Vacancy title:
Project Manager

Jobs at:
Farm Africa

Deadline of this Job:
Sunday 21st May 2017 by 5.00pm EAT

Duty Station:
Soroti, Uganda

Job details:
Farm Africa is an international non-governmental organization working to end hunger and bring prosperity to rural Africa. We work to increase the incomes and improve food security of smallholder farmers, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and forest dwellers in East Africa. A core part of our strategy is to ensure that our interventions are both economically sustainable and scalable. The systematic integration of market linkages in implementing programmes is crucial to our ability to scale our interventions cost-effectively.

Job Summary: The Project Manager will support a three-year project by taking responsibility to managing and delivering it to improve livelihoods and incomes of 1,000 farmers in Teso sub-region through developing the production and marketing of orange-flesh sweet potatoes (OFSP). It will be for a period of 31 months. The main objectives of this project are:
• Increase the quantity and regularity of quality OFSP available for sale through improved planting, harvesting and post-harvest management practices
• Develop and strengthen OFSP processing and marketing channels for farmers in Serere district and across Teso sub-region.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Project management and reporting including:
• Planning and ensuring the timely implementation of deliverables at project level, making sure that targeted results as defined in project plans are achieved in accordance with Farm Africa procedures and processes
• Carrying out quarterly reviews with the Country Representative, Uganda (CRU) highlighting progress of activities, expenditure and results against plans and forecasts
• Ensuring that project plans and budgets are revised and updated in line with the annual planning process, as well as in response to any changes in implementation or delivery timelines
• Ensuring timely delivery of high-quality quarterly and annual progress reports in line with Farm Africa and donor requirements
• With support from the Project Accountant & Administrator based in Soroti office, monitor expenditure rates in line with the project budget and sure timely submission of accurate and financial reports that are compliant with accounting procedures and processes
• Work in close collaboration with the M&E team, developing and implementing a project monitoring and evaluation process, capturing project outcomes/impact and lessons learned
• Collecting, documenting and sharing project success stories, case studies, best practice and lessons learned in line with the requirements of Farm Africa’s communication’s team
Partner management including:
• Managing the relationship with project partner Soroti Sweet Potato Producers & Processors Association (SOSPPA), as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and project documents
• Ensuring that partner performance conforms to clearly defined expectations laid out in the MoU between Farm Africa and SOSPPA
• Conducting regular planning and review meetings with SOSPPA
• Identifying new or additional partner organisations if required
Providing technical leadership and playing a hands-on role in delivering project activities including:
• Providing technical leadership and ensuring technical excellence in the delivery of projectactivities
• Working with Farm Africa’s thematic expert team to develop project specific training materials covering areas such as post-harvest handling, agricultural practices and staggered planting for OFSP
• Tasked with mobilising farmers, organising and overseeing the practical delivery of trainings
• Working with SOSPPA to develop an OFSP processing centre that will act as a model of good practice for future replication
Supporting SOSPPA to develop a profitable OFSP processing and marketing enterprise by:
• Organising a formal capacity assessment of SOSPPA, and identifying their business development needs with support from Farm Africa’s thematic expert team
• Working with the leadership team at SOSPPA to develop and implement a business plan
• Providing business development support and mentoring to the SOSPPA team.
• Working with Farm Africa’s Head of Market Engagement to build the capacity of the SOSPPA team to build market linkages and manage contracted buyers.
• Working with the SOSPPA team to identify and implement a financial mechanism to incentivise/facilitate bulking of produce for onward sale
Networking and liaison with relevant Government agencies including:
• Ensuring that conditions necessary for the legal implementation of the project are met
• Maintaining a close working relationship with all relevant government partners both within and outside the project areas of operation.
• Ensuring that project implementation is informed by, and in keeping with, the local and national policy environment
• Managing and nurturing mutually beneficial partnerships with stakeholders, including service providers, local NGO’s and private sector companies
• Work in close consultation with the CRU, acting as an ambassador for Farm Africa; promoting the project and our broader programme of work, hosting visitors, speaking at workshops and conferences and meeting donors and other officials when required.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
• The ideal candidate should preferably hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Marketing, Agricultural economics, Agribusiness, Cooperatives or related field
• At least three years’ experience of implementing agricultural marketing projects for individuals or groups. Previous experience in an INGO is desired.
• The applicant should be an experienced project manager with the willingness and technical ability to play a hands-on role in project delivery.
• Previous experience in engaging and mobilising rural communities in development programmes
• Experience of designing and developing trainings for rural communities
• Good understanding of how small scale producers can be linked to the private sector or markets for their produce
• Practical experience of capacity building small farmer-focused organisations
• Experience of leading and inspiring others
• Experience of managing budgets
• Experience of producing content for donor reports
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office programmes, in particular Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Flexible and ‘can do’ attitude
• Able to work under own initiative with minimal supervision
• Working for an INGO
• Field experience in OFSP production and the OFSP value chain
• Experience of using gender disaggregated approaches for farmer outreach
• Experience of evidencing success for impact assessment and communications purposes
• Experience of managing monitoring and evaluation activities and fieldwork
• Experience of working in a remote setting
• Holder of a valid motorcycle permit (must be willing to obtain one if not already a permit holder)
• Fluency in Ateso

Farm Africa’s Values:
• Being experts in our field, delivering insightful/impactful evidence-based solutions
• Pushing boundaries, being creative with new and old solutions
• Acting for the long term, building relationships and delivering long-lasting change for farmers
• Working flexibly, taking advantage of the most effective solutions, whether from the communities, private sector or government
• Sharing knowledge with others, reaching more farmers than we do alone, ensuring effective technologies are widely accessed.

Job application procedure
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send an updated CV, salary history, and a two-page supporting statement detailing how you meet the person specification to ugandarecruitment@farmafrica.org  including ‘Project Manager’ in the subject line.

NB: Please DO NOT send additional documents such as certificates and references with your application. Shortlisted candidates ONLY will be required to provide these documents during the interview process.