Project Coordinator (Commercialising Chilli Production) NGO Jobs – Farm Africa

Project Coordinator (Commercialising Chilli Production) NGO Jobs – Farm Africa

Job Title:      Project Coordinator – Commercialising Chilli Production

Organization: Farm Africa

Duty Station:  Lira, Uganda

Reports to:  Programme Manager

About US:

Farm Africa, founded in 1985, is an international non-governmental organization working in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. We drive agricultural and environmental change to improve lives. Our strategy has three pillars: agricultural expertise, management and preservation of ecosystems, and the power of business to drive prosperity. We believe Africa has the power to feed itself and are helping make this happen by establishing and spreading the best farming and forestry techniques so that poor farmers and herders have more food to feed their families and to sell. We help smallholders manage their natural resources sustainably so that they can withstand climate change challenges and shocks and ensure their families have enough food in the future as well as now. Farm Africa works in partnership with communities, government, local and international organizations, and the private sector to innovate, learn and share best practices for maximum impact of our projects.

About Project:

Farm Africa is mid-way through implementation of a three-year project in partnership with aBi Development Limited and the North East Chilli Producers Association (NECPA). The project is focussed 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 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 Purpose: 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 by both Farm Africa and our partner, NECPA, and will be responsible for the following:

Plan and manage the CCP project implementation in accordance with the objectives, work plans and budgets agreed with the donor.

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 the project’s log-frame and data collection plans are regularly reviewed and refreshed
  • 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
  • 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:

  • Support annual PPR reflection processes to assess any adjustments needed to budget allocations for the project
  • 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
  • Support management and oversee the quality of donor visits to the region

Leadership and management of project team:

  • Spend a high proportion of the time in the field guiding the delivery of project activities and ensuring timely and high-quality delivery in line with donor expectations and requirements
  • Working with the Country Office team, lead on the recruitment of new staff to the project team
  • Hold weekly 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 M 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
  • Actively seek feedback on own performance and effectiveness from both country leadership as well as own project staff.
  • 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 workshops and conferences, and meeting donors and other officials when required
  • Provide formal representation of the project at regional level with respect to key signatory government parties; ensure periodic reports are submitted to them on a timely basis
  • Convene quarterly project meetings, involving representatives from all stakeholder groups
  • 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:

Essential

  • The ideal candidate for the Farm Africa Project Coordinator – Commercialising Chilli Production job must hold a Postgraduate degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Rural Development, Rural Livelihoods or any other related field.
  • Demonstrable understanding of private sector agriculture value chains and rural development in 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
  • 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 project outcomes on an ongoing and regular basis
  • Experience of using a range of tools to monitor delivery of activities and collating this information for sharing with donors.
  • Experience of producing high-quality narrative reports for large-scale donors
  • Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills with the ability to work with both Government, CSOs and Private Sector stakeholders.
  • Ability to lead and mentor both Farm Africa and partner staff
  • Excellent training/facilitation skills and experience
  • Excellent network and excellent relationship with government partners
  • Ability and willingness to travel widely and frequently both regionally and nationally
  • Ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders based on trust, collaboration, demonstrated commitment and impact, deploying a wide range of influencing techniques as required

Desired:

  • Further relevant academic qualification in the area of Agriculture, Agribusiness, Rural Development, Rural Livelihoods or other relevant field
  • Experience of working in Lango sub-region and northern Uganda
  • At least three years field-based experience implementing private sector and smallholder projects in agriculture
  • Experience of working on aBi-funded projects
  • Experience of working within the chilli (ideally) or other horticultural value chains
  • Experience of supporting Ugandan businesses to enter the international export market, and gain the necessary licences
  • Experience of developing strategies for small¬scale private sector actors working in the agricultural input supply chains
  • Experience of designing production planning tools for smallholder farmers.
  • Demonstrated leadership, line management and team building experience – including conducting appraisals and managing under-performance.
  • Experience of establishing and supporting the development of VSLA initiatives (or similar group saving schemes).
  • Negotiating & managing partner relationships
  • Experience in leading teams in problem solving
  • Fluency in Langi/Luo

How to Apply:

Please submit your CV, salary history and a two page supporting statement demonstrating how your skills and experience meet the requirements outlined in the person specification to ugandarecruitment@farmafrica.org.

NB: Please DO NOT send additional documents such as certificates and references with your application. Shortlisted candidates ONLY will be required to provide these documents during the interview process.  Interviews are expected to take place w/c 30th March 2020 at Farm Africa’s country office in Kampala or Lira field office. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For full job description, click here

Deadline: 18th March 2020 by 5:00pm EAT

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