Summary
Date Posted: Monday, January 15 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
The Belgian development agency – Enabel implements and coordinates the Belgian development policy. It also works for other national and international partners. The organisation has been active in Uganda for more than 20 years, supporting the government in its development agenda in various sectors: environment, health, and education. Enabel in Uganda currently implements programmes in two key sectors: Education and Health with funding from the Belgian, Irish, and US governments as well as the European Union. The organisation works at both regional and central level. Enabel’s ongoing country portfolio is implemented in Albertine/Rwenzori, Karamoja, West Nile and Acholi (sub) regions. Find out more about the organisation:
https://www.enabel.be/content/enabel-uganda 

2023 – 2027 Enabel in Uganda Portfolio
Enabel and the Government of Uganda have received funding from the Government of Belgium and the European Union to implement a new 5-year country portfolio (2023 – 2027) targeting Rwenzori/Albertine, West Nile, Busoga, and Central regions. The overall objective of the programme is to ensure that young people especially young women develop into active, economically independent citizens in a sustainable society that respects human rights and ensures quality basic services. This will be achieved through two pillars.

The first pillar focuses on providing young people, especially young women, with the right vocational skills and genuine opportunities to generate an income and contribute to the economy through sustainable decent work. This objective will be pursued by addressing barriers both from the supply side (employability) and the demand side (jobs and entrepreneurship). Pillar, one project called “WeWork” will follow an economic sector logic approach, with a focus on specific value chains in agriculture and the green economy.

WeWork will ensure that i) Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), agriculture and the green economy are better promoted as employment pathways; ii) The provision of skills development is more equitable, qualitative, innovative, and demand-driven for increased employability; iii) Work-ready youth have increased access to general employment services that connect them with decent

work employers; iv) Vulnerable youth, including women, have increased access to entrepreneurship promotion and support to set up small businesses; v) Selected enterprises are supported to engage in sustainable development for green growth and decent jobs; and vi) The development of selected value chains in agriculture and green economy is improved.
Pillar two aims to ensure that the rights to safe and quality education and healthcare are more transparently ensured especially for the most in-need populations such as children, women, girls, as well as refugees and host communities. This pillar is divided into three projects namely; education (WeLearn), health (WeCare) and nursing training (WeTrain4Health).

WeLearn will support lower secondary education through: ensuring that households, communities, and adolescents are aware of, demand access to, have equitable access to, and complete a quality, inclusive lower secondary education. Secondly, the local education officials, school leaders, and teachers will be supported to be able to provide an increased range of quality education services and resources, more equitable and inclusive learning environments, and higher quality, more relevant teaching and instruction for secondary students. To achieve this, the project intends to provide holistic support to secondary schools through creating a safe and gender-sensitive learning environment (appropriate infrastructure), provision of equipment, and improving the skills of teachers through continuous professional development (CPD). Lastly, WeLearn will strengthen local government and governing structures to promote more participatory and accountable education management and leadership, that is inclusive of socially excluded groups including girls, refugees, and people living with disabilities.

WeCare will provide multidisciplinary support to communities and schools to make informed decisions about their health, work towards healthy lifestyles and to advocate around health issues, and defending health rights. Secondly, the quality of health care and the chain of emergency referrals will be strengthened from the community up to the regional level. This will be through direct support to the referral services of different health institutions (selected HC III and HC IV) to the regional hospital. It will address challenges of quality of care due to a lack of essential medicines, supplies, equipment, and infrastructure. Thirdly, the capacities of the district health office, health managers and local authorities will be reinforced in relation to stewardship, participative leadership, coaching and supervision style. Lastly, community engagement in the local health system will be reinforced by boosting the organisation and initiatives of existing community platforms and interfaces.

WeTrain4Health will support Nursing and midwifery schools to deliver quality teaching through both “soft” components like pedagogical and institutional support, as well as infrastructure.

Duties form: Enterprise Development and Decent Work Expert
Generic function of reference: Sector Expert
Number of Vacancies: 1
National+ motivation of choice: National
Intervention concerned: WeWork
Duty station and frequency of traveling: Based in Kampala
Term of the employment contract: Fixed term contract of 40 months
Desired starting date: 1st March 2024
Desired end date: 30th June 2027
Organisation chart/Organisation with partners:
Supervisor: Business development & entrepreneurship expert
Supervisees: Number: N/A

The Enterprise Development and Decent Work Expert will:
• Be in charge of overarching support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Business Development Service providers and contribute to targeted value chain development activities.

The Enterprise Development and Decent Work Expert responsibilities areas are:

Responsibilities:
- You coordinate the mapping, engagement, and capacity needs assessment of potential enterprises, and Business Member Organisations (BMOs) or other Business Development Service providers for enterprise and value chain development;
- You coordinate and provide technical support to BMOs and selected SMEs identified through capacity needs assessments;
- You contribute to the development and coordination of access to finance strategies for selected SMEs;
- You coordinate and ensure quality Business Development Service delivery to selected SMEs for improved business performance and decent job creation;

- You coordinate sensitization and capacity building of BMOs and their members in integrating decent work practices;
- Together with sector experts (Environment/Green Economy and Agriculture) you contribute to value chain development activities and inclusion of small holders through cluster and lead firm approaches;
- You orient and coach relevant project staff on quality business development service delivery and access to finance strategies.

Result Area 1: As Sector/Thematic Expert
contribute to the implementation of the project by providing input for planning, execution, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation of activities that fall under one’s area of competence, in order to ensure that the results of the project (outputs – outcomes) are achieved within the set execution deadline.

Main tasks:

Planning
• Contribute to defining and planning the activities to be realized in order to achieve the results of the intervention;
• Organize and coordinate the capacity needs assessment of partner BMOs in governance, financial management and business development service delivery, and the design of capacity development plans;
• Coordinate the mapping & sourcing of SMEs in the priority sectors, with the potential to grow/scale and create decent and green jobs, in collaboration with the project team and implementing partners;
• Contribute to the identification SMEs for clustered technical assistance focusing on expanding market access including through internationalisation
• Contribute to the identification of partner lead firms or clusters in the prioritized value chains aimed at promoting the inclusion of smallholder suppliers.

Execution
• Organize and coordinate the capacity development of partner BMOs for improved management and quality business development service delivery, as well as the promotion of decent work;
• Coordinate and support the project and implementing partners in the mobilization, assessment (due diligence) and selection of targeted SMEs;
• Coordinate and support the project and implementing partners in the development and application of a holistic assessment tool to identify business
support needs (e.g. in marketing, business planning, access to finance, product development, HR risk management, access to new markets etc.), as well as to assess the decency of work conditions;
• Coordinate and provide technical support to the project and implementing partners to develop and implement tailored business development services for selected SMEs, including through collective trainings, individual technical and coaching support, peer-to-peer learning/benchmarking on selected topics of
mutual interest (e.g. access to finance, standardization/certification, marketing, product; development/differentiation/value addition, decent work, green technology, etc.), and networking events for both B2B and B2C, as well as formal credit and private investment opportunities;
• Contribute to value chain development activities for selected value chains in the agriculture and green economy sectors, and to the inclusion of smallholders through cluster and lead firm approach, in collaboration with green economy and agribusiness experts;
Establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders in the BDS ecosystem (eg. Employer or sector representatives/organizations, Business Development Service providers, governmental actors, finance providers, development partners etc) to promote visibility, buy-in, synergies, and achievement of project results.
Monitoring and evaluation
• Continuously update the information so that the M&E systems have information and the performance of the project can be measured;
• Keep the factual data (evidence) that will guide decision-making up to date.

Result area 2: As Technical Advisor
• Provide all necessary technical input in the area of expertise in order to achieve the project’s technical performance in accordance with national and international norms and standards.
• Develop the strategy and advise strategic decisions for enterprise and value chain development components and support the project team to implement these;
• Actively promote and safeguard coordination and synergies within the project and with other projects in the areas of SME growth, decent job creation and value chain development;
• Stay abreast of relevant developments and identify and ensure the integration of good practices, innovations and key recommendations relating to business development support for SME growth and integration of smallholder suppliers in prioritized value chains;
• Provide technical insights in business models in the priority sectors with high potential for decent job creation/employment opportunities for youth and young women, to guide the mapping and mobilization of SMEs;
• Provide and coordinate technical support to partner BMOs and selected companies to build their capacities in the identified areas;
• Define technical specifications for partnerships with lead firms or clusters in the prioritized value chains aimed at promoting the inclusion of smallholder suppliers;
• Design criteria and oversee assessments of company due diligence, design guidelines for development of company growth strategies, and for training and coaching plans and content;
• Develop and oversee the roll-out of an access to finance strategy to support investment readiness of selected SMEs and establish linkages with investment opportunities;
• Build capacities of project team/staff in the thematic area;
• Contribute to the design and management of implementing partnerships and consultancies for business development services, by preparing or providing technical input for grant agreements or public procurements, and overseeing quality assurance of activities and reports in contracting modalities.

Result Area 3: As Knowledge manager
Ensure quality assurance of services and organise knowledge sharing (knowledge building) and knowledge management in the area of expertise, in order to create an inclusive, informed climate of trust within the project

Main tasks:
Quality assurance
• Act as private sector account manager by engaging and building relationships with SMEs and lead firms or cluster actors participating in the project to assess their needs and to monitor the quality and effectiveness of business support activities;
• Monitor and ensure the promotion and integration of decent work practices;
• Control the quality of technical and progress reports developed by staff, implementing partners and service providers
• Monitor and ensure that implementing partners and service providers apply the most appropriate techniques and facilitate the introduction of innovative practices;
• Oversee the quality assurance of public procurements and grant agreements with implementing partners.

Knowledge management
• Continuously follow developments and stay up-to-date on context, challenges, needs, actors/stakeholders, good practices/approaches/strategies, learnings, and recommendations relating to SME growth and decent job creation, through participation in technical meetings and networks, and building relationships with key stakeholders in the BDS ecosystem;
• Leverage and integrate the expertise and knowledge on decent work promotion developed in Enabel’s ongoing social protection and decent work project;
• Organize and coordinate knowledge building and knowledge management in the project relating to SME growth and decent job creation in the priority sectors;
• Introduce new technologies and methods in the learning process;
• Deliver the generated knowledge and factual data to the appropriate level.

Communication 
• Produce Communication for Development information formats (blogs, videos, newspapers articles, scientific articles...) together with the Communication team; 
• Produce strategic, policy and technical communication about the progress made in the Project 
• Produce factual data (evidence) about innovations and achievements and present them (posters, presentations at conferences…) 

Results area 4: Support to the change processes
By building capacities of partner entities in order to contribute to the improvement of their organisation, processes and systems and of their staff’s competences.

Main Tasks:
• Advise partner entities on actions to be taken to improve their management and service delivery, as well as how to implement these actions
• Facilitate the change process for SME growth and decent job creation in the priority sectors

Profile
Required qualifications
• Master’s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Financial Management, Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Development, Business and Development, International Business or any other related studies.

Required experience
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in the development and implementation of financial and non-financial business support services geared towards the scaling or growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and net job creation;
• At least 5 years of experience in building investment readiness of SMEs and establishing linkages with financing opportunities;
• Experience in inclusive value chain development through private sector engagement
strategies;
• Experience in supporting the integration of decent work principles in business operations;
• Experience in organizational and institutional strengthening of business development service providers is an added advantage;
• Experience in business development in the agricultural and green economy sectors, and inclusive out growers’ schemes is an added advantage.

Required skills and knowledge
• Good knowledge of aspects of international development (context, challenges, application, partners, functioning…);
• Excellent understanding of the local economy and the local economic opportunities, in particular in the agriculture and green economy sectors;
• Excellent interpersonal skills to interact and build partnerships with the private sector in Uganda (SMEs, large companies, Business Membership Organisations/sector associations);
• Expertise in developing business growth strategies, business planning and development, coaching and mentoring of enterprises or business development service providers, access to finance support, product development/differentiation, value addition, internationalization strategies, and other related areas aimed at supporting SME growth and decent job creation;
• Expertise in conducting business investment analyses and capital budgeting;
• Capacity of setting up and/or evaluating mechanisms and tools aimed at supporting private investment;
• Creative thinking and pro-activeness i.e. taking initiatives and responsibility at the same time
• Good working knowledge of ICT technologies (related software, phone, email) and computer applications (e.g. MS Office).
• Ability to work independently as well as a member of a team
• Ability to deal with people with tact and diplomacy
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender sensitive and non-discriminatory behaviour and attitudes
• Fluent in English, with excellent reporting skills.
You commit to the vision, mission and values of Enabel
(https://www.enabel.be/content/enabel-vision-mission-values).

We offer
• An exciting and varied learning experience in an international environment and warm team.
• A 40-month contract or you are included in the recruitment reserve for a period of 3 years.
• You are based in Kampala
• A salary package comprising an Annual gross salary between UGX 144,000,000 and UGX 168,000,000 that is commensurate with experience and in accordance with our salary scales, medical insurance, and a 13th-month paid in December.

Every person who fulfills the conditions listed in our job advertisements may apply. Enabel is committed to equal opportunities and diversity in its workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of gender, origin, age, religion, disability status, or any other factor other than competence.

Apply here https://jobs.enabel.be/go/All-vacancies/4648801/
At the latest by Friday 26th January, 2024 at 11:59 pm (EAT) and include your application letter and updated CV (maximum 3 pages).

Only applications submitted via the above link will be considered.


Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

Job application procedure
Interested and qualified? Click here to apply

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