The Bilateral Ethiopia - Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade (BENEFIT) Regional Unit Manager Jobs in Oromia Ethiopia

The Bilateral Ethiopia - Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade (BENEFIT) Regional Unit Manager Jobs in Oromia Ethiopia

Job Id: 197918

Category: Agriculture
Location: Oromia
Career Level: Managerial Level (Manager, Supervisor, Director) Salary: Based on the Scale of ISSD Ethiopia Programme for regional unit managers

Job Description

Job offered by: ISSD Ethiopia Programme based at Oromia Seed Enterprise

Reports to: ISSD Ethiopia program manager based at program management unit (PMU) in Addis Ababa

The position

At each of the five regional units in ISSD Ethiopia, the program is led by a senior manager, who works 75% of her/his time and is an assigned existing staff member of the implementing organization with a minimum qualification of Master’s degree in any relevant field of study and proven previous experiences in working on seeds with stakeholders.

The manager provides guidance and oversight to a team of staff, and is the main liaison between the regional unit and ISSD Ethiopia PMU.

The Regional Unit Manager is responsible and accountable for technical and financial management as well as the overall implementation of ISSD Ethiopia in her/his regional state, delegated these tasks by the legal representative of the hosting organization.

The Regional Unit Manager works closely with the ISSD Ethiopia PMU and with technical assistance from Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI) to ensure that regional activities lead to the targeted ISSD Ethiopia outcomes and are financially, administratively, and programmatically compliant with the BENEFIT Partnership in Ethiopia.

BENEFIT stands for Bilateral Ethiopia-Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade. It is a partnership among five programs in the country, including ISSD Ethiopia, and with the Ethiopian agricultural sector itself, funded by the Dutch Government.

The Regional Unit Manager will lead a team comprised of: gender & rural development expert; seed expert; farmer organization expert; business development & marketing expert; knowledge sharing and communication expert; value chain expert; and finance officer. Day to day operational management of the regional unit will be carried out by the Regional Unit Manager.

Key Responsibilities

The Regional Unit Manager will provide overall guidance and leadership to the regional unit to ensure alignment between ISSD Ethiopia interventions and regional seed strategies;

Promotes seed sector development through the regional seed core group, seed unit and other coordinating bodies; sets the strategic direction of the regional unit’s activities in consultation with key partners in the regional state and with PMU and WCDI.

Facilitates administrative and programmatic embedding of the regional unit within its host organization; ensures integration and synergy among program components; actively promotes collaboration with the BENEFIT Partnership; maintains excellent communication with PMU and WCDI; represents ISSD Ethiopia (inter-)nationally; and develops a strong partnership network that fosters a vibrant, commercial and pluralistic seed sector. Further, key responsibilities include the following.

Providing strategic guidance and leadership to the regional team in consultation with PMU and WCDI and developing effective working relationships with other strategic partners, including those within BENEFIT.

Assuming full responsibility and accountability for financial, administrative, and programmatic implementation of ISSD Ethiopia in the regional state to PMU and BENEFIT and ensuring that the regional team submits timely and accurate technical and financial reports that are compliant with BENEFIT procedures.

Effectively leading program planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning processes in close consultation with and guided by PMU and WCDI, whilst supporting staff under their supervision to document and share lessons on ISSD.

Leading, coaching and building the regional unit as a cohesive and integrated team and recruiting, orienting and managing staff under their supervision using human resources management guidance shared by PMU and BENEFIT.\

Managing day-to-day administrative and logistical operations including making and revising work plans and budgets, managing cash flow, working with

the finance officer in conducting budget analysis and documenting expenditure, issuing and explaining cash advance requests to PMU, authorizing and facilitating vehicle maintenance, procurement, inventory of office supplies, fuel purchases, air ticket purchase, vehicle hire, airport pickups, hotel reservations and per diem payments

Remuneration

The gross remuneration for the position is 48,400 ETB per month including all benefits and allowances.

Recruitment

The legal representative of the hosting organization should first short list three most potential candidates together with ISSD Ethiopia Programme manage.

A recruitment committee comprising of the hosting organization’s legal representative and human resources manager, the program coordinator and manager of ISSD Ethiopia, and also the BENEFIT portfolio manager will be formed to interview each candidate and agree whom to select for the position.

The process should be expedited before the end of February 2019, at which point in time the current contracts of existing regional project manager expires.

ISSD Ethiopia aims to improve access to quality seed

The goal of ISSD Ethiopia is to improve female and male smallholder farmers’ access to and use of quality seed of new, improved and/or farmer preferred varieties to sustainably increase agricultural productivity.

The program builds upon more than four years existing experience in supporting the development of a vibrant, pluralistic and market oriented seed sector in Ethiopia.

In this, its next phase starting January 1st 2016 and ending December 31st 2019, ISSD Ethiopia will strengthen seed producers in informal, intermediary and formal seed systems; enhance the performance of seed value chains within different seed systems; and contribute to the improvement of an enabling environment for the seed sector.

In addition, the program will strengthen professional capacities for implementing the ISSD approach.

ISSD Ethiopia is implemented in four regions of Ethiopia

The ISSD Ethiopia program is one of five programs united under the BENEFIT Partnership in Ethiopia. BENEFIT stands for Bilateral Ethiopia-Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade.

ISSD Ethiopia is implemented by five regional units hosted at four universities and one seed enterprise in four regions of the country, supported by the PMU and BENEFIT Partnership Coordination Unit (PCU), both located in Addis Ababa, and by WCDI, the Netherlands.

Regional implementing partners are: Bahir Dar University; Haramaya University and Oromia Seed Enterprise; Hawassa University; and Mekelle University, operating in Amhara region; Oromia region (divided into East and South & West respectively); Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR); and Tigray region, in corresponding order of mention.

Duty station: Oromia Seed Enterprise Head Office, Addis Ababa

Employment Type: Contract and annually renewed from January to December, based on performance and continuity of the project; works 75% of her/his time for ISSD Oromia:25% for Oromia Seed Enterprise

Job Requirements

Applicants must satisfy all of the following minimum requirements:

A minimum of MSc degree in agricultural economics, plant breeding, seed science, seed science and technology, agronomy and related fields.

A minimum of 10 years of demonstrated experience in managerial position and related areas of work;

Proficiency in written and spoken English and Afaan Oromoo

How to Apply

Interested candidates are invited to send a well-formulated letter of motivation of no more than one page and their up-to-date CV within five days from the date posted on ethiojobs web site by email to vacancy.issdethiopia@gmail.com

Please indicate in the subject line application for regional unit manager based at Oromia Seed Enterprise

Only short listed candidates will be contacted for face-to-face interview. Short listed candidates are required to submit scanned copies of their academic credentials at the time of interview.

For more information on ISSD Ethiopia Programme, please visit our websites:

www.issdethiopia.org

www.issdseed.org

The Bilateral Ethiopia - Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade (BENEFIT) Regional Unit Manager Jobs in Oromia Ethiopia