CHARITY JOBS IN AFRICA

Organization: Development Alternatives, Inc.
Country: Liberia
Closing date: 22 Dec 2014

DAI leads the USAID-funded Liberia Food and Enterprise Development (FED) program, a comprehensive and market-driven effort to improve food security—in terms of food availability, utilization, and affordability—by building indigenous incentive structures that assist a range of agricultural stakeholders to adopt a commercial approach.

USAID Liberia’s programs operate within the US Foreign Assistance Framework for ‘rebuilding countries’ with the respective goal to: “Assist in the construction or reconstruction of key internal infrastructure and market mechanisms to stabilize the economy.” The Mission’s strategy focuses on ‘lifting Liberia’ to the next tier: i.e., from a rebuilding country to a developing country and beyond. As a contribution toward the achievement of this goal, the Food and Enterprise Development (FED) Program will be implemented to achieve the following component objectives:

• Component 1: Increase agricultural productivity and profitability and improve human nutrition;
• Component 2: Stimulate private enterprise growth and investment; and
• Component 3: Build local technical and managerial human resources to sustain and expand accomplishments achieved under objectives one and two.

The FED program is the USAID Mission’s principal mechanism to achieve the goals of its Feed the Future 2011-2015 Multi-Year Strategy.

DAI is seeking a long-term, resident Enterprise Development Specialist to provide leadership to the design, development, and implementation of activities to strengthen businesses and improve workforce development to contribute to the FED program’s overall objectives. The Enterprise Development Specialist will oversee the design and implementation of all Component 2 activities and manage the Component 2 team. The Enterprise Development Specialist will also coordinate with MoA, USAID, Country Agriculture Coordinators, FED partners, and other stakeholders as needed. The Enterprise Development Specialist will also oversee FED’s MDF, the main implementation tool under FED. This commercially driven $18 million dollar fund supports value chain participants, including farmers, transporters, processors, packagers, marketers and all associated industries and individuals, small and large, in both the private and the public sector, helping them to grow their businesses, and increase employment opportunities, by overcoming their critical constraints to generating increased incomes and by taking full advantage of existing and emerging market opportunities. The MDF is designed to be a flexible and responsive tool that adapts to the particular circumstances to help FED achieve its objectives.

Enterprise development Tasks:

• Along with the Business Enabling Environment Specialist design FED Component 2 activities;
• Oversee FED program activities under Component 2, ensuring targets are achieved;
• Coordinate, and contribute to and collaborate with all Component 1 and 3 activities/targets;
• Improve access of FED partners to business development and financial services;
• Oversee the provision of sustainable enterprise services to partners throughout Liberia;
• Work to build technical and managerial human resources capacity across all the FED program activities and FED partners, especially for youth and woman;
• Coordinate these activities via FED program staff in Monrovia and the County Offices; and
• Contribute to data collection and reporting in coordination with the FED M&E team.

MDF Tasks:

• Work directly with the FED technical program staff to facilitate access to utilizing the FED Market Development Fund for component/value chain activities ensuring disbursement and management of procurements that contribute to the FED program’s overarching objectives;
• Identify and collaborate with the MDF partners: including the private sectors, farmers groups, MOA staff, Universities, youth groups’ women’s’ organizations, and other key stakeholders working in the targeted value chains and FED component areas to see if there are potential areas for collaboration and partnership under the fund;
• Oversee all three component specific MDF requisitions, including the procurement design and approval process, drafting of RFP's/Invitation to bids, developing MoU's when necessary, ensuring contract compliance, subcontract/PO management, title transfer (if required) and close-out, ensuring compliance with DAI policies and all USAID regulations;
• Collaborate with the FED technical team, both in Monrovia and in the FED county offices, on MDF activity design, framework, and all aspects of implementation;
• Ensure the enforcement of all terms and conditions in MoUs, subcontracts and purchase orders, to best ensure delivery of predefined results or service levels;
• Collaborate with the technical and M&E teams to contribute to monitoring and evaluation of all MDF activities;
• Manage and supervise the local team of MDF Specialists and Coordinators; and
• Train new FED staff (including staff based in the counties) on how the MDF works and how to leverage funds.

Program Management Tasks:

• Oversee and ensure successful design and implementation of FED Component activities;
• Manage and supervise all Program Component Team Leaders;
• Ensure the Component teams and County Offices are properly staffed and offices are fully operational;
• Mentor and build the capacity of the Technical Program Coordinator, County Managers and the technical staff located in the County offices in overall program management, reporting and field implementation;
• Ensure all FED component activities are integrated and working closely together to create the maximum program efficiencies;
• Ensure that all M&E data is collected and reported to the central M&E office in Monrovia in an efficient and timely manner;
• Represent FED as required at official partner and GOL meetings;
• Coordinate with other donor programs in the FED target counties and collaborate with the public and private sectors in the overall FED field program management;
• Provide technical inputs into the annual workplanning process;
• Assist with the preparation of monthly MDF financial and activity reports.
• Liaise with MoA staff, other relevant Ministries, USAID, stakeholders, and FED partners on a regular basis.

Deliverables:

1. Successful implementation of FED’s approved workplan, with a particular focus on Component 2 activities;
2. Achievement of FED’s Performance Management Plan;
3. Programmatic and MDF inputs into all FED reports; and
4. Successful development of MDF programs with a wide range of FED partners.

Requirements:

• 10 years of field experience in enterprise development in farm or non-farm business or marketing expertise;
• 8 years of experience in training and capacity building business teams in rural enterprises;
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading enterprise development programs with a focus on workforce development, human resource capacity building, and vocational education, preferably with a focus on ultra-poor and/or low literacy populations;
• Excellent knowledge and experience in value chain program development and cross border trade;
• Experience with gender mainstreaming in agriculture development programs;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Demonstrated advanced ICT skills; and
• Master’s Degree/MBA in a FED program area is required.

How to apply:

The position is available immediately. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply directly to DAI at: http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH13/ats/careers/requisition.jsp;jsessionid=0B9561586DC27C51C9A0ADD62ECCF296.NA10_primary_jvm?org=DAINC&cws=1&rid=1752