SME development, project or business management.
• Well-developed computer skills in Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Strong planning skills and experience working to deliver quality work outputs within strict timelines.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
• Well-developed leadership ability combined with excellent communication skills.
• Strong oral & written presentation skills in English, and Amharic.
• Knowledge and Ability to speak and write Afan Oromo is a must requirement.
• Willingness to spend time working and travelling in project sites located in rural areas, mainly woredas in West Guji