Senior Market Development Advisor Career Opportunity – Mercy Corps

Organisation: Mercy Corps
Duty Station: Kampala,
Uganda
Reports to: Finance Director
About US:
Mercy Corps is an international non-profit organization which
implements high-quality, analytical development programmes in very difficult
places. Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006. It has and
continues to implement programs in Acholi and Karamoja sub regions. Mercy Corps
is taking a community-led, market driven approach to address poverty and food
insecurity needs through interventions that get to the root causes and
contributing factors of economic vulnerability. Donors include the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, Mastercard
Foundation, WALMART Foundation, Coca Cola Africa Foundation, US Depart of State
(DOS) /PEPFAR, and Nike Foundation.
Job Summary: The Senior
Market Development Advisor will work to enhance DYNAMIC’S ability to deliver
high impact market development programming; development of market development
interventions, tools and resources; and the empowerment and upskilling of other
DYNAMIC team members to implement market development interventions,
particularly the 16 Market Development Officers and their supervising Program
Managers.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:  
  • Lead technical oversight and direction on
    market development for or in collaboratfbn with all aspects of DYNAMIC
    program activities for nine districts in ciose coordination with Deputy
    Program Director and Program Managers.
  • Develop and proliferate tools and
    resources to assist with market development analysis, program design,
    activities’ implementation and M&E, Develop system to manage complex
    concept note process across nine districts and four international NGOs.
  • The jobholder will also design and conduct
    refresher and specialized trainings as needed with staff and partners and
    design necessary didactic materials (manuals, handouts etc.).
  • Actively engage in development and rollout
    of agency tested tools and initiatives to ensure consistent high-quality
    implementation.
  • Lead in sector identification,
    intervention design and strategy development of the DYNAMIC program with
    coordination from the Deputy Program Director and other advisors
    (financial services, youth, skills and learning and MEL).
  • Carry out continuous market intelligence
    and assessments to inform programming including identification of sectors
    and value chains that have high potential to benefit the youth.
  • Develop and manage relationship with
    private sector partners working across program targeted sectors. Negotiate
    and sign agreements related to share value activities with the private
    sector at a national and regional level.
  • Conduct pilot studies and research
    relevant to the program and aimed at informing implementation and learning
    with the support of the MEL team.
  • Mentorship and coaching of partner higher
    and medium level firms and enterprises.
  • Contribute to, Capture and Champion Market
    Development Best Practices
  • Expand DYNAMIC’S role as a thought leader
    in the Making Markets Work for Youth space.
  • Act as a leader for collaboration and
    collective decision-making across districts.
  • Contribute to the suite of market
    development resources available to support and promote quality practice in
    the field.
  • Help mentor and develop technical skills
    in Market Development Officers and other staff across program field teams.
  • Support in building a more dense, diverse
    and collaborative network of relationships for market development
    practitioners and other stakeholders and to broker effective relationships
    at the country and regional levels. Connect best practices and learning
    from programs across MC countries to ensure an evolving and effective
    learning system for improving program implementation
  • As part of Mercy Corps Uganda’s commitment
    to organizational learning and in support of pur understanding that
    teaming organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the
    communities they serve – we expect all team members to commit 5% of their
    time to learning activities that benefit the DYNAMIC program as well as
    themselves.
Qualifications, Skills and
Experience: 
  • The applicant should preferably hold a
    Bachelor’s Degree in business, agribusiness, economic development or other
    relevant field required; Master’s Degree strongly preferred.
  • At least ten years’ experience in business
    or market/economic development, preferably in the private sector, market
    development and/or related industry
  • A minimum of six years of experience
    specifically on market systems development/M4P/market facilitation
  • Dynamic leader who can guide teams to
    believe in and follow a strong market development philosophy,
  • Previous experience with a wide range of
    stakeholder and partner management with national/regional companies;
    international agencies; community-based organizations; agribusinesses,
    etc. needed,
  • Strong group process design and
    facilitation skills, including developing and leading workshops, as well
    as group consensus building around market development philosophy.
  • Previous experience in consortium programs
    with other international NGOs
  • Broad knowledge of agricultural
    development required.
  • Excellent track record in adaptive
    management in fast-paced, entrepreneurial work environment required.
  • Strong writing, communication,
    organization, prioritization and negotiating skills.
  • Willingness to spend much time in the
    field and work closely with various district-level program teams.
  • Working knowledge and experience in
    business financing for SME’s and/or youth engagement is highly valued.
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their
E-mail applications including a cover letter clearly stating the salary
requirements, updated CV (with three professional referees), and copies of
academic qualifications/certificates addressed to the Senior HR and Legal
Manager, Mercy Corps Uganda to: ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org
Deadline:  11th May 2017
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