Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, July 26 2023, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Job Summary;
The Horticulture Value Chain Advisor will provide strategic oversight and coordinate the delivery of high-quality training by the in-house team and external partners to Smallholder farmers, MSMEs, and retailers in the Horticulture value chain. In addition to improving the business performance of micro retailers (market vendors), the Value Chain Advisor works closely with WUR to develop, review, and deliver TOTs. The position is responsible for developing and maintaining high-level relationships that improve service delivery under policy and regulations.

Program Overview;
Through the four-year HortiMAP program funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, TechnoServe, and partners BidCapital, WUR and PUM are transforming the horticulture industry in Uganda. The program combines catalytic funding through a Market Development Facility and Technical Assistance fund to leverage private sector and local resources and expertise to strengthen SMEs and regional supply chains while delivering training to Smallholder farmers and retailers to realize their potential. The project also focuses on creating an enabling environment by supporting institutional changes that will improve service delivery to SMEs and Smallholder farmers. These interventions are expected to increase incomes for more than 39,000 horticulture farmers, create 11,000 jobs, and improve access to healthy, safe food for 250,000 Ugandan consumers.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:
Principal Responsibilities:
Farmer interventions:
• Promote and support the use of digital extension/information delivery platforms
• Focus support on adjusting planting and marketing according to a new market and price dynamics, limit investment and costs of production
• Deliver gender-sensitive supply side training and TA to improve farmer skills on climate-smart GAP, the application of productivity-enhancing/loss-reducing technologies, with a focus on improving farmers’ productivity within MDF client distribution and supply chains, as well as farmers that have the potential to participate in supply chains. In addition to agronomy, training for farmers includes modules on calculating acreage, sales and marketing, farm profitability, record keeping, gender-sensitive joint household decision-making, budgeting, and access to finance. Training will reflect barriers faced and social responsibilities held by women and youth
• develop communications and marketing strategies to educate consumers on nutrition and food safety.
• Coordinate agronomic training and a particular focus on farming as a business and SME business management, utilizing TechnoServe’s proven tools and methodologies.
• Work closely with UNBS, MAAIF, NARO, and apex bodies to improve chemical usage, promote biochemicals, and introduction of a quality guarantee scheme

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Interventions:
• Deliver gender-sensitive entrepreneurship training and advisory support to micro-service providers with a particular focus on recruiting and retaining women and youth.
• For micro-entrepreneur service providers (such as sprayers, nursery enterprises, and agro-dealers), typical training includes modules on personal effectiveness, basic finance and accounting, identification and evaluation of growth opportunities, costing, sales techniques and essential marketing, building an affordable growth path, available support networks, and funding sources, and drafting sustainable growth plans
• Link EFs, micro-entrepreneurs, POs, and SMEs to appropriate financial tools through internal facilities (MDF catalytic grants, HCL) and external sources to access working capital and loans to finance assets or make other significant investments.
• Advise farmers and POs, with particular attention to women and youth, on how to access and leverage the HCL

Micro retailer’s interventions:
• Deliver gender-sensitive entrepreneurship training to micro-retailer market vendors, including upgrading sales space, improving product presentation, displaying improved branding, and communicating the health benefits of safe fruit and vegetables to consumers. Proactively recruit women and youth
• Facilitate linkages, through HortiMAP Business Advisors, between micro-retailer market vendors and reliable suppliers of safe and sound quality produce
• Test the business case for retailer-led food safety campaigns.
• 1,080 Micro-retailers (market vendors) receive training on entrepreneurship, food safety, and customer education
• 1 Business case for retailer-led food safety campaign tested and piloted

Program Coordination and Implementation:
• Maintain strong working relationships with partners and relevant stakeholders in the horticulture value chain and specifically in public institutions to support the development and sustainability of systems and regulations
• Maintain relationships with APEX bodies for the development of UGA GAP, Quality guarantee schemes, and traceability
• Actively participate in regular team meetings to track implementation progress and share relevant program and administrative data
• Ensure the delivery of technical training packages is of high quality, is appropriate to the local context, and is effectively reaching participants
• Share best practices and lessons learned with team members
• Any other duties assigned by your supervisor

Basic Qualifications:
• Degree in business-related studies plus a minimum of five (5) years of field and technical experience with agribusiness development, agribusiness experience OR a Master’s degree plus three (3) years of experience.
• Track record of building strong client and stakeholder relationships
• Strong project management and some financial analysis skills
• Experience working in the horticulture sector, food aggregation and processing, supply chain development, out-grower networks, and knowledge of the Market Systems Development approach and strong networks within the public agriculture system.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities;
• Excellent interpersonal and oral, and written communication skills are a must
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports
• Ability to generate innovative solutions in work situations
• Proven ability and experience working with teams will be an added advantage
• Fluency in English required

Supervisory Responsibilities;
• The Senior Value Chain Advisor will supervise the Business Advisors.

• Success Factors:
Competency is a combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) directly related to successful performance on the job.

Core Competencies include:
• Integrity and honesty: Is widely trusted; seen as a direct, truthful individual; presents truthful information appropriately and helpfully; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent themself for personal gain.
• Team Work/ Relationships: Works co-operatively and flexibly with other team members with a complete understanding of the role to be played as a team member and leader to achieve a common goal. Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.
• Learning attitude: Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn. Actively identifies new areas for learning; applies and shares new knowledge and skill appropriately.
• Diversity/Inclusiveness: Demonstrates an understanding and appreciation for diversity and supports diversity efforts. Interacts effectively and inclusively with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, ages, and genders.
• Communication: Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations. Listens effectively; shares information, pictures, and arguments; adjusts terminology, language, and communication modes to the audience’s needs; ensures accurate understanding; acts in a way that facilitates the open exchange of ideas and information; use appropriate non-verbal communication.
• Decision making/Problem Solving: Can analyze situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical, and acceptable solution. Ability to make effective decisions on a day-to-day basis, take ownership of decisions, and demonstrate sound judgment in escalating issues where necessary.
• Results-Oriented/High-Quality Deliverables: Stays focused on the efforts necessary to achieve quality results consistent with programmatic or departmental goals. Demonstrates the ability to achieve effective results; works persistently to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. Accomplishes tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks.
• Planning & Time Management: Establishes a course of action for self and others to accomplish a specific goal. Effectively plans, schedules, prioritizes, and controls activities; identifies, integrates, and orchestrates resources (people, material, information, budget, and time) to accomplish goals. Prioritizes work according to the program or department’s goals, not just own job responsibilities; manages own time effectively.
• Business Acumen: The ability to use information, ask the right questions, and make decisions that impact the overall business performance.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:
• Financial & Resource Management: The ability to estimate, justify, and manage appropriate funding levels to support goal accomplishment. Managing Resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions to build and plan efficient project workflows and improve overall organizational performance.
• Donor/Partnership Management: Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, or organizations to help achieve business goals.
• Analysis, Research, Report Writing: Experience in business planning and analysis, modeling for feasibility and execution. Able to analyze and express oneself clearly in business writing.
• Innovative Mindset: Curious inquiries, asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, and sees change as an opportunity.

Advisory Competencies:
• Emotional Intelligence: Knowing, understanding, and responding to emotions, overcoming stress at the moment, and being aware of how your words and actions affect others. Emotional intelligence consists of 4 attributes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
• Strategic Thinking: Advisors should recognize critical actions and underlying problems, make connections and patterns and see consequences and implications. Anticipates obstacles realistically and plans ways to deal with them.
• Staff Development: Advisors must work with employees to plan on developing skills and abilities so that they can fulfill current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.
• Trust to Delegate: Advisors should have trust and willingness to assign responsibilities to direct reports and give them discretion and authority to carry them out.
• Feedback/Coaching (mentoring): Advisors should give instructions, suggestions, explanations, and feedback to subordinates. (SPI+R)



Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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