Regional Program Officer - Food at AGRA

The Regional Program Officer is an exciting position within AGRA’s new Africa Food Trade and Resilience Initiative. The Africa Food Trade and Resilience Initiative will include two primary strategic components:

• working with Government, business and civil society to stimulate Africa-specific solutions to improve the transparency and predictability of Governments’ interventions to unlock investment and regional trade;
• working directly with private companies that source, process, and trade food in the region, to maximize investment, coordination, and benefits to smallholder farmers.

Regional Program Officer – Food Trade

Job Reference: RFT/POWA/07/2020

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In each component, AGRA will collaborate closely with strategic partners who have major programs in these areas, as well as work to identify and support relevant strategic regional initiatives, with a view to maximizing learning, coordination, and impact. The initiative will be expected to fully integrate resilience at all levels, including working with policymakers to integrate climate resilience considerations into their agriculture policies and interventions.

The Regional Program Officer position supports the programming, policy, markets, and resilience functions of the program in West Africa.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide technical assistance and backstopping to governments through ministries of agriculture and trade to diagnose and assess, prioritize and reform policies, laws, regulations, and administrative practices that constrain intra-regional trade.
• Identify and monitor key trade/market trends and contextual dynamics which inform issues of regional food trade policies and initiatives in and AGRA focus countries and Africa;
• Provide technical support in developing regional food value chains and market systems that expand market opportunities for farmers and strengthen market transparency and efficiency.
• Support country managers in messaging and engaging with relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies on topics of regional market systems development and agricultural growth pathways.
• Support creation and/or strengthening of integrated institutional frameworks and mechanisms for building resilience in regional food systems movement from farm to fork.
• Utilize the latest evidence on climate-smart agriculture practices, climate modeling, future climate risks to improve the resilience of agriculture food systems.
• Assist in collecting and sharing data for the program’s Food Security Monitor.
• Assist country teams in the development of grant proposals in the areas of policy predictability, market-shaping, and resilience with respect to food trade.
• Provide technical assistance to grantees and assist in monitoring progress of implementation of Food Trade and Resilience Program grants.
• Supports the development of quarterly and annual reports and other reports, as needed, in compliance with the requirements of DFID and other partners; as well as provide regular verbal and written updates and briefings on program operations, achievements, and problems to the Head, Regional Food Trade and other program staff.
• Representing the program where necessary.

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Academic, Professional Qualifications, and Relevant experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics, or in a relevant discipline. A master’s degree will be an added advantage;
• At least five (5) years of experience on agricultural development, food trade and markets, economic policy and resilience/climate-smart agriculture;
• Demonstrated understanding of Africa’s policy and political economy landscape as it relates to the intra-regional food market and food trade;
• Deep knowledge of regional food trade and market systems development and the demonstrated ability to catalyze change in addressing market challenges;
• Possesses a good understanding of agriculture market development efforts in public, private and donor sectors in Africa;
• Demonstrated ability to make a major contribution to the direction of AGRA’s Regional Food Trade Program strategy and to deliver its goals and objectives;
• Demonstrable ability to work in complex work dynamics and challenges. Able to adapt rapidity to new technical areas;
• Ability to develop sound project reports that can be understood by a wider stakeholder audience;
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving, programming and decision-making skills;
• Good team working skills;
• Ability to process multiple tasks at once; and with exceptional attention to detail;
• A desire to keep ahead of new and evolving discourse around policies in agriculture as well as food trade and market trends and resilience;
• Ability to move from program concept to on-the-ground reality in line with AGRA’s mission;
• Good command of English required and a working knowledge of French would be an added advantage;
• Ability to travel up to 25% – 35% domestically and internationally to engage with AGRA teams and government units in AGRA’s focus countries.