International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) Latest Jobs

March 21st, 2022 at 11:38 am

POSITION: Consultant to provide coaching and mentoring support to Agribusiness Clusters (ABCs)

About the job

Type of contract: Part-time

Location: Upper East Region (Garu, Tempane, Pusiga, Binduri, Nkapanduri districts), Upper West (Sissala East and West Districts), Northern Region (Yendi Municipal, Karaga, Gushegu and Mion Districts), North East Region (Mamprugu East and West Municipalities), Ashanti Region (Mampong, Nsuta, Kumawu, Ejisu, Nyinahini, Agona Sekyere, Kwabre East)

Background

The 2SCALE program[1] is designed to incubate and accelerate inclusive business development in African agri-food systems. 2SCALE works together with companies (African, Dutch, and other small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs) and producer organizations (POs) to develop business models and partnership models that promote inclusiveness, develop a competitive edge and have the potential for scaling. These partnerships also referred to as public-private partnerships (PPPs), are the core implementation modality to achieve the objectives of the program.

Specifically, 2SCALE supports partnerships in target agri-food industries with significant potential to:

• improve food and nutrition security, both at the grassroots level and at the consumer end of the value chain by serving local and regional markets (including Base-of-the-Pyramid – BoP – markets) with nutritious food products.
• improve the terms of inclusion of smallholder farmers and other micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the value chains
• attract and employ the youth
• engage and empower women

To strengthen PPPs, 2SCALE also collaborates with companies and organizations that provide specific expertise to support the target agri-food value chains or act as a major off-taker in the chain.

2SCALE is co-funded by the private sector and by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS). Building on a first phase (2012-18), the current phase of 2SCALE runs from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023. It is awarded to a consortium led by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and comprising the Base-of-the-Pyramid Innovation Center (BoPInc) and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV).

Position Summary

The PPP approach adopted by 2SCALE puts the private sector in the lead by facilitating and co-financing joint interventions that drive inclusiveness. Inclusiveness in the context of 2SCALE entails empowering low-income communities to be fairly integrated with Agri value chains by ensuring their ownership and voice are visible and that risks and rewards are fairly shared by the stakeholders.

To ensure this, the program supports grassroots actors’ empowerment through forming and developing Agribusiness Clusters (ABCs). Agribusiness clusters are local networks of business that complement each other and function around common opportunities and challenges. These ABCs are supported by business support service providers and ABC coaches. The capacity building includes various “hard” and “soft” skills identified as gaps hindering the performance of the Agribusiness Clusters (ABCs).

2SCALE is looking for a consultant to provide support to these Agribusiness Clusters and the coaches that support them. These will mainly be in the form of capacity building in specific/targeted topics and field-level coaching to enable the actors’ to plan and take joint actions based on their common constraints.

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Partnership Facilitators (PFs), Business champions (BCs), ABC actors, and other 2SCALE staff to accelerate the performance of the Universal Impact Indicators (UIIs). This consultancy will be for an initial period of six months with a possibility for renewal based on satisfactory performance, priorities of the partnership, and availability of funds.

Tasks

• Conduct an assessment and prioritization of the capacity development needs of ABC coaches and design a program to provide the same.
• Support ABC coaches, Business Support Service (BSS) providers, rural entrepreneurs, and other grassroots actors to set a clear vision and to understand their roles in the ABCs.
• Plan and lead capacity-building sessions for all ABC coaches supported.
• Provide regular field support to ABC coaches, Business champions, and other grassroots actors to strengthen the functioning of the ABCs and field level governance system. ABC functions include but are not limited to:
  • enhances access to agro-inputs and services
  • encourages coordinated action, collective learning, co-innovation, and co-investment
  • facilitates empowerment, more voice, and better bargaining power of the grassroots actors
• Support the ABC actors to develop strategies to embed the cost of coaching and other paid advisory services within the partnership cost structure.
• Provide support to the ABC coaches network (Community of Practice) in-country and facilitate cross-learning among coaches both within and outside of the country of the post.
• Support (through the ABC coaches) Producer Organisations (POs), micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to perform in a professional and well-accepted standard to improve their business performance.
• Contribute to the development of ABC Annual Action Plans (AAPs) and support ABC coaches to implement all interventions to strengthen the ABCs.
• Enhance ABC coaches’ capacity to integrate gender and youth in all their activities and support the grassroots actors.
• Collaborate with other 2SCALE thematic experts and consultants to align and draw synergies for optimum impact.
• Document and share lessons learned (including best practices, challenges, etc.) to inform program decision-making.

Supervision and team collaboration

The consultant is supervised by and reports to the 2SCALE country team leader. He/She will receive technical guidance and support from the ABC development specialist and work in close collaboration with all other 2SCALE colleagues, including Partnership Facilitators, thematic experts, interns, and other consultants.

Position and duty station / Location

This consultancy is a national position and requires intensive travel (up to 70% of the time) in the target ABCs in-country. Trips to other 2SCALE target countries may also be required.

Qualifications And Experience

• Advanced degree in agricultural economics, communications, extension, or rural development.
• Proven experience in organizing and conducting a variety of training programs preferably at the grassroots level including technical, business, marketing, management, organizational, etc.
• At least 4 years working experience in agriculture or rural development in the country of the post.
• Proven experience in organizing and facilitating grassroots-level capacity-building programs (training, demonstrations, field visits, etc.), business meetings, adult training, and training-of-trainers.
• Ability to communicate effectively with grassroots stakeholders and to stimulate a genuinely participatory and interactive learning process.
• Result-orientation and ability to take initiatives under minimal supervision and to reach targets.
• Fluent in English and at least one local language widely spoken in the target ABCs.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested and eligible candidates are requested to visit the website www.2scale.org to find out more information about the 2SCALE program.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY ONLINE

Kindly send an email with “ABC Consultant” as a subject. Attach a CV and a cover letter in English, payment history (Consultant person-day fee), and payment rate (Consultancy person-days) proposal for this assignment.

CLOSING DATE: MARCH 31, 2022

Note: Only pre-selected candidates will be contacted for interviews.

IFDC is an equal opportunity employer. Women and Youth are strongly encouraged to apply.

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