Project Officer- Agriculture and Livestock at Caritas MFB

Job Summary

The Project Officer Agriculture and livestock officer will support a variety of agriculture and livestock-related activities; including technical oversight to action research activities, turning research findings into the design of context-specific interventions, capacity strengthening of stakeholders and identifying opportunities for private sector partnership.

Key relationships to the role:

Internal: Program, Finance unit staff and Head of programs

External: Existing and new partners, CSOs and Faith Based organizations, government institutions, Parishes, communities, and other actors.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Conduct community mobilization and sensitization meetings with ward and community-level leaders to introduce NAWIRI and follow-up
• Provide technical support on implementation of all agriculture and livestock related activities at the county level.
• Develop, lead, provide inputs for research and learning, monitor and evaluate the agriculture and livestock aspects of the NAWIRI project.
• Lead implementation of relevant action research including coordination with target communities, support research staff with data collection, analysis and interpretation, and translation of findings into program interventions.
• Coordinate and network with County departments responsible for agriculture, livestock, nutrition, trade and other NGOs.
• Lead on all Agriculture and livestock related activities of the project and reports, providing capacity building for the county staff.
• Coordinate with traditional leaders and community leadership to facilitate activity integration and targeting of research participants.
• Coordinate with Markets and Alternative Livelihoods team members to identify private sector partners or opportunities for new enterprises that improve farmer access to input and output markets.
• Take lead role on crop, livestock, poultry and milk market assessments.
• Collaborate with NAWIRI health and nutrition staff to integrate messaging into crop and livestock production training curriculum.
• Design and lead TOT training sessions to Community Mobilizers in collaboration with Government counterparts.
• Liaise with other project teams and staff to ensure that all NAWIRI interventions are well-coordinated and prioritized.
• Support NAWIRI project coordinator in review of work plans and to complete necessary reports.
• Monitor and evaluate effectiveness and impact of activities and make recommendations for improvements.
• Coordinate with public and private service providers (animal health, crop husbandry, etc) to reach NAWIRI participants.
• Mobilize county, sub-county and ward level meetings with relevant stakeholders.
• Facilitate planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in and customize implementation plans
• In collaboration with the M&E staff, ensure there is adherence to the project M&E framework.

Academic and Professional Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy, crop science, Agro-ecology, Agricultural Economics, Agriculture Education & Extension, Livestock Production, Animal Science or Livestock Husbandry.

Relevant working experience / skills and competencies:

• Minimum 3 years experience in implementation of agriculture and livestock development activities.
• Excellent technical knowledge of policy and practice in the field of livelihoods, crop and livestock production as well as other cross cutting issues.
• Excellent understanding of system approach to ending persistent acute malnutrition.
• Experience in community mobilization, proposal and reports writing
• Computer and basic administrative and organizational skills is a plus.
• Professional work experience at county or national levels in project management
• Project management skills, strong mobilization and coordination skills
• Excellent writing skills including the ability to compose, edit, analyze and reports
• Ability to work with minimum supervision, and under pressure sometimes