TA Ethiopia Food Processing Manager – Land O’Lakes, Inc
Agriculture, Business and Administration
Land O’Lakes, Inc
In 1921, 320 dairy farmers met in St. Paul, Minnesota, to form the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association. Their idea was simple—join together to effectively market and distribute members’ dairy production across the country.
From there, we quickly set our sights on growth. Just eight years after establishing our butter marketing organization, we expanded into the ag services and feed businesses. Our international journey kicked off 52 years later, as we began relaying the lessons we'd learned to support local agriculture in developing nations around the world. Those efforts have also helped us expand our commercial business beyond the borders of the United States.
Today, our four businesses give us a farm-to-fork view of agriculture. Pair this with our farmer ownership and we're uniquely qualified to fulfill our purpose of feeding human progress around the world, while always delivering on our responsibility to member-owners through our core values. We're united in a common cause, committed to excellence and inspired by our place in the world—but there are no shortcuts. We've never lost sight of the value of a hard day's work.
Project Summary:
Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a subcontractor on the RTI-led consortium implementing the USAID-funded Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture (TA) project. The purpose of the USAID/Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture activity is to increase access to healthy diets, particularly for women and children, by improving competitiveness, inclusiveness, and resilience of the Ethiopian food and agriculture system. This program is the core component of a suite of food and agriculture activities funded by USAID. As such, TA must collaborate intensively with other USAID-funded projects working in the food and agriculture sector.
TA will build on previous USG-funded activities to sustainably improve access to healthy diets for all in the targeted communities using a food systems lens. Acknowledging that economic transformation tends to bring new malnutrition challenges, TA will support transformation of the food systems so that a healthy diet is increasingly easy to access. TA will also support the food and agriculture systems to become more sustainable, resilient, and responsive, increasing its long-term capacity to adapt to change, shocks, and stressors. Finally, TA will facilitate increased public-private partnership and collaboration to spur a more favorable policy environment for private sector investment, sustainable and resilient food systems, and innovation that serves the population’s economic and dietary needs.
Position Summary:
The Food Processing Manager (FPM) will work directly with the Transforming Agriculture team, technical assistance recipients and beneficiaries including enterprises and associations in the animal source foods (mainly dairy, meat, poultry, eggs and fish), plant-based foods (such as vegetables, fruits, and cereals), honey, and coffee. Work closely with the private sector, Ethiopian governmental agencies and regulators, and other development agents in Ethiopia to lead the development and implementation of TA activities to build capacity of public and private sector for adoption and effective implementation of food processing practices.
This position will report to the Food Environment Manager.
Primary Responsibilities:
Primary responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Provide strategic leadership for TA activities aiming to build capacity of public and private sector entities in the animal- and plant-based food sectors for adoption and effective execution of food processing standards and practice
- Closely coordinate TA efforts with Government of Ethiopia policy and institutional reform actions to help optimize implementation of improved food processing as it relates to in the Ethiopian animal- and plant-based food sectors
- In collaboration with TA technical teams and external partners, provide guidance on food processing improvement and good manufacturing practices to position the Government of Ethiopia and Ethiopian animal- and plant-based food enterprises and market actors for domestic and regional competitiveness improvement and increased trade
- Collaborate with the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) and Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) and build internal capacity to develop and implement food processing solutions in the animal- and plant-based food sectors more effectively
- Assist the Government of Ethiopia and private sector actors in achieving goals for development of processing and trade of dairy products
- Provide support to the Ethiopian industry and the Government of Ethiopia to increase efficacy in rollout of labelling requirements, food processing facility improvement, and other initiatives to improve food processing volume, quality, and opportunities for trade
- Work with the Government of Ethiopia, dairy sector operators and industry associations to increase the ability of farmers, agribusinesses, and other actors to produce high-quality processed products in the dairy industry
- Facilitate business-to-business (B2B) meetings, trade fairs, and exhibitions to support sustainable backward market linkages between processors and potential suppliers
- Support activities that help create direct supply chain linkages with producers through mechanisms such as outgrower contracts, quality-based payments, cluster-based production, aggregation, etc.
- Support the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team on food processing project activities, real-time data collection, and other duties as needed
- Liaise between stakeholders such as government, private sector, as well as other donor-funded programs working directly or indirectly on food processing
- Advise TA regional teams working on food processing issues, as needed
- Any duties and responsibilities given by his/her immediate supervisor
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor degree in food science / food technology, business administration, public policy, agriculture, or related field
- Seven (7) + years’ experience working with government bodies and the private sector on development and execution of food processing standards and strategies
- Solid understanding of Ethiopian and international food processing standards, regulations, and requirements
- Strong leadership, and interpersonal skills, including proven ability to work with a government agency, private enterprises in the food production and marketing sectors and influence change
- Demonstrated ability to create and maintain effective working relations with host country government personnel, stakeholders, NGO partners, and international donor agencies
- Strong communication, writing and oral presentation skills in English and Amharic
- Ability to work independently and manage the needs of multiple clients
- Relevant computer software skills (including, at a minimum, the standard applications in MS Office)
- An advanced degree in food science / food technology, business administration, public policy, agriculture, or related field
- Extensive working experience in Ethiopia.
- Animal- and plant-based food sector processing improvement experience.
- Experience developing trade and partnering with government, local and multinational private sector companies.
- Experience working in conjunction with a foreign donor funded development program.
- Ability to extensively travel in rural Ethiopia.
