Livelihood Officer -Assosa

The LFS Officer will be responsible in conducting need assessment, household food security assessment for agriculture interventions, conduct the capacity assessment of smallholder farmers and facilitate private sector engagement, mentoring and coaching in the household level.

Generic responsibilities 

• Adhere to NRC policies, tools, handbooks and guidelines
• Adhere to NRC‘s Code of Conduct, Standard Operating Procedures, and Guiding Principles to uphold the highest professional ethical obligations.
• Assist with the implementation of the support function portfolio according to plan of action
• Prepare status reports as required by management
• Share ideas for improvement and necessary changes in the activities.
• Promote the rights of refugees, IDPs/returnees in line with the advocacy strategy.

Specific responsibilities

• Support the implementation of Food Security & Livelihood projects in Assosa AO, including:
• Conducting need and village assessment, household food security assessment for agriculture interventions, overseeing the beneficiary selection process, conduct the capacity assessment of smallholder’s farmers and facilitate private sector engagement, mentoring and coaching in the household level.
• Working closely with Agriculture Bureaus, DRMC and other stakeholders to implement NRC’s Agribusiness livelihoods activities.
• Ensuring that baseline assessments are carried out on time, including participating in data collection and data analysis as needed.
• Support the LFS team on technical as well as extension methodology and the introduction of staple food crops, off-season production as well as exploring opportunities and models for contract farming.
• Support the LFS team on Agriculture technologies and value chain.
• Promotion of nutrition sensitive agriculture.
• Ensuring that LFS plans are implemented on time, working closely with the M&E team in Assosa Area Office.
• Provide regular report and immediately report any challenges or implementation delays to the LFS coordinator.
• Assess existing situation for market-based programming and cash based intervention, highlight the challenges and risks and report to the management.
• Prepare training materials and provide relevant training to the staff and project BNFs as required.

1. Competencies 

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

Professional competencies 

These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Generic professional competencies for this position: 

• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities
• Ability to be highly mobile and spend a lot of time in the field (beneficiary households, visiting local businesses, meeting with local authorities etc.)
• Creativity and willingness to try new things
• A positive and collaborative attitude and willingness to work in a team
• A willingness to work in a multi-cultural environment
• Knowledge of cash-based interventions and market based programmes

Context/ Specific skills, knowledge and experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree from, Agriculture Faculty and graduates from Agriculture Extension departments and other related fields will be preferred.
• Minimum 3 years of experience from working as in managing agriculture-based livelihood projects, income generation activities, business development or similar role in a humanitarian/recovery context with i-NGOs
• Excellent written & spoken English.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Word.
• Experience of establishing and managing agriculture-based livelihood projects and a small business
• Good knowledge on home based livelihood intervention and good knowledge about local market.

Behavioural competencies

• Managing resources to optimize results
• Managing performance and development
• Handling insecure environments
• Empowering and building trust
• Team player & working with people
• Flexible and creative
• Long term committed, honest & straightforward thinker.