Program
Officer, Markets Access Program
The Alliance
for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is working with African governments, donors,
NG0s, the private sector and African farmers to significantly and sustainably
improve the productivity and incomes of resource poor farmers in Africa through
agricultural development targeted at resource poor farmers. AGRA has its
headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, a regional office in Accra, Ghana and is
opening several country-based offices.
The Markets Access
Program (MAP) was initiated by AGRA to create market opportunities for farmers;
develop new market institutions to improve the efficiency of agricultural
markets; reduce transaction costs and risks facing poor farmers; expand income
opportunities from value added market activities; and to lower the price of
food especially for poor net-buyers of food in rural and urban markets. AGRA’s
goal through MAP is to link at least 5 million smallholder farmers in eight (8)
years to profitable local, regional and international markets, ultimately
expected to improve the lives of 25 million people.
AGRA is seeking to
recruit a Program Officer, Markets Access Program who will manage a relatively
significant budget, to develop and implement a holistic and impact-driven
strategy. The aim is to link African smallholder farmers to markets and create
opportunities for economic transactions that generate income.
Reporting to the
Director, Markets Access Program, this position is internationally recruited,
will be based in Nairobi, Kenya on a three (3) year contract and will involve
about 50% travel.
Specific
responsibilities will include:
-Develop, implement and scale-up agricultural output market access approaches
that directly benefit smallholder farmers;
-Develop an approach to reform national and regional policies and institutions
to facilitate agricultural market development and trade;
-Develop and support innovative value chain approaches that increase the
participation of smallholder farmers in local, regional and global trade flows;
-Identify, support and guide efforts that enable smallholder farmers to sell
their Lead efforts to facilitate economic transactions between value chain
players and smallholder farmers in Africa;
-Develop and support multi-disciplinary networks of individuals and
organizations that promote linking smallholder farmers to markets;
-Develop and support programs for training the next generation of agri-business
leaders in Africa;
-Represent the Director, MAP in meetings and forums as necessary; and
-Provide technical oversight to grantees including project performance.
Key
qualifications, knowledge and experience required:
-Minimum of a
Master’s degree in Business Administration, Agricultural Economics or related
discipline;
-At least eight (8) years’ experience leading agri-businesses and development
efforts, partially or wholly in Africa;
-A proven manager, able to develop and implement innovative solutions to
markets and develop agribusiness linkages which serve poor farmers;
-A good understanding of risk mitigating approaches in agriculture;
-Experience in managing multinational initiatives in the private and / or
public sector with a sound knowledge of, and experience in agricultural trade
development at national, regional and / or international levels;
-A solid understanding of agricultural markets, commodities and higher value
products and of farmer incentives that influence the adoption of technologies
and market linkages;
-Knowledge of and experience in warehouse receipt system, commodity exchanges
and commodity trading; and
-Experience in the use of ICT platforms to drive trade and link smallholder
farmers to value chains.
For more information
on this position, applicants can visit www.agra.org
An attractive
remuneration package commensurate with the position’s responsibilities will be
negotiated with the successful candidate. If you believe you can clearly
demonstrate your abilities to meet the relevant criteria for this role, please
submit your application with a detailed CV, stating your current position,
current remuneration, e-mail and telephone contacts and quoting the reference
number (Ref.: PO , MAP / 11-13) on your application letter.
To be considered,
your application must be received by 29
November, 2013 addressed to:
The Director
Executive Selection Division
Deloitte Consulting
Limited
Email: agra@deloitte.co.ke
