Executive Management Advisor at Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

The Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Agency for International Cooperation) is an international enterprise owned by the German Federal government, operating in many fields across more than 130 countries.

In Nigeria, GIZ's portfolio includes among others, a programme to support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its regional integration goals. The programme aims to strengthen sector-specific capacities in the areas of Peace and Security, Customs and Trade as weir as Strategic Management and Organizational Development in the ECOWAS Commission.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Executive Management Advisor

Location: Abuja

The Project
GIZ EAT - a vibrant project for the ECOWAS region:

• The BMZ funded regional project ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) is implemented by GIZ and officially started in January 2022 with a funding of 10 Mio. EUR for 5 years. The project management unit is based in Abuja. Major activities will start from January 2023. The project focuses on five countries, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana. Others to be determined with the partner.
• The objective of EAT is to improve institutional and technical requirements for intra-regional agricultural trade in the ECOWAS region and selected countries. The main partner is the ECOWAS commission (Directorates for agriculture, trade and customs), regional organizations and national line ministries or trade associations.

EAT works on 3 components:

• Strengthen the role of the ECOWAS Commission in coordinating sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade instruments with ECOWAS Member States
• Support sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade facilitation measures and services for traders at border posts and along agricultural trade value chains.
• Improve regional agri-trade promotion services and business performance of the traders.
• The target group of the project comprises trade companies, organizations, and actors in agri-food sector trade in the ECOWAS region. The supported agricultural commodities are raw, semi-finished and finished products that are traded form farm gate, factory or warehouse to consumer markets.

Responsibilities & Tasks
Profile:

• You are motivated to work as an Executive Management Advisor attached to the Director of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) at the ECOWAS Commission as part of a team of a larger administrative and technical team. You manage and prioritize proactively your workload and fulfill administrative, organizational, and logistical tasks in time, with a high level of self-responsibility and with high accuracy.
• You have excellent communication abilities, are oriented to produce results and you are open to change ineffective routines and bring up ideas to improve administrative processes within your scope of work.
• You are motivated to closely collaborate and communicate with the Director of Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development at the ECOWAS Commission and his team, with other ECOWAS Directorates and partners as well as the GIZ EAT project team.
• You are open to travel for organizing events and workshops with participation of the ECOWAS Director. Planning, managing, and organizing tasks on short notice and under time pressure, following-up tasks and managing the Director’s agenda as well as his communication with partners is one of your key strengths. You have the ability to speak in French and English.

Responsibilities and Tasks

• This position is seconded to the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development of the ECOWAS Commission. The position is based in Abuja (Nigeria) under the supervision by the EAT team leader.
•  As an Executive Management Advisor for the EAT project you will have the following responsibilities and tasks:
•  Responsible for day-to-day management of the Director’s calendar and activities to ensure high value time utilization in relationship to external and internal partners.
• Maintains Director’s appointment schedule by planning and scheduling meetings, conferences, teleconferences, and travels.
• Organize travels and events for the Director
• Brief/update the Director on upcoming meetings and ongoing obligations.
• Responsible for the timely preparation and presentation of information materials for key external and internal communications involving the Director.
• Assist in the prioritization of tasks, activities and issues requiring the Director’s attention to ensure they are acted upon in a timely manner and assist in following up on requests made him/her.
• Drafts documents or conducts research to further the Director’s work in Agri-Trade programs, development, and trends within the sub-region.
• Organizing and attending meetings with the Director when and where necessary and representing him/her by attending meetings where necessary.
• Takes notes/minutes of meetings, record observations and gathers contact information of events as it relates to the Director.
• Prepares briefing memos and relevant updates for the Director on outstanding projects activities, identifies issues, develops contingency plans, and suggests remedies.
• Supports the management of the Director’s communication with other Directorates, partners and GIZ in preparing reports, communication items such as emails and others
• Any other duties as assigned by the Director
• Facilitate engagement with relevant Directorates within ECOWAS commission
• Liaise with EAT project team to provide updates on project activities and coordinate the communication exchange with the Directorate.
• Required qualifications, competences, and experience:

Required qualifications, Competences and Experience
Qualifications:

• Degree in Social Science, Law, Economics, Agricultural Sciences, Communications, Humanities or its equivalent.

Professional Experience:

• At least 5 years’ professional experience in a comparable position

Skills and competences:

• Good organization, management and communication skills
• Proactive and self-responsible service mentality
• excellent working knowledge of Office application (esp. MS Office, Excel, Word, Teams)
• Confidential handling of data and information
• Very good knowledge of the English and French language
• A good team player who is willing to take on responsibility.
• Innovative and possessing a positive attitude to change towards more efficient procedures
• Excellent writing and presentation skills
• Prior work experience with GIZ and / or ECOWAS is an added advantage
• Self-starter, and self-driven.

Application Closing Date
25th February, 2023.