Farmer's Institutions Expert at ACDI/VOCA

ACDI/VOCA - For over 50 years and in 146 countries, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society. ACDI/VOCA currently has approximately 34 projects in 26 countries and revenues of approximately $174 million.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Farmer's Institutions Expert

Location: Kano, Nigeria, with frequent travel to four irrigation schemes
Project name: Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING) / Alliance Agriculture
Start Date: February 2020
Term: 6 months

Project Description

• The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR) and with support from the World Bank is implementing the Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING) Project. The project’s development objective is to improve access to irrigation and drainage services and to strengthen institutional arrangements for integrated water resources management and agriculture service delivery in selected large-scale public schemes in Northern Nigeria. The project supports four irrigation schemes, Bakolori Irrigation Scheme (BIS) in Zamfara State; Middle Rima Irrigation Scheme (MRVIS) in Sokoto State; Kano River Irrigation Scheme (KRIS) in Kano State; and Hadejia Valley Irrigation Scheme (HVIS) in Jigawa state.
• Under Component 3, Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Support to Value Chains Development, the project provides resources to enhance farmers’ productivity in the rehabilitated irrigation schemes and improve their participation in the value chains developed. ACDIVOCA, a global development company is implementing a part of Component 3. ACDI/VOCA activities include:
  • Establishing farmers’ management and service delivery centres (FMCs) to provide services to the scheme farmers in accessing markets, inputs, finance, mechanization, extension services, accounting and finance, and other critical services
  • Developing FMCs’ capacity to deliver these services
  • Supporting the Project Management Unit (PMU) in designing and implementing the matching grants mechanism (MGM), the purpose of which is to facilitate vital upgrades in the target value chains

Detailed Description
ACDIVOCA is seeking a short-term Institutional Capacity Building Expert to provide support in the following areas:

• Design, develop, implement and oversee training to FMCs, cooperatives and other partners on institutional development so as to build the partners’ capacity to sustainably provide services to farmers
• Identify organizations and partners to receive training, in collaboration with other senior project managers, by assessing partners’ institutional strengths in the areas of management and administration
• Lead and oversee project activities that help small-scale farmers better organize to create scale for commercial relationships with offtakers
• Support coop societies in membership recruitment/mobilization
• Develop training programs for project grantees in grant management and administration
• Develop training modules for capacity building of FMCs, cooperatives and other organized value chain players
• Manage relationships with partner training providers and oversee their performance
• Monitor progress and assess impact of training and technical assistance programs
• Deliver training to selected organizations and partners
• Support the implementation of the Matching Grant Mechanism

Specifically, provide capacity building in the following areas:

• Governance and management capacity building
• Business planning including leading the development of the five-year business plans for four FMCs
• Writing grant applications for accessing grant funds from the project and other donors
• Financial management/planning/ bookkeeping
• Collective action (production planning and market access (input/output) and building trust, including building relationships with offtakers and other value chain actors
• Contracting and contract management/bargaining and negotiation skills
• Access to finance
• Constitution/ bylaws
• Conflict resolution mechanisms (manage conflict, generate consensus, and adapt to dynamic changes)
• Resource mobilization
• Quality and standards.

Potential beneficiaries of the capacity building include:

• Primary farmer cooperatives
• Apex cooperatives
• FMC shareholders, boards of directors and management
• Other organised and registered value chain players in the four schemes.

Post:

• The Expert will be based in the ACDI/VOCA office in Kano with frequent travel to all project areas (MVIS, BIS, KRIS and HVIS schemes).

Reporting:

• The Expert will report to and be supervised directly by the Team Leader, ACDIVOCA, TRIMING project. S/he will receive support from the rest of the TRIMING project staff and consultants.

Performance Period:

• Six (6) months with a potential extension subject to performance and funding availability

Qualifications and Experience

• A minimum of Master's degree in Development fields (Agriculture, Agriculture Economics, Agribusiness, Business Administration, Institutional Development or related fields)
• A minimum of 10 years of total professional experience in the fields related to the assignment including a minimum of five years’ experience working with farmer institutions, cooperatives and farmer associations
• Experience in working with national associations, grass roots organizations, local government institutions, senior government officials and donor-funded projects
• Experience designing training programs to meet project goals in assisting grantees and targeted organizations
• Excellent communication skills, including presentation, writing, and general networking and facilitation
• Knowledge of value chains development and market inclusion
• Experience working in agriculture sector in Northern Nigeria
• Must be a Hausa speaker.

Application Closing Date
12.00 Noon; 12th February, 2020.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: [email protected] Please include the position title in the subject line.