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Job Title:  Value Chain Officer

Organisation: Integrated Seed and Sector Development Uganda (ISSD Uganda)

Duty Station: Kabale, Uganda

About US:

Integrated Seed and Sector Development Uganda (ISSD Uganda) is an independent local NGO in Uganda, which aims to be a leading agricultural development organization in fostering resilient seed and food systems for sustainable agricultural production. ISSD Uganda builds on the impactful outcomes and experiences of the successfully implemented seed projects that focused on; seed sector transformation; capacity building and knowledge transfer; partnerships and sector coordination, as well as supporting fragile communities including refugees.

About Project:

The CommonGround project (CG) is a four-year project being implemented by Integrated Seed and Sector Development (ISSD) Uganda in partnership with Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR) with funding from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Kampala. The project aims to restore resilience of farming communities in the watersheds of Rwenzori, Kigezi and Elgon highlands, which are under growing degradation threats due to the high population pressure. The project works through three pathways to achieve its goal to build resilient farmer communities and watersheds in the highlands of Uganda. In Pathway 1 “resilient farming systems” the project focuses on empowerment and motivation of farmer households to work towards establishing resilient farming systems through the PIP approach; Pathway 2 “watershed restoration” focuses on restoring natural resources and ecosystem functioning to enable restored watershed resilience; and Pathway 3 “improved marketing” focusses on improved marketing opportunities for all farmers directly engaged in the project, and the wider community. The project is headquartered in Fort Portal city, Western Uganda.

ISSD Uganda is an equal opportunity employer that seeks to recruit dynamic, self-motivated, passionate, and qualified individual to fill the above position.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Planning and implementation of activities among targeted beneficiaries

• Participate in the process of identification, selection, and registration of project beneficiaries for various businesses in line with the project targeting criteria.
• Create databases for all beneficiaries’ information.
• Conduct needs and capacity assessment of various business interest groups especially women and youth based on the identified gaps, develop group-based capacity improvement and training plan.
• Take lead in the training of youth and women livelihood groups on technical aspects of Village Saving and loans (VSLA) implementation, small scale business management and development and marketing and value addition.
• Lead the mobilization and establishment of various youth and women entrepreneurial business groups in the project locations.
• Guide the established youth and women entrepreneurial business groups in the development of their business plans based on the identified local market potentials and opportunities.
• Provide tailor-made technical business management training relative to the implementation of each group enterprise.
• Regular follow-ups to review progress on the implementation of the activity and eco-business plans.
• Prepare reports on Integrated Group Plans (IGPs) and/or community planning processes, activity implementation and project progress in accordance with the implementation plan.

Liaison and linkage with government, private sector, businesses, CBOs, and other service providers within the project area.

• Develop vital linkages between the established business groups and local microfinance institutions such as the VSLAs and SACCOs/cooperatives to facilitate groups’ access to credit and loans for various development initiatives.
• Facilitate establishment and strengthening of vital market linkages between business groups and other value chain actors in the project areas.
• Identify public and private sector service providers within the project area whose services and activities may be useful and of interest to the project beneficiaries.
• Provide technical support during implementation of integrated group plans/businesses especially among women and youth.
• Coordinate with local communities, local government, and other projects in the identification and implementation of environmentally friendly, sustainable business solutions.
• Support the project team in creating awareness on project activities and approaches to government officials, businesses, and NGOs in the project area.

Supporting institutional and business development for smallholder farmers and/or farmer groups

• Support groups formation and organizational development processes, including registration and development of constitutions and/or group rules/regulations.
• Strengthen partnership with local private sector and traders in implementation of farmer group businesses/venture.
• Prepare and conduct group business profiling and capacity assessment to identify needs including training and other capacity needs.
• Facilitate sustainable access to financial services and products for smallholder farmers and business enterprises through capacity building and appropriate linkages.
• Foster and nurture partnerships with financial service providers and other financial institutions.
• Support the effective roll-out of integrated business groups training to smallholder farmers and business groups/enterprise.
• Link farmers to market players including input providers, post-harvest equipment, suppliers and market information providers and buyers.
• Conduct continuous market screening and assessments (including identification of market actors, and business agents) that have high potential to benefit the eco-business groups/ enterprises.
• Contribute to the planning and carrying out of exchange visits, conferences, and business exhibitions on product marketing.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant must hold a Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent in Agribusiness, Agriculture and rural development, and business administration.
• At least four years of work experience in participatory market system programming and value chain analysis/development of different agricultural commodities.
• In-depth understanding of project cycle management, with experience in participatory planning, implementation, and results-based monitoring of project activities.
• Familiarity with the local context (Kigezi) and can effectively navigate challenges in this location.
• Skills in training and facilitation of community processes, including organization and mobilization of communities.
• Strong networking skills among different market actors such as youth groups, community-based organizations, government officers and CommonGround project staff.
• Ability to effectively use MS Office suite.
• High level of integrity and high standards of personal conduct.
• Experience working in project geographical region.
• Knowledge of the local languages.
• Ability to ride a motorcycle (valid & clean riding license)

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested individuals are encouraged to apply for this job by emailing your cover letter and CV maximum 4 pages to hr@issduganda.org, while indicating the job title in the email subject

Deadline: 22^nd September 2023

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