Project Officer in Water, Sanitation and Agriculture – French Development Agency, Ethiopia

JOB OFFER

The French Development Agency country office, in Addis Ababa, is looking for an experienced professional recruited on a local contract to cover the Project Officer in Water, Sanitation and Agriculture position: (immediately free)

About AFD:

AFD, the French bilateral donor agency (public development finance institution) has spent more than 70 years working to alleviate poverty and support economic development in more than 90 developing and emerging countries and France’s overseas territories. In 2019, AFD authorized more than EURO 14 billions of project funding worldwide.

AFD established in Ethiopia in 1993 (international calendar). AFD commitments (grants, guarantees and soft loans to the Government or Public Utilities) in Ethiopia are focused on infrastructures for urban development (water and sanitation, solid waste management, transportation and city planning), energy, economic reforms, support to SMEs, heritage and agriculture.

AFD country office in Addis Ababa is a 10 persons’ structure.

The Mission

The Project Officer in charge of Water, Sanitation and Agriculture sectors, in Addis Ababa, is responsible for identifying, managing and monitoring a project portolio (existing and to be developed). These projects are developed in Water, Sanitation and Agriculture sectors, to support the development of these sectors and the services to the population, via sovereign (financing of a public entity with the State guarantee) or non sovereign (without the State guarantee) financing, loan or grant.The project officer will also supervise sector development and dialog with the government and local authorities, national and international actors. He/she will contribute to AFD strategy regarding those sectors.

The position:

Reporting directly to the Deputy Head of AFD in Ethiopia and in close relation with headquarters’ teams, the project officer has an overall responsibility of:

Participating to the coordination, development and monitoring of operations in his/her sectors:

• Prospect and identify financing opportunities
• Participate to the appraisal, the evaluation and the contractualization of the projects
• Monitor the implementation of the projects (signing, disbursements, repayments, compliance with financial and non financial articles and with the commitments in terms of reporting and audit), with headquarters’ teams
• Participate in informing the project team (with headquarters) and organize the relationships between the project team and national/international stakeholders/partners in Addis
• Organise and participate to the supervision missions of the country office or headquarters, and participate to the technical meetings and missions’ debriefs.

Contribute to the intellectual production of the country office and participate to develop sector dialog

• Develop intellectual production initiatives
• Realize a sector monitoring and produce synthetic or analytical notes
• Develop sector strategy of AFD group in the country
• Contribute to the AFD country strategy
• Ensure communication about the proejcts and represent AFD in sector groups

Ensure contacts with stakeholders and partners in the relevant sectors:

• Establish and develop contacts with local partners of the country office (national, regional and local authorities, French Embassy, financing and technical partners, counterparts, NGOs)
• Represent the AFD in sector dialog and relevant official meetings
• Contribute to the visibility of the AFD and the partner strategy of France in Ethiopia

Terms of employment

• Open-ended contract of service after a 60 working days probation period
• Non disclosure agreement
• Attractive salary (commensurate with level of education and working experience), and bonus
• Social benefits package (inpatient and outpatient medical care, pension fund subscribed by AFD for the employee)
• Short-term training programs in Ethiopia and abroad.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS (knowledge, skills and abilities):

• Degree in engineering in one of the relevant sectors (at least Bachelor degree) or equivalent title;
• At least 3 years of experience in a specialist position in one of the relevant sectors, in an well known institution;
• Proven experience in project management (financial and technical) in one at least of the relevant sectors;
• Strong technical and financial analytical skills in one of the relevant sectors;
• Ability to write clear and synthetic reports and analytical notes;
• Strong understanding of development opportunities and constraints in Ethiopia in the relevant sectors;
• Good partner and client relationship and aptitude;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team and independently;
• Excellent communication and writing skills in English and Amharic; knowledge of French would be a plus.
• Advanced Microsoft Office skills, in particular Word and Excel.