Senior Technical Expert II- Apiculture Entrepreneurship

Vacancy Announcement

Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute

Position: Senior Technical Expert II- Apiculture Entrepreneurship

Term of Employment: One Year with Possibility of Extension

Duty Station(s): Head Office -Addis Ababa

Required Number: One

Application Deadline: March 15 , 2024

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

The Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) was established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify systemic bottlenecks, conduct studies and provide recommendations, provide implementation support, manage projects, create linkages and coordination among activities and agricultural development programs. The Institute is a strategy and delivery-oriented government institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the countrys agriculture sector. The ATI envisions that, to be the leading center of innovative solutions to catalyze and contribute to the transformation of the Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030 where smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability.

ATI provides a unique platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the countrys agricultural sector. The ATI offers rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training. The ATI recognize that its most valuable assets are its staff and is committed to providing its teams with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

The programmatic focus of the Institute responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and other sectors along commodity value chains. Across the programs, the ATI engages public, private, and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models. Currently, ATI is tasked to coordinate the revised Agriculture and Rural Development policy agendas of the sector and such sectoral level delegation requires high level expertise in the policy areas and skill sets in coordination and networking with multiple stakeholders.

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 team work to achieve excellent results.

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution 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 calledAgriculture-focused Dignified Employment for Youth in Ethiopia(ADEY)to address challenges of young women and men 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 production and productivity while supporting other actors along the value chain. Taking ATIs reputable experiences, 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 job creation potential in the country and untapped resources compared to other African countries. The major intervention areas of ADEY program are: enhance skills and mindsets of young women and men through technical and business skill 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.

TheApiculture Entrepreneurship Expert-STE IIis responsible for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting of prioritized interventions around apiculture development. He/she will provide day to day management and technical supports for the effective implementation of the project and other duties as listed out below. TheApiculture Entrepreneurship Expert-STE IIwill report to livestock team lead of ADEY Program and closely work with livestock commercialization program and ADEY Program team members at federal level, and with apiculture and ADEY team and partners at regional level.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate youth-focused apiculture interventions of ADEY Program across implementation regions of the country.
• Develop annual workplan of apiculture interventions based on project document in collaboration with stakeholders including ATI federal and regional team and follow its implementation.
• Support regional apiculture team on the identification of knowledge and skill gap of targeted youths (young men and women) across apiculture value chain, facilitating trainings, and provide technical backstopping.
• Identify and engage relevant agricultural institutions to provide skill-based training to targeted youths in apiculture business and follow its implementation.
• Support regional apiculture team to organize and facilitate knowledge management events, apiculture value chain alliance meetings, and other events and document lessons and best practices.
• Map apiculture infrastructures established by federal and regional partners across project regions and create linkage with targeted youth engaged in apiculture businesses.
• Develop appropriate database and data collection tools in consultation with M&E and livestock team and ensure regular data collection with high quality and undertake analysis.
• Monitor implementation progress and evaluate performance of prioritized apiculture interventions across project regions and provide recommendations.
• Compile and share progress updates and performance reports and share with project team periodically (weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually).
• Support regional apiculture team on contract marketing, demand creation and promotion of new apiculture products and services.
• Support regional apiculture 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 (subgrants) for the proper implementation of technical and financial matters.
• Develop a strategy or plan for outreach and advocacy of the apiculture business of ADEY Program
• 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.

Required qualifications, competencies, skills, trainings and experience:

• Minimum of Masters degree in apiculture, beekeeping, livestock or other related fields.
• 8 years of professional experiences in the areas of apiculture business, donor supported apiculture interventions, apiculture value chain related project management, and others directly relevant to the position.
• Deep understanding of Ethiopias agricultural sector, and specifically the livestock sector, with a broad perspective on how the entire system operates and how public, private and non-government organizations operate in the system.
• Deep understanding and practical experiences in job creation and management for youth and other segments of the society in agricultural value chains.
• Expertise in planning, prioritizing, sequencing, managing, problem-solving and reporting on apiculture and apiculture related projects.
• Good track record of working relationship with beekeepers, honey and wax processors, bee research and training institutions, public and non-governmental organizations, and others engaged in apiculture development.
• Excellent understanding and experience in developing apiculture value chains, apiculture businesses particularly in Ethiopia and in developing countries, and addressing obstacles that hinder its effectiveness.
• Excellent understanding in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), common interest groups, and entrepreneurship and the mechanisms how it functions.
• Excellent experience in establishing and facilitating public-private partnerships in apiculture 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 and communication skills.
• 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 team 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 literacy.
• Desire of creating job and improving the livelihood of youth in agriculture.
• Willingness to undertake frequent field visits.