CEAPRED Vacancy for Agriculture Value Chain Development Specialist

LOCATION: Designated Province Office of USAID Integrated Nutrition Activity
REPORTS TO: Province Lead

BACKGROUND

USAID Integrated Nutrition activity is a new five-year USAID-funded activity in Nepal. The activity aims to reduce malnutrition among women, children, and adolescents in Nepal’s underserved and marginalized communities. The activity is implemented by Helen Keller International (HKI) in collaboration with Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED), FHI 360, ENPHO, NTAG and Kaboom Social Impact Pvt. Ltd.

USAID Integrated Nutrition’s primary goal is to improve the nutrition status of women, adolescents, and children in Nepal’s underserved and marginalized communities. The activity will tackle direct and underlying determinants of malnutrition in Nepal while strengthening the national and local enabling environment to implement multisectoral nutrition programs through four synergistic intermediate results. Achievement of the purpose will be measured by improvements in indicators of nutrition status among women of reproductive age, adolescents, and children. This activity will be implemented in at least 45 districts across seven provinces.

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Agriculture Value Chain Development Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the Province Lead and be responsible for the implementation of intervention approaches overseeing field implementation and ensuring the results related to the increased agricultural income of marginalized communities contributing to improved diet. S/he will be reporting to the Province Lead of the Activity. S/he will work closely with the Director of Food and Agriculture, Inclusive Value Chain Development Manager, nutrition and governance operation teams at the province, and support and guide IR3 (Intermediate Result) staff at districts and municipalities levels.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Agriculture Value Chain Development Specialist will work closely with the Province Lead, Director, Food and Agriculture, and Inclusive Value Chain Development Manager, IR1, IR2 and IR4 operation teams of the Activity to support GON in implementing the context-specific inclusive food supply chain and improved food environment strategies and plans aligned with the Food System Transformation Strategy and Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) particularly to increase income of marginalized communities and women including small and medium enterprises. The focus encompasses engaging private sector entities at various levels along with fostering private sector-led extension services for increased and sustained local production of nutrient-rich indigenous and other high-value commodities (plant, animal, poultry and fish source foods); increasing incomes to improve diets; and increasing year-round availability of and access to safe and nutrient-rich foods. S/he will also contribute to implementation of activities in partnership with private sector under IR1-Improved household nutrition practices; IR2- Improved quality and coverage of nutrition services for women, adolescents, and children; and IR4- Strengthened national and subnational government capacity for multi-sectoral nutrition programming.

The specific responsibilities are detailed below:

A. Technical

•  Support to designing, and implementation of inclusive food value chain development interventions including working closely with value chain actors such as producers,
  processors, collectors, wholesalers, retailers
•  Provide technical support and facilitate training for local partner NGO staff, and private sector including frontline extension workers to link small women producers and marginalized communities with markets and private-sector services focused on resilient local food production system.
• Collaborate with and complement private sector engagement initiatives promoted by provincial and local governments, USAID Feed the Future implementing partners and academic institutions (Provincial Agriculture Universities), and CTEVT to strengthen SMEs capacity to promote marketing of the most nutrient-rich locally produced foods (including indigenous crops) and advance context-specific income generation opportunities for marginalized communities.
•  Provide support in capacity building and networking of private sector entities at provincial and local levels to foster private sector-led enterprise development, social marketing, business literacy, and market opportunities contributing to the creation of affordable diets, improved dietary diversity, and food safety.
• Work with the Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) team to design, develop, and implement the SBCC approaches for creating awareness of healthy food demand and optimizing local diets.
• Facilitate the implementation of gender and social inclusivity while adopting economic empowerment approaches.
• Advocate for increased access to agricultural inputs/ technology grants, subsidies, insurance and financial resources and micro-credits for SMEs, marginalized communities, and women to scale up and strengthen their agribusinesses

B. Management

• Support in establishing and strengthening coordination and linkage with relevant government, non-government and private agencies and other stakeholders at provincial and local levels of program implementation in association with the Province Lead and Activity teams.
•  Monitor agribusiness programs promoted by local partner NGOs and private sectors, and attend coordination meetings for facilitation and guidance.
• Support preparation of monthly, quarterly, six monthly, annual and other assessment/evaluation reports as requested by the monitoring unit and Province Lead.
•  Participate in contributing to detailed implementation planning sessions as per need.

C. Operations/Communication

•  Support the Activity teams during specific studies, field monitoring capacity-building and report generation.
• Support designing, developing and promoting small agribusiness (on-farm and off-farm) and inclusive food value chain development related SBCC and training materials (print, audio/video, digital), contributing to achieve the “Intermediate Result 3.
• Lead to organize and conduct training on business literacy including agribusiness development plans, market system development and private sector engagement to government, non-government, private sector, and Activity staff at province and local levels.

D. Other

• Support MERL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning) unit to enter relevant data into the M&E database and in conducting M&E surveys.
•  Support proper collection, processing and documentation of data needed for monitoring and Activity planning and improvisation under IR3.
• Ensure a safe and equitable workplace, create opportunities, and offer support to women and those from disadvantaged groups.
• Undertake other related tasks assigned by the Province Lead, and other Activity Operation/Management Team.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

The ideal candidate will have the following academic qualification and experience:

• Master or equivalent university degree in agribusiness, agricultural marketing or agrieconomics with at least 3 year of demonstrated experience implementing agribusinesses at sub-national and local levels, or Bachelor degree in agribusiness, agricultural marketing or agri-economics with 5 years of demonstrated experience in implementing agribusinesses adopting value chain approaches at sub-national and local levels.
• Demonstrated experience in the areas of food production diversification, dietary diversity, food processing, postharvest losses and income generation for the vulnerable communities and women.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and facilitating capacity development training for SMEs, local governments and private sector extension staff on on-farm and off-farm businesses.
•  Experience working with the government agencies at provincial and local levels, LNGOs, CBOs and private sector and other relevant stakeholders.
•  Experience monitoring activities and progress against project targets.
• Knowledge of private sector engagement and market system development for smallholder producers and SMEs in the Activity districts.
• Demonstrated understanding of the synergy between the programmatic, operational, and financial components of projects
• Demonstrable respect for all persons regardless of religion, ethnicity, class, or gender, with a high comfort level working in a diverse environment with a demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards.
• Well-established and practiced organizational and planning skills.
• Collaborative, flexible and solution-oriented.
• Computer literate with proficiency with software relevant to the job duties.

Language

•  Good English language skills, both in written and spoken forms, complemented by strong interpersonal communication abilities.
• Fluency in Nepali.

The eligible & interested candidates are requested to submit their application ‘Online’ in CEAPRED’s website www.ceapred.org.np (career page). The applicants are also requested to mention their preferred province that they would like to work in their application letter.

Application submitted online only will be considered for further processes. Please refer to our website for detailed JD/TOR of the position. The last date for submission of online application is 5:00 PM on Friday, 19 July, 2024. The organization reserves the right to reject any/all applications without assigning any reason whatsoever.

We seek to cultivate an environment where all candidates relish equal employment opportunities devoid of discrimination, misconduct, fraud, and abuse. Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) and Localization guides our practices not just in hiring, but also in staff retention, growth, and policy implementation. This commitment signifies that we value diversity in all its forms including age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, and cultural background. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, recognizing the rich tapestry of the communities in which we live and work.

To Apply Visit: ceapred.org.np