Programme Officer, Business Incubator for African Women Empowerment Project at ECOWAS Commission

The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; www.ecowas.int), along with other Regional Economic Communities (RECs)  has been implementing since May 2011 the African Peace and Security Architecture Support Programme (APSA), supported by the African Union Commission and the European Union within the framework of Africa Peace Facility (APF).

The main purpose of APSA is to promote peace and security in Africa, specifically through conflict prevention, management, resolution and peace building as as well as capacity development

APF is sponsored by the 10th European Development Fund. Under APSA, the ECOWAS Commission is benefitting from two projects, namely the APSA Support Programme (APSA-SP) up to December 2014 and the EU Support to African Training Institutions/Training Centers of Excellence (TI-TCE). Officially the two projects are expected to run respectively till 31 December 2014 and 31 January 2013.

In order to fast-track the implementation of APSA, the ECOWAS Commission is seeking the services of qualified professionals to fill the below position.

Job Title: Programme Officer, Business Incubator for African Women Empowerment Project

Department: Human Development and Gender
Directorate: Gender
Grade: P3
Annual Salary: USD 36,901 - USD 44,469
Supervisor: Principal Programme Officer, Gender
Reference: ECW-COMM/REC/GEN-P/001/2013
Duration: Two (2) years (renewable annually)
Duty Station: Abuja, Nigeria

The Business Incubator for African Women Entrepreneurs (BIAWE) project is an initiative that intends to support women entrepreneurs in Africa and in particular the ECOWAS region. The BIAWE concept has been conceived as an instrument adopted to address various challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in both formal and informal business activities.

The BIAWE project is being sponsored by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), with support from the Government of the Kingdom of Spain. The project is being implemented as part of the Empowerment of African women initiative, of the NEPAD-Spanish Fund. The main aim of the project is to promote gender equality and to increase the capacities and autonomy of African women, the initiative is also undertaken with the goal of accelerating efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (in particular MDG 3).

The funding under the initial phase is intended to support the implementation of agricultural business incubation model to close the gap between rural women working in agribusinesses and hoping to grow their revenue streams and improve their quality of life, and existing entrepreneurs running businesses who are eager to grow their businesses. The agribusiness incubator will focus largely on providing relevant services to women entrepreneurs in order to address the entire value chain from product to market. Other indirect stakeholders will be non-governmental organisations working with women entrepreneurs, micro-finance lending institutions, national business management and investment training institutions and civil society organisations.

The Department of Human Development and Gender of the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Nigeria will steer the implementation of the Business Incubator for African Women Entrepreneurs (BIAWE) project, in collaboration with Member States and other relevant institutional stakeholders.

Duration of Project: The project is for a non-renewable period of 24 months.

The Programme Officer’s position is to be a full-time post for the duration of the project life, commencing from the start date of the assignment. The Programme Officer will be operating from the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. He/She will be responsible for the direct coordination and facilitation of the implementation of the project. He/She will report through the Principal Programme Officer, Gender to the Project Coordinator (being the ECOWAS Director of Gender, Youth, Sports, Employment, Civil Society and Drug Control).

Duties and Responsibilities
He or She will have the following specific responsibilities:

• Operational management of the project in consistency with the project document and as advised and instructed by the Project Steering Committee;
• Develop operational plans for the implementation of the project with clear outputs according to the project document and ECOWAS procedures;
• Ensure all implementation activities are undertaken according to plan as identified in the Project Document;
• Ensure timely preparation and submission of narrative and financial reports and settlement of advances as required by the NEPAD Agency and ECOWAS;
• Develop and implement result – based monitoring and evaluation of the projects and report accordingly;
• Prepare and submit Quarterly and Annual Progress Report (APR), end of project report and any other substantial reports required by the NEPAD Agency and ECOWAS;
• Ensure audit requirements are fulfilled and facilitate audit processes at all times as required;
• Set tasks and deadlines for experts and implementing partners and oversee their performance;
• Maintain and manage the project resources effectively and efficiently and ensure that administrative and financial procedures are followed;
• Develop and maintain a database of project regional and local experts as well as database of project stakeholders and beneficiaries;
• Prepare communication and visibility materials and ensure branding as required by the NEPAD Agency and ECOWAS;
• Identify and resolve implementation problems; with the guidance of the Project Coordinator;
• Follow-up and coordinate with other ECOWAS Departments and Agencies working on the areas that are related or may have an effect on gender equality and women empowerment.

Deliverables

• Quarterly Financial and Technical reports;
• Detailed Semi-Annual Technical and Financial reports;
• At least one Project Steering Committee convened bimonthly or as otherwise agreed upon by the Committee;
• Project summary reports for presentation at the Project Steering Committee meetings;
• Report of Result-based monitoring /evaluation of the project
• Other reports or documents as required; and Final Project Report, which includes, but not limited to, an overview of the project stating technical achievements and final financial status, lessons learned and best practices.

Qualifications/Experience/Skills

• Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Strategic Management, Agricultural Economics, Economics or any Social Science discipline;
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience in business incubation, value chain, gender and development, project management and finance management (project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), research and women economic empowerment;
• Demonstrable experience in carrying out feasibility study and baseline study, proposal writing;
• At least 5 years of relevant work experience(experience working with the private sector and women entrepreneurs will be added advantage);
• Excellent analytical and organizational management skills and good inter-personal skills. Similar experience at international level is an advantage;
• Computer proficiency (MS Word-Excel-Power Point as a minimum)
• He/She should be in sound health with the ability to work under pressure in a cross–cultural and complex environment, diplomatic framework;
• Ability to travel and undertake short term trips to various localities;

Age
Candidate should not be 50 years old or over at the point of recruitment and must be a citizen of one of the ECOWAS member states.

Language
Fluency in oral and written expression in any one of the ECOWAS working languages : English, French and Portuguese. Knowledge of a second official language would be an advantage.

Application Closing Date
8th May, 2013

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should
Click here to apply online