Program Officer – Value Chains and Market Development at African Agricultural Technology Foundation

• Under the direct supervision of the Senior Manager: Agribusiness, Policy and Commercialization, the officer shall provide technical support on Agricultural value chains and Market development to catalyse commercialization and scaling of AATF products.

Functions / Key Results Expected

• Contribute to the planning, designing and implementation of market studies.
• Support the design of surveys questionnaires and overall research design by providing quality inputs specifically relevant to the needs of SMEs in the targeted sub-sectors / value chains.
• Coordinate data analysis and reporting on the market studies and value chain analyses.
• Conduct value chain analyses for each of the selected commodities in targeted areas entailing the agronomic production profiles (e.g. agricultural management practices, land ownership and use practices); value chain mapping (key stakeholders, flow of supplies and products, flow of funds and information, etc.); functional analysis of each value chain (profiling of industry structure, adoption of skills, technology and innovation); climate change implications; economic analysis of potential opportunities to add value along the chain; and policy and institutional conditions necessary to create suitable enabling environment for value chain development.
• Mobilization and engagement of value chain players such as farmer cooperatives and marketing groups, Savings and Credit Associations.
• Creation of linkages between value chain players across and within AATF projects.
• Designing and implementation of farmer outreach programmes.
• Analyze technical and policy issues, strategies, and programmes to support the development, competitiveness, inclusiveness and improved impacts of agribusiness, food systems and value chain development.

Competencies

• Ability to build and sustain relationships with key constituents (donors, research institutions, media, government institutions, etc.)
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral environment.
• High-level interpersonal and cross-cultural skills including ability to build alliances and collaborative relationships with sensitivity to diversity.
• Ability to maintain high standards of integrity; establish straightforward, productive relationships; treating individuals with fairness and respect.
• Excellent technical writing and editing skills.
• Fluency in English. Knowledge of French or Portuguese would be an added advantage

Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness Management or any other related and equivalent disciplines from a recognized institution of higher learning

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in Agricultural value chains and markets at the national or international level in providing business and management development services, hands-on experience in design and implementation of development projects.
• Experience in Agricultural Markets analysis.
• Experience in conducting market linkages.
• Experience and knowledge in various agricultural Technologies.
• Extensive experience working in and with the private sector, market systems approach, inclusive business/market models, and public-private partnerships.
• Knowledge of national food systems and agricultural value chain and scaling/commercialization of Agricultural technologies.
• Practical experience in socioeconomic quantitative and qualitative data analysis using statistical analysis software such as STATA, R, SPSS etc.
• Professional experience with agro-based private sector entities will be an added advantage
• Proven experience linking farmer businesses to diverse types of market.
• Extensive experience working in and with the private sector, market systems approach, inclusive business/market models, and public-private partnerships.
• Professional experience with agro-based private sector entities.
• Practical experience in socioeconomic quantitative and qualitative data analysis using statistical analysis software such as STATA, R, SPSS etc.
• Experience in technical writing with proven ability to write high quality technical reports, policy briefs and journal articles.
• Proven experience developing training programs for smallholder farmers and other value chain actors