Project Officer, Alliances for Action - International Trade Centre

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization for trade-related technical cooperation in developing countries. United Kingdom Trade Partnerships Programme (UKTP), Ghana UKTP is designed to ensure countries maximize benefits of Economic Partnership Agreements and in particular, maximize trade with the UK under existing EU EPAs or under UK specific EPAs negotiated post-Brexit. Exporters in EPA countries, such as Ghana, are not fully taking advantage of the export opportunities provided by EU EPAs for several reasons including lack of awareness and gaps in competitiveness in UK / EU markets in such areas as quality.

In Ghana, the UKTP is intended to increase exports by:

(i) increasing awareness of firms and institutions on how to access the UK/EU markets and the potential benefits and better identifying trade obstacles

(ii) building the ability of targeted firms/products to export to UK/EU markets.

Sankofa Project: Empowered by Alliances for Action

The Inclusive Agribusiness & Trade team and its partner organizations such as Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKFU), Max Havelaar, Fairtrade Africa (FTA) and Chocolats Halba, have piloted an innovative approach in inclusive agribusiness through a project in Ghana in the cocoa and yam sectors in the framework of Alliances for Action in 2016. The focus of the approach was on gender, environment and biodiversity, market diversification and the combination of food crops and cash crops as means for income diversification. Given the successful results of the pilot project in 2016-2018, a new project entitled

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Sankofa Project: Empowered by Alliances for Action, with co-investment from SECO, Chocolats HalbaCoop and ITC, is currently being implemented to scale up the results from the pilot and further incorporate and align yam and associated crop diversification and dynamic agroforestry practices.

The Sankofa Project: Empowered by Alliances for Action aims to promote sustainable and inclusive livelihoods for value chain stakeholders through a multi-channel approach. In the case of smallholder cocoa farmers, this is done through income diversification by integrating yam and associated crops in dynamic agroforestry (DAF) and Climate Smart Cropping Systems (CSCS). The multi-product / multimarket approach will result in increased risk diversification as well as higher smallholder incomes are given the production and commercialization of new crops.

These approaches promote environmentally sustainable farming hence reducing the ecological footprint of cocoa farming. At the SME level (processors, traders, exporter), product and market development activities will be implemented to support value chain development and value addition creation.

FUNCTIONS

Under the supervision of the National Coordinator in Ghana and the Inclusive Agribusiness Expert and the overall supervision of the Head of Inclusive Agribusiness Systems, Sector and Enterprise Competitiveness in the Division of Enterprises and Institutions (DEI), the Project Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

• Participates in the development, implementation and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects, etc.; monitors and analyzes programme/project development and implementation; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and proposes corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; identifies and tracks follow-up actions.
• Performs consulting assignments, in collaboration with the client, by supporting the facilitation and organisation of workshops, events and assisting in the provision of logistics (including booking venues, hotel accommodation, travel tickets etc.), stakeholder engagement and follow-up.
• Researches analyze and present information gathered from diverse sources.
• Undertakes survey initiatives for the data collection on beneficiary performance; reviews analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares conclusions.
• Prepares various written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.
• Provides substantive support to consultative and other meetings (including regular project team coordination meetings), conferences, etc., to include proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations, etc.
• Undertakes outreach activities; organises training workshops, seminars, etc.; makes presentations on assigned topics/activities.
• Participates in field missions, including the provision of guidance and logistical support to external consultants, government officials and other parties and drafting mission summaries, etc.

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• Coordinates activities related to budget and funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and prepares related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.).
• Conducts project logistical and financial management support activities for the National Coordinator, Project Partners and the Inclusive Agribusiness and Trade team.
• Updates and maintains a filing system for key project and administrative information (including budgets, reports, attendance sheets, farmer/enterprise information etc.).
• Assists the National Coordinator in the review and processing of data, reports and documents submitted by the project team.
• Performs other duties as required.

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