Senior Technical Expert II - Poultry Entrepreneurship

Position: Senior Technical Expert II - Poultry Entrepreneurship

Term of Employment: One year with the possibility of extension

Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa

Required Number: One

Application Deadline: March 9, 2024

BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government Institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the countrys agriculture sector. The ATI envisions to be the leading center of innovative solutions for the transformation of Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030.

The Institute focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate the development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Sidama, South-West, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results. Our culture is one where talented, dedicated, and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great teamwork to achieve excellent results.

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make ameaningfulcontribution in changing the countrys agricultural sector. We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training. We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

Program and position summary.

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) has designed a program called Agriculture-focused Dignified Employment for Youth in Ethiopia (ADEY) to address challenges of young women and men youth unemployment and increase the participation of young people in the labor market, particularly in the agriculture sector. ATI has mainstreamed youth employment, gender equality, climate-smart, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture in all its programs and projects with the primary objectives of increased access to sustainable and inclusive job opportunities for youth, inclusivity, and the sustainable use of natural resources while building resilience capacities to shocks at all levels.

ATI, among others, currently works with more than 3 million smallholder farmers (540,300 are women and youth) engaged in the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) and digital agriculture programs designed to improve smallholder farmers production and productivity while supporting other actors along the value chain. Taking ATIs reputable experience, ADEY program is designed to create inclusive and dignified work opportunities for over six hundred thousand youths. Livestock is one of the major pillars of ACC initiatives identified for ADEY Program based on its potential and job creation opportunities. The major intervention areas of ADEY program are: enhance skills and mindsets of young women and men through technical and business skills development; increase access to agricultural inputs for production and marketing enterprises; introduce youth-friendly and cost-effective agricultural production practices and technologies; establish young people owned micro, small and medium agro-processing and value addition enterprises; increased access to inclusive financial products tailored to the needs of young people; enhance access to market tailored to the needs and capacities of young people and create an enabling environment for work opportunities through policy interventions.

The Poultry Entrepreneurship Expert-STE II is responsible for the overall planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting of dignified job creation in prioritized interventions of the poultry value chain. He/she will provide day-to-day management and technical support for the effective implementation of the project and other duties as listed out below. The Poultry Entrepreneurship Expert-STE II will report to the livestock team lead of the ADEY Program ADEY Program and closely work with the livestock commercialization program and ADEY Program ADEY Program team members at the federal level, and with poultry and ADEY team and partners at the regional level.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate youth-focused poultry interventions of the ADEY Program across implementation regions of the country.
• Develop an annual work plan for poultry interventions based on the project document, and in collaboration with stakeholders including ATI federal and regional team, and follow its implementation.
• Support the regional poultry team in the identification and prioritization of knowledge and skill gaps of targeted youths (young men and women) across the poultry value chain.
• Provide technical supports, training and coaching to youths on technical issuesrelated to poultry management at different levels (e.g. hatchery, pullets, layers, broilers).
• Identify and engage relevant agricultural institutions in providing skill-based training to targeted youths in the poultry business and follow up on its implementation.
• Support the regional poultry team in organizing and facilitating learning events, poultry value chain alliance meetings, and other events and document lessons and best practices.
• Map poultry infrastructures established by federal and regional partners across project regions and create linkage with targeted youth engaged in poultry businesses.
• Develop appropriate database and data collection tools in consultation with M&E and livestock teams and ensure regular data collection with high quality and undertake analysis.
• Monitor implementation progress and evaluate the performance of prioritized poultry interventions across project regions and provide recommendations.
• Compile, review, and synthesize progress updates and performance reports and share with project team periodically (weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually).
• Support the regional poultry team on contract marketing, demand creation, and promotion of new poultry products and services.
• Support the regional poultry team on the establishment of market linkages among input suppliers, producers, processors, and output markets in the project regions and beyond.
• Closely follow up with implementing partners (sub-grants) for the proper implementation of technical and financial matters
• Develop strategies or approaches for outreach and advocacy of the poultry business of ADEY project.
• Organize and prepare stakeholder meetings, workshops and related activities and prepare materials as needed to expand the outreach and advocacy.
• Implement other activities as required by the team lead and supervisors.

• Minimum of Masters degree in poultry science, poultry production, poultry value chain development, animal science, or other related fields.
• 8 years of professional experience in the areas of poultry business, donor-supported poultry interventions, poultry value chain-related project management, and others directly relevant to the position.
• Deep understanding of Ethiopias livestock sector, and specifically the poultry sub-sector, with a broad perspective on how the system functions and how public, private, and non-government organizations operate in the system.
• Excellent understanding and experience in developing poultry value chains, poultry businesses particularly in Ethiopia and in developing countries, and addressing obstacles that hinder its effectiveness.
• Good track record of working relationships with poultry producers, chicken and poultry products traders, processors, poultry research and training institutions, public and non-governmental organizations, and others engaged in poultry value chain development.
• Deep understanding and practical experience in job creation and management for youth and other segments of society in agricultural value chain.
• Excellent understanding and experience in entrepreneurship and in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) development
• Expertise in planning, prioritizing, sequencing, managing, problem-solving, and reporting on poultry and poultry-related projects.
• Excellent understanding in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), common interest groups, and entrepreneurship and the mechanisms of how it function.
• Excellent experience in establishing and facilitating public-private partnerships in poultry or other livestock businesses.
• Monitor project risks, supervise implementation of risk mitigation measures, and update the risk and mitigation measures yearly.
• Self-starter with strong motivation, ownership, and commitment to deliver results.
• Promotes data-driven and evidence-based problem-solving and decision-making.
• Strong team player with excellent relationship building.
• Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty, and desire to be of service
• Highly developed interpersonal skills with a demonstrated ability to relate to and gain the confidence of the senior leadership immediately.
• Proven leadership ability, with the skills to manage a team and influence other leaders across an organization through informal guidance, coaching, and feedback.
• Ability to work effectively with regional teams and partners and ensure timely data exchange and problem-solving between the Federal and Regional levels.
• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written) in English and Amharic with the ability to create and deliver compelling presentations to diverse groups of stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure and in a constantly evolving and challenging environment.
• Excellent analytical skills and computer literate.
• Desire of creating and sustaining jobs and improving the livelihood of youth in agriculture.
• Willingness to undertake frequent field visits.