Senior Agronomy Advisor – TechnoServe

Agriculture, Business and Administration, Development and Project Management

TechnoServe

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing…when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.  

TechnoServe Background

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing…when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.                                                                                               

Program Description

The five-year CREW program aims to increase climate resilient economic empowerment of women coffee farmers in Southern Ethiopia. CREW will advance this vision through targeted approaches at the farm/household, wet mill, and industry level. CREW’s design embraces the mutually reinforcing relationship of women’s economic empowerment (WEE) with our aim to increase thriving and resilient coffee production. CREW’s ultimate beneficiaries will be 76,000 women and men and 80 coffee processing businesses in coffee-growing communities in targeted zones of the Ethiopian regions of Sidama and Oromia.

Position Description

The Senior Agronomy Advisor shall implement and refine agronomy strategies that will enable smallholder coffee growers under the program to increase coffee quality and yields. The Advisor will play a pivotal role in meeting the beneficiaries target and specifically training 50% of women beneficiaries in Agronomy and other best practices including leadership and gender practices.

Key roles and responsibilities

• Supervise a team of Agronomy Advisors and Farmer Trainers through work planning, coaching, technical support, feedback, and personal development activities related to work performance improvement.
• Provide support with key program start up activities such as:
• Identification, selection and sign up of project beneficiary clients (cooperatives).
• Sensitization of the leadership and membership of the cooperatives on project objectives and requirements.
• Registration of farmers into the Coffee Farm College, formation of focal farmer groups and identification of focal farmers and demonstration plots.
• Recruitment, training, selection and deployment of Farmer Trainers.
• Conducting base line surveys, spot checks and back checks as necessary.
• Ensure that the Coffee Farm College and other trainings are delivered according to the annual training program agreed with the Regional Senior Agronomy Manager farmers:
• Oversee that Farmer Trainers deliver trainings according to calendars agreed with focal farmer groups.
• Arrange and lead the monthly training of Farmer Trainers.
• Ensure that demonstration plots built during trainings are established and maintained correctly.
• Liaise with cooperatives leadership to keep them abreast of the progress of the training program.
• Support the development and review of various technical materials such as lesson plans, data collection tools, fact sheets, program progress reports and farmers’ stories.
• Provide support as may be required directly or through the agronomy staff to monitoring and evaluation activities:
• Ensure that accurate Attendance Sheets are submitted for all monthly trainings within the framework agreed with the M & E Manager.
• On weekly basis, monitor the PIMA (an internal field activities monitoring tool): attendance light, Training observation, demo plots observations and visits dashboards, summarize and share feedback with respective Agronomy Advisors and Farmer Trainers
• Participate in the design and conduct, as may be necessary, of surveys and other data collection activities. This includes testing of surveys and monitoring tools
• Support the Program’s continuous interaction with relevant stakeholders such as local government officers and coffee service providers (exporters, cooperatives, private mill owners and other local relevant institutions).
• Support administrative activities such as staff performance appraisals, approval of field expenses of direct reports, leave planning for staff.
• Agronomy Budget:
  • Implement and manage agronomy budget for the area
  • Prepare monthly agronomy budget and submit to area finance office
  • Timely submission of all internal reporting requirements.
  • Collect expense receipts from BAs and FTs including accommodation and transport costs and prepare necessary paperwork for payment. Ensure all original receipts are submitted to the main office finance team on timely basis
• Any other duties assigned by Program Manager.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field such as agriculture, environmental or natural sciences, business, or economics.
• BA Degree + 5 years or Master’s Degree + 3 years professional work experience, ideally in the private sector, in one or more of the following areas: coffee processing or agronomy, SMEs development, project or business management.
• Well-developed computer skills in Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Strong planning skills and experience working to deliver quality work outputs within strict time lines.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
• Well-developed leadership ability combined with excellent communication skills.
• Strong oral & written presentation skills in English, Amharic and Afan Oromo. Knowledge of local languages such as Sidamigna is an added advantage
• Willingness to spend time working and travelling in project sites located rural areas, mainly woredas in Sidama and South Oromia regions

Success Factors:

Competency is a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) directly related to successful performance on the job.

Core Competencies include:

• Integrity and honesty: Is widely trusted; seen as a direct, truthful individual; presents truthful information in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent himself or herself for personal gain.
• Team Work/ Relationships: Works co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member and/or leader, to achieve a common goal.  Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.
• Learning attitude: Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn. Actively identifies new areas for learning; applies and shares new knowledge and skill appropriately.
• Diversity/Inclusiveness: Demonstrates an understanding and appreciation for diversity and supports diversity efforts. Interacts effectively with and inclusively with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, ages, and genders.
• Communication: Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations. Listens effectively; shares information, ideas and arguments; adjusts terminology, language and communication modes to the needs of the audience; ensures accurate understanding; acts in a way that facilitates open exchange of ideas and information; uses appropriate non-verbal communication.
• Decision making/Problem Solving: Is able to analyse situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution.  Is able to make effective decisions on a day-to-day basis, taking ownership of decisions, demonstrating sound judgement in escalating issues where necessary.
• Results Oriented/ High Quality Deliverables: Stays focused on the efforts necessary to achieve quality results consistent with programmatic or departmental goals. Demonstrates the ability to achieve effective results; works persistently to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. Accomplishes tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks.
• Planning & Time Management: Establishes a course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a specific goal. Effectively plans, schedules, prioritizes and controls activities; identifies, integrates and orchestrates resources (people, material, information, budget, and/or time) to accomplish goals. Prioritizes work according to the program or department’s goals, not just own job responsibilities; manages own time effectively.
• Business Acumen: The ability to use information, ask the right questions and take decisions that make an impact on the overall business performance.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:

• Financial & Resource Management: The ability to estimate, justify, and manage appropriate funding levels to support goal accomplishment. Managing Resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions aimed at building and planning efficient project workflows, and at improving overall organizational performance.
• Donor/Partnership Management: Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, or organizations to help achieve business goals.
• Analysis, Research, Report Writing: Experience in business planning and analysis, modeling for feasibility and execution. Able to analyze and express oneself clearly in business writing.
• Innovative Mindset: Curious inquiries, asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, sees change as an opportunity.

Managerial Competencies:

• Emotional Intelligence: The act of knowing, understanding, and responding to emotions, overcoming stress in the moment, and being aware of how your words and actions affect others. Emotional intelligence consists of 4 attributes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
• Strategic Thinking: Managers should recognize key actions, underlying problems, make connection and patterns, see consequences and implications. Anticipates obstacles realistically and plans ways to deal with them.
• Staff Development: managers are required to work with employees to plan on the development of skills and abilities so that they can fulfil current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.
• Trust to Delegate: managers should have trust and willingness to assign responsibilities to direct reports and give them discretion and authority to carry them out.
• Feedback/Coaching (mentoring): managers should give instructions, suggestions, explanations, and feedback to subordinates. (SPI+R)

Lien