Team Leader for Mekelle Liaison office

Background

Stichting Wageningen Research (SWR) is an international NGO registered in Ethiopia since March 2021 with the FDRE Agency for Civil Society Organizations. The organization is established with the objective of promoting a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable food systems in Ethiopia. One of the projects implemented by SWRE is Resilient Agriculture for Inclusive and Sustainable Ethiopian Food Systems (RAISE-FS).

RAISE-FS project is a four year (Sep 2021-2025) research for development program with a mission to leverage transformation in Ethiopian food systems covering the continuum from food insecure to the better –endowed households and regions in effort of realizing production surpluses, commodity commercialization, and food and nutritional security in a sustainable manner. The project will be implemented in partnership with the Federal MoA, regional BoA, Agricultural Research Institutes and universities.

Position Summary

Working under the supervision of RAISE-FS Deputy Project Manager, and working closely with Senior Experts and Advisors at National level and focal persons in universities and regional research institutes, the Team Leader will provide leadership on managerial and technical aspects of the project in the region. S/he bears overall responsibility for program delivery and managing progress and expenditure against the project’s key deliverables. Key responsibilities include: managing program delivery, ensuring strong operational systems are in place for finance, procurement, logistics, converting detailed program agreements into implementable strategies and development of work plans against milestones with key deliverables and ME&L to support project implementation, hold strong representation and coordination with partners, particularly with the respective partner university and RARI. The Team Leader will ensure planned activities are executed against approved project plan with M&E data indicators efficiently addressed with quality and professional ethical code of Conduct. The Team Leader will be based in Mekelle with frequent travel to implementing woredas and kebeles.

Key responsibilities

• The key responsibilities of the Team Leader includes the following:
• Represent SWR-iNGO in the region s/he will be assigned;
• Provide overall managerial and technical leadership to the RAISE-FS implementation in the Tigray region;
• Oversee establishment and staffing of project-office in university and research institute in the region to implement project activities for meeting project goal;
• Network and develop functional working relationship with university and research institute and other key stakeholders in the region whose responsibilities are related to RAISE-FS goal/outcomes;
• Lead the planning and coordination of project activities with technical staff and partners as required ensuring that an integrated approach is exercised;
• Produce annual work plan and ensures effective and efficient implementation as per approved budget;
• Manage and monitor expenditure against plans, and analyze financial reports with an emphasis on keeping expenditure on track with budget;
• Undertake periodic and regular monitoring, evaluation & learning (ME&L) of project activities and implementation of lessons learnt from the ME&L activities and other best practices;
• Maintain effective engagement of partners to ensure responsive and sustainable implementation and reporting;
• Participate in project related meetings providing strategic oversight to the project delivery and ensure updates on project progress, risks and risk mitigation strategies;
• Organize/facilitate periodic project related meetings at regional level to review project progress with staff and partners;
• Ensure proper documentations of processes and practices towards achieving the outcomes of the project;
• Produce timely and quality periodic technical and financial reports; and
• Perform assignments related to SWR-iNGO/RAISE-FS given by national office.

 What we offer

Depending on candidate’s education and work experience, we offer a competitive salary as per the organization scale which is negotiable within the range of the salary scale assigned for the position. We also offer other benefit packages as per the internal HR manual.

Duty station:               Mekelle

Duration:                     Three years, subject to renewal based on performance

No. required:                 One

Reports to: Deputy Project Manager for RAISE-FS

Education, Knowledge, and Skills Required

• Minimum of Master’s degree in Agriculture, Development Studies, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, or related field;
• At least 7-10 years’ work experience in research for development arena and managing large multi-year programs with staffs of diverse background;
• Experience in Dutch or other donor-funded Project Management and good organizational, management and leadership skills;
• Experience of building, leading and developing teams with different backgrounds and expertise;
• Experience managing procurement processes and solicitation;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills in English, with substantial experience in managing multicultural teams;
• Experience in solving complex issues through analysis and definition of a clear way forward;
• Understanding of Ethiopia’s agricultural and food systems, with a broad perspective on agricultural practices, policies and institution issues;
• Strong technical and analytic capacities and sound judgment;
• Team player and strong experience in managing resource mobilization;
• Experience with participatory approaches and stakeholder networks;
• Experience in the management of partnerships with a wide array of partners, including government at the woreda level, NGOs and local community organisations; and,
• Excellent communication and partnership management skills.