Project Coordinator UK NGO Jobs – Farm Africa
Job Title: Project Coordinator
Organization: Farm Africa
Funding Source: aBi Trust
Duty Station: Lira, Uganda
Reports to: Program Manager
About US:
Farm Africa is an international non-governmental organization working to end hunger and bring prosperity to rural Africa. We work to increase the incomes and improve food security of smallholder farmers, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and forest dwellers in East Africa. A core part of our strategy is to ensure that our interventions are both economically sustainable and scalable. The systematic integration of market linkages in implementing programmes is crucial to our ability to scale our interventions cost-effectively. Farm Africa has the ambition to be the leading European NGO specialising in Agriculture, Natural Resource Management and Market Engagement.
About aBi Trust Project:
aBi Trust recently awarded Farm Africa and the North East Chilli Producers Association (NECPA) funding for a three-year project focused on creating a more competitive and profitable chilli value chain within Lira, northern Uganda to capitalise on growing international demand for varieties of Ugandan African Birds Eye (ABE) dried chillies. The project will strengthen the technical capacity of NECPA and their extension team to support market- orientated chilli production across their entire area of operation. Key project activities will include; delivering an enhanced extension package to 3,000 (120 groups of 25) chilli farmers in Aromo, Barr and Amach sub-counties; reforming input supply within Aromo, Barr and Amach sub-counties to ensure there is an adequate flow of high-quality inputs to service growing demand from farmers; supporting NECPA to obtain the proper certification and licencing required in order to begin accessing and selling their farmers’ chillies directly into high-value export markets. At the same time, the project will promote greater inclusivity within the value chain, encouraging female and youth led production by educating on gender mainstreaming and creating new enterprise opportunities.
Job Summary: The Project Coordinator (PC) is a key role in the senior management team in Uganda and is ultimately responsible for planning and leading the implementation of the Commercialising Chilli Production (CCP) project by both Farm Africa and our implementing partner, NECPA. The PC will be required to manage the planning, implementation, monitoring & reporting of all aspects of the CCP project. This will include playing a leading role in internal and external project reporting, financial management, partner management, monitoring and evaluation of the project activities, outputs and impacts, and ensuring that all stakeholders at the project area are fully engaged. The post-holder will be based in Farm Africa’s Lira office, and will be reporting in to the Program Manager, Uganda (PM).
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
The Project Coordinator will oversee project implementation accordance with the objectives, work plans and budgets agreed with the donor. In particular they will be responsible for:
Project planning:
- Work in close consultation with the Program Manager (PM) to review and prepare the project’s work plan and budget as part of the quarterly and annual planning process.
- Manage monthly, quarterly and annual work plans for project activities and logistics, identifying and responding to the implications of interdependencies between different sub-project work stream activities.
- Ensure all project staff and partners are clear on project plans and required resources during planning.
- Work closely with NECPA management team to develop an implementation plan and budget in line with donor requirements and contractual plans for the overall programme.
- Regularly review delivery progress against plans, highlighting areas of concern in a timely manner and proactively addressing them in good time.
Project delivery, implementation and internal reporting:
- Ensure the methodologies for each activity are clearly understood by the Farm Africa and NECPA project teams and delivered according to Farm Africa Approaches.
- Ensure that project activities are implemented and outputs achieved as planned and within budget and timelines that have been contractually agreed with the donor
- Ensure that accurate and detailed records are kept of activities delivered by both Farm Africa and NECPA teams and extension staff, and logged using GPS devices as stipulated by the donor
- Participate in quarterly programme progress review sessions with the Program Manager and other key staff including: in-depth review of financial spend/burn rate; achievement against activity and output plan, and a forward look on whether the project is achieving against its objectives, indicators and beneficiaries.
- Proactively identify and monitor any risks to non-delivery and, where required, develop and implement action plans to address issues identified;
- Provide high-quality and accurate narrative and financial reports in line with contractual agreements
- Work closely with the NECPA management team, providing hands-on support with managing programme delivery in line with contractual agreements
Financial management and governance:
- Closely monitor project expenditure, ensuring that requests for variances are requested from, and approved by, the donor ahead of time.
- Work with the Project Accountant & Administrator (PA&A) and Finance & Administration Manager (FAM) for Uganda to regularly forecast budgets in line with any changes in implementation plans, and where required, to reflect the changing financial context (e.g., inflation, exchange rates)
- Implement project financial controls, ensuring that financial management in the project field office is in compliance with and exceeds the basic standards contained in the Farm Africa finance procedures manual and is in line with the requirements outlined in the aBi Financial Management Guidelines
- Review budget monitoring reports, and provide timely explanations and corrective actions for any significant variances
- Ensure that all procurement of goods and services is carried out in line with Farm Africa procedures and also follows the terms and conditions stipulated in the donor’s Financial Management Guidelines
- Work with the PA&A, FAM and PM to monitor financial risks, developing and implementing mitigation actions as needed
Monitoring and evaluation of the project’s outputs, outcomes and impact:
- With support from the wider Monitoring & Evaluation team, develop and implement a Monitoring & Learning Plan (MLP) for the project in line with Farm Africa’s guidelines and the donor’s requirements
- Ensure that KPI data is regularly and accurately recorded and submitted to the donor on a quarterly basis in line with contractual requirements
- Closely monitor progress against the project’s ‘payment by result’ indicators – reporting on progress and highlighting any concerns to the PM on a quarterly basis
- Lead the project’s annual self-assessment process ensuring that necessary evidence is collected and all staff are actively inputting into the process M Ensure that the project is regularly conducting beneficiary surveys, collecting other data through relevant sources, developing case studies and collating photos
- Ensure that activities delivered by the Farm Africa and NECPA teams are logged using GPS devices provided by the donor, and in line with the donor requirements
- With support from the wider Monitoring & Evaluation team, oversee the joint procurement of baseline and EoP evaluations by the Farm Africa and aBi teams, ensuring that learning and recommendations from those evaluations are explicitly incorporated into the project’s future implementation activities.
- Supporting the contract management for the project, ensuring that donor reports are of a high standard:
- Produce accurately and timely narrative and financial reporting information for review and submission by PM and Programme Support Team
- With support from the PA&A, ensure that full transactional reports for all expenditures are received promptly in Kampala within one week of the month end to ensure timely onward reporting to the donor
- Proactively identify any required changes to donor-agreed work plans, objectives and/or budgets, working with the PM, CD and Programme Support Team to agree and implement any necessary contract revisions or renegotiations
- Ensure compliance with donor procurement and other contractual requirements
Leadership and management of project team:
- Work with the Country Office team on the recruitment of new staff to the project team
- Hold (at least) monthly staff meetings and send minutes and key action points to partners and any relevant stakeholders
- Provide leadership and motivation to all project staff building values-based team working and individual staff skills relevant to the project.
- Regularly provide both informal and formal coaching and feedback to all project staff
- Proactively mentor and support NECPA team and their extension staff to achieve their project objectives
- Effectively and promptly deal with any poor performance and actively recognise and encourage strong performance
- Hold in-person supervision sessions with all line-managed staff at least once per month (to discuss progress against their personal development objectives and work targets) and carry out in-person annual appraisals with all line-managed staff
- Manage and nurture mutually beneficial partnerships with stakeholders:
- Proactively identify and raise with the PM (and others as appropriate) any project- related delivery risks, and work with NECPA staff and other stakeholders to implement action plans to resolve identified issues
- Act as a regional level ambassador, promoting the project, including hosting visitors, speaking at events, and meeting donors and other officials when required
- Form strong links with relevant local government teams, ensuring that both parties are operating within the confines of a mutually agreed Moll
- Convene quarterly stakeholder meetings
- Support organisation of external events, forums and conferences to share project lessons and experiences
- Play an active role as a member of the Farm Africa Country team:
- Contribute to the development and implementation of Farm Africa’s strategy
- Identify and explore opportunities to grow and expand the country project pipeline, both in relation to the current project or related to new project opportunities
- Work with the PM, CD and the UK Programme Funding Unit to prepare funding proposals where requested, ensuring that any lessons learned during implementation are documented and built into future project design
- Participate in country-level or Pan-Farm Africa programme meetings with other project coordinators, as reasonably requested
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The ideal candidate will should possess a Postgraduate degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Rural Development, Rural Livelihoods or any other related field. Further relevant academic qualification in the area of Agriculture, Agribusiness, Rural Development, Rural Livelihoods or other relevant field
- At least three years management experience with an INGO or agri-business evidencing knowledge and understanding of project strategy, design, implementation, line management monitoring and reporting.
- Experience of operationalising project plans with multiple external stakeholders and managing implementing partners
- Experience in financial management, including the ability to develop, read and manage budgets; and rapidly spot potential issues and solutions
- Direct experience of delivering business development services to agribusinesses and supporting them to access finance and grow.
- Experience in combining coaching with effective and insightful feedback on organisational strengths, development areas and ways to grow
- Direct experience of formalising smallholder producer supply chains, or supporting agribusinesses to do the same
- Experience of using a range of tools to monitor delivery of activities and progress towards achieving project outcomes on an ongoing and regular basis
- Experience of producing high-quality narrative reports for large-scale donors
- Demonstrable understanding of private sector agriculture value chains and rural development in Uganda
- Experience of working in Lango sub-region and northern Uganda
- Knowledge and understanding of the chilli value chain in Uganda and key dynamics and stakeholders within it.
- Excellent understanding of market-based approaches to development and particularly approaches which encourage greater participation of women and youth
- Knowledge of Global GAP and/or Organic certification requirements, and the process to be followed to achieve certification.
- Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills (in English) with the ability to work with both Government, CSOs and Private Sector stakeholders
- Excellent training/facilitation skills and experience
- Adept in Microsoft Windows including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
- Ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders based on trust, collaboration, demonstrated commitment and impact, deploying a wide range of influencing techniques as required
NB: Please download full job description here, Click Here
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified candidates should send their updated CVs, salary history, and a two-page supporting statement detailing how you meet the person specification to ugandarecruitment@farmafrica.org including ‘Programme Coordinator- CCP’ in the subject line. Please DO NOT send additional documents such as certificates and references with your application. Successful candidates ONLY will be required to provide these documents during the referencing process.
NB: Due to the urgent requirement to fill this role, applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and short-listed applicants may be called for interview ahead of the closing date.
Deadline: 12th February 2019
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