Senior Market Development Advisor Career Opportunity – Mercy Corps
Job Title: Senior Market Development Advisor
Organisation: Mercy Corps
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
Reports to: Finance Director
About US:
Mercy Corps is an international non-profit organization which implements high-quality, analytical development programmes in very difficult places. Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006. It has and continues to implement programs in Acholi and Karamoja sub regions. Mercy Corps is taking a community-led, market driven approach to address poverty and food insecurity needs through interventions that get to the root causes and contributing factors of economic vulnerability. Donors include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, Mastercard Foundation, WALMART Foundation, Coca Cola Africa Foundation, US Depart of State (DOS) /PEPFAR, and Nike Foundation.
Job Summary: The Senior Market Development Advisor will work to enhance DYNAMIC’S ability to deliver high impact market development programming; development of market development interventions, tools and resources; and the empowerment and upskilling of other DYNAMIC team members to implement market development interventions, particularly the 16 Market Development Officers and their supervising Program Managers.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead technical oversight and direction on market development for or in collaboratfbn with all aspects of DYNAMIC program activities for nine districts in ciose coordination with Deputy Program Director and Program Managers.
- Develop and proliferate tools and resources to assist with market development analysis, program design, activities’ implementation and M&E, Develop system to manage complex concept note process across nine districts and four international NGOs.
- The jobholder will also design and conduct refresher and specialized trainings as needed with staff and partners and design necessary didactic materials (manuals, handouts etc.).
- Actively engage in development and rollout of agency tested tools and initiatives to ensure consistent high-quality implementation.
- Lead in sector identification, intervention design and strategy development of the DYNAMIC program with coordination from the Deputy Program Director and other advisors (financial services, youth, skills and learning and MEL).
- Carry out continuous market intelligence and assessments to inform programming including identification of sectors and value chains that have high potential to benefit the youth.
- Develop and manage relationship with private sector partners working across program targeted sectors. Negotiate and sign agreements related to share value activities with the private sector at a national and regional level.
- Conduct pilot studies and research relevant to the program and aimed at informing implementation and learning with the support of the MEL team.
- Mentorship and coaching of partner higher and medium level firms and enterprises.
- Contribute to, Capture and Champion Market Development Best Practices
- Expand DYNAMIC’S role as a thought leader in the Making Markets Work for Youth space.
- Act as a leader for collaboration and collective decision-making across districts.
- Contribute to the suite of market development resources available to support and promote quality practice in the field.
- Help mentor and develop technical skills in Market Development Officers and other staff across program field teams.
- Support in building a more dense, diverse and collaborative network of relationships for market development practitioners and other stakeholders and to broker effective relationships at the country and regional levels. Connect best practices and learning from programs across MC countries to ensure an evolving and effective learning system for improving program implementation
- As part of Mercy Corps Uganda’s commitment to organizational learning and in support of pur understanding that teaming organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve – we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit the DYNAMIC program as well as themselves.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The applicant should preferably hold a Bachelor’s Degree in business, agribusiness, economic development or other relevant field required; Master’s Degree strongly preferred.
- At least ten years’ experience in business or market/economic development, preferably in the private sector, market development and/or related industry
- A minimum of six years of experience specifically on market systems development/M4P/market facilitation
- Dynamic leader who can guide teams to believe in and follow a strong market development philosophy,
- Previous experience with a wide range of stakeholder and partner management with national/regional companies; international agencies; community-based organizations; agribusinesses, etc. needed,
- Strong group process design and facilitation skills, including developing and leading workshops, as well as group consensus building around market development philosophy.
- Previous experience in consortium programs with other international NGOs
- Broad knowledge of agricultural development required.
- Excellent track record in adaptive management in fast-paced, entrepreneurial work environment required.
- Strong writing, communication, organization, prioritization and negotiating skills.
- Willingness to spend much time in the field and work closely with various district-level program teams.
- Working knowledge and experience in business financing for SME’s and/or youth engagement is highly valued.
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their E-mail applications including a cover letter clearly stating the salary requirements, updated CV (with three professional referees), and copies of academic qualifications/certificates addressed to the Senior HR and Legal Manager, Mercy Corps Uganda to: ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org
Deadline: 11th May 2017