Job Vacancy At International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)

January 29th, 2022 at 11:30 am

IFDC is an independent non-profit organization that combines innovative research, market systems development, and strategic partnerships to identify and scale sustainable soil solutions for improved food security and livelihoods around the world.

Background

The 2SCALE (Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness program) builds on achievements and lessons learnt from a first phase (2012-18, www.2scale.org). It aims to be a flagship program for the Netherlands’ food security policy and one of the leading catalysts of inclusive agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa.

2SCALE is designed to incubate and accelerate inclusive agribusiness development in target countries in Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria). Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are the core implementation modality to achieve the objectives of the program. 2SCALE’s strategy is three-pronged:

1. Incubating inclusive business: through PPPs, 2SCALE works together with private enterprises to develop agribusiness models that promote inclusiveness, develop (new) competitive edge, and have potential for scaling. PPPs support value chain development and agribusiness cluster formation. The agribusiness cluster approach helps smallholder farmers develop farming as a business and supply agricultural products for local, national, regional, and international markets. 2SCALE partners with African and multinational agri-food companies as drivers to increase productivity and to improve efficiency and sustainability of supported agribusiness clusters and value chains. Specific attention is given to youth and women to integrate value chains (as farmers, laborers, entrepreneurs, service providers), and to low income / “base of the pyramid” (BoP) consumers that represent the largest market for food products in sub-Saharan Africa.
2. Replicating inclusive business: through PPPs, 2SCALE supports the replication of most successful business models, in different settings (regions, industries), with the same or different private partners.
3. Facilitating sector transformation and policy alignment: 2SCALE also supports partnering enterprises to drive sector transformation and policy alignment for critical bottlenecks that cannot be solved by the actors within the focus PPPs, and which affects a number of actors in the sector simultaneously.

2SCALE is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by 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). The Partnerships Resource Center (PrC) supports the consortium as a knowledge partner.

Position Summary

The 2SCALE Program Bilingual Administrative Associate is the focal person for the coordination and administrative and operational responsibilities of the program. The associate is responsible for assisting the Program Management Team (PMT) in conducting its duties in a smooth way, managing the Program overall archive, and for supporting other team members in tasks related to Program activities. The position holder is responsible for Managing all admin related task of the program including supervision of assistants and any other staffs or interns related to the program administrative and operational task.

Duties

• Coordinate all administrative and operations of the program management.
• Serve as a point of contact for all logistic related issues for the program management.
• Pro-actively organize, manage, and update the 2SCALE program archive of files of all partners, main Program files (e.g., workplans, annual reports, budgets), partnership-related files (e.g., screening forms, briefs, partnership agreements, subgrants) and IFDC-specific administrative files (e.g., official program letters, consultancy contracts, internship agreements). This task will be conducted in close collaboration with the 2SCALE data base manager, partnership contracts manager, IFDC HQ and secretariat of the Director Business Development & Partnerships.
• Translate important documents from French to English and vice versa or organize the translation by external service providers when needed.
• Attend the program Management meeting and other key meetings at program level. Keep the minutes and follow up for signing the minutes when needed.
• Coordinate the administrative and logistical organization of regional and program-level events (e.g., workshops, staff retreats/ meetings, conferences).
• Facilitate logistical arrangements for consultants with a regional scope and, when required, consultants with an in-country assignment, including visa requirements, hotel bookings, airport pick-up/ drop-off, flight arrangements, requests for travel, travel expense reports, etc.
• Review (with a specific attention to allowance rates and coding) travel requests and travel expense reports of 2SCALE staff on IFDC payroll, and forward to the relevant approver.
• Organize the setup of an Outlook shared travel and leave , birthdays calendar of all 2SCALE staff.
• Develop, update, and archive a list of every intern engaged in 2SCALE, and another list of every consultant contracted by 2SCALE.
• Develop, update, and share the 2SCALE staff list and ensure accuracy of all contact details.
• Short-list applications for open vacancies upon request of PMT members.
• Review (with a specific attention to coding) Purchase Requisitions (PRs) and reimbursement forms received from staff in 2SCALE offices hosted by IFDC and/or IFDC staff and forward them to the relevant approver.
• Share documents to the team (or part of the team) on behalf of the PMT or one of its members.
• Contribute to organizing the agenda of the PMT members by arranging appointments, meetings, travel, and accommodation upon request.
• Write minutes of meetings upon request of the PMT.
• In close collaboration with IFDC administrative staff, support the 2SCALE Program Management Unit in logistical management (e.g., stationeries, in-door meetings, car logistics, guidance of lunch options and other practical aspects for visiting staff members and guests).
• In collaboration with the Program Director and the Deputy Program Director and 2SCALE Project leads, assist in the developing of annual training program schedule.
• Coordinate and organize official visits of Supervisory Board members, Selection Committee members, Ministers etc. to 2SCALE countries.
• Handling of HR-related issues such as filling out of Employee/Intern Requisition forms, coordinating reference checks for newly recruited 2SCALE staff, etc., in close collaboration with the HR unit of IFDC.
• Assist in the management and organizing of the Program Director’s calendar by scheduling appointments, meetings etc. and daily activities, including running of errands.
• Manage and coordinate travel for both business and personal arrangements for the Program Director and Deputy Director.
• Prepare agendas, attend meetings, transcribe correspondence from handwritten notes.
• Preparing communication on behalf of Program Directors.

These tasks may be extended to buy-in projects managed by member(s) of the 2SCALE team.

Any other assignment that the 2SCALE management deems necessary for the success of the program or contribution to the work of IFDC as a global institution.

Supervision

The 2SCALE Program Bilingual Administrative Officer will be supervised by and report to the 2SCALE Deputy Program Director. She/ he works in close collaboration with the Program Director and other PMT members.

Location 

preferably in Abidjan, Bamako or Accra

Qualifications

• Master’s degree/Bachelor’s degree in any social science studies
• Fluency in English and French(mandatory)
• At least 5 years work experience in program administrative, logistic management and operations field of areas.
• Experience of supporting staff with different disciplines and backgrounds.
• A good understanding of managing logistics and operations in diverse cultural and institutional environments.
• Strong interpersonal, leadership, planning and coordination skills.
• Self-starter and with Strong communication (written and oral), presentation and report writing skills.
• Women candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

Method Of Application

Click here to read more and apply

Closing Date: 11th February 2021