Vacancy title:
Agriculture Advisor

Jobs at:
AVSI Foundation

Deadline of this Job:
6th December 2018

Duty Station:
Mbale, Uganda

Summary
Date Posted: 3rd December 2018 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed , Employment Type: Full-Time

JOB DETAILS:
DESIGNATION: AGRICULTURE ADVISOR – SKY - (1 POSITION)
DUTY STATION: POSITION BASED IN MBALE
ORGANISATIONAL DESCRIPTION:
AVSI Foundation is an International NGO which has been operating in Uganda since 1984, implementing various programmes in several districts in the country in the sectors of Health, HIV/AIDS, Disability, Education, Food Security, Agriculture, Livelihoods and Nutrition.

PROGRAMME BACKGROUND:
AVSI is implementing a 5 year project titled “Skilling Youths for Employment in Agribusiness (SKY)”. The Goal of the proposed intervention is to enhance sustainable creation of employment of youths in
the agribusiness sector. The programme intends to achieve this through the following four main objectives:

1. Strengthen the capacities of the agri-skills providers in a sustainable way to provide marketable and employable skilling
   
2. Provide pre and post-employment support to the skilled youths
   
3. Create strategic linkages of agribusiness for enhanced capacity building through skilling and brokerage
   
4. Facilitate Skilling Uganda Authority to be supportive to agri-skilling in the targeted areas.
   

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the SKY Team Leader based in Mbale, the Agribusiness Advisor will be responsible for the implementation of agriculture related activities in his/her area of operation (Eastern or Western Uganda) and shall carry out the following duties and responsibilities.

Key Functions:

• Work closely with the agribusinesses and job brokers to design and test work/entrepreneurship related activities and learning objectives that help young people to secure jobs or start agribusinesses;
  
• Facilitate job shadowing activities, agripreneurship training workshops, publications and/or special career events as needed and assigned in order to increase youth awareness of job opportunities and to build youth ‘soft skills’ for job readiness and retention;
  
• Provide labor market and vocational information to participants and match participants’ skills, aptitude and abilities to prospective employment openings and make referrals to secure job placement;
  
• Provide support agribusinesses in the implementation of activities that support youth work and entrepreneurship;
  
• Work closely with the agro-institutions and agribusinesses to facilitate internships and practical training approaches to enhance youth work readiness and entrepreneurship skilling.
  
• Support agribusinesses to carry out youth on the job skilling activities both in relation to the learning  component and, more specifically, in relation to the employment/entrepreneurship component;
  
• Provide ongoing technical assistance to the agribusinesses and agroinstitutions and foster opportunities for actors to learn from each other;
  

COMPETENCIES.
Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in youth in agribusiness capacity building;
  
• Experience in working with the public sector, the private sector and agro-training institutes on institutional development or similar projects will be an asset;
  
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of performance of business units and/or regional/local or community socio-economic development projects is desirable.
  
• Experience in training, teaching or mentoring role
  
• Resourcefulness, strategic thinking, creative problem solving and basic financial management skills.
  

Corporate and Functional Competencies:

• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.
  
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.
  
• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of program, managing data, reporting;
  
• Focuses on result for the client and responses positively to feedback.
  

Education:

• University Degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Small Business Management or related field and experience working in an entrepreneurial environment or as owner/manager of a training or
  learning firm
  
• Proven ability to follow through on objectives and produce timely results with little supervision
  
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written.
  

Desirable

• Experience of work in farming zones, social entrepreneurship, small
  business and/or private sector engagement.
  
• Experience in innovative product development
  
• Knowledge or experience in value chain development
  
• Knowledge of the local context and local language is an asset