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Job Title:  Agribusiness and Marketing Expert

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

Duty Station: Mbale, Uganda

About Organisation:

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. Currently, ISSD Uganda is implementing the Common Ground Project which is a is a 4-year project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kampala. The project is a land restoration and farming systems project in the Western, South Western and Eastern Highlands of Uganda, implemented in a collaborative partnership between Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR) as lead partner, and ISSD Uganda, as the local implementing partner.

ISSD Uganda is looking for a competent and experienced Agribusiness and Marketing Expert – Elgon to be based in Elgon, Uganda

Job Summary:   The Agribusiness & Marketing Expert focuses on coordination of activities on improved marketing in Pathway 3, for one of the three project regions: Elgon (Bududa District). S/he is responsible for implementing initiatives that will improve marketing opportunities for smallholder farmers directly engaged in the project with a special focus on women and youth. The Expert will work closely with the field staff to support farmers and other stakeholders to : (1) address bottlenecks that limit market access; (2) strengthen farmers’ positioning along value chains and markets with focus on prioritised value chains and (3) support viable entrepreneurial initiatives. S/he will guide farmers, communities, farmers’ organizations, local government, financial institutions and private sector actors to select and act upon relevant interventions that improve farmers’ livelihoods.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Take the results of community Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) as starting point for practical actions of Pathway 3, oriented at economic resilience.
• Facilitate the participatory identification and prioritisation of market access bottlenecks to be addressed by the project with the relevant stakeholders and prepare and monitor action plans for selected practical cases.
• In collaboration with cooperatives and partners, facilitate the participatory identification and prioritisation of practical options for action for farmer-inclusive value chain development, with attention for improved farmers’ access to input and output markets.
• Build capacities of value chain partners and key stakeholders to establish sustainable “business” relations with farmers support and monitor implementation of value chain development actions and report results obtained as per set milestones.
• Develop training materials for small entrepreneurial groups (focus on women and youth) and village saving and lending associations.
• Provide selected entrepreneurial groups with tailor made trainings to improve their business skills, governance, financial sustainability, accountability and client focus.
• For scaling. build capacity of selected local trainers to train other small groups to develop and implement entrepreneurial initiatives, with specific attention for women and youth groups.
• Support and monitor implementation of the small group entrepreneurial initiatives and report their performance as per set milestone.
• Support partnership agreements and preparation of MoU’s to improve stakeholder collaboration for improved market access at community level, district level and beyond.
• Coordinate and provide technical support to field staff, communities, farmers and farmers’ organisations on planning, implementing and monitoring of the agreed joint actions.
• With relevant partners, identify relevant financial services and products for investments, value chain development and small entrepreneurial groups, assess farmers’ constraints and broker farmer’s access.
• Establish and maintain effective links with all key stakeholders (e.g., district authorities and development organizations) to strengthen collaboration on agribusiness related issues.
• Identify areas for synergy with other EKN funded interventions within the project intervention area to complement project interventions and address issues beyond the project’s scope.
• Support the project M&E team to develop and maintain an M&E system for the project interventions especially development of a proper data collection system.
• Document and share lessons learnt of the project and proactively propose improved project implementation modalities.
• Document best practices and support their scaling and replication.
• Compile and prepare periodic progress reports highlighting progress made in improving marketing opportunities for farmers within the watersheds, with reference to project periodic plans.
• Contribute to project newsletter articles and annual reports.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness Management, Agricultural Marketing, Rural Development, or Agricultural related degree
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience working with rural smallholder business development, providing services, training and/or technical assistance
• At least 5 years’ experience in local value chain development projects and market systems development, preferably in the Eastern Highlands of Uganda
• Working knowledge in identifying opportunities for value addition and market access for farmer households, farmers’ associations and cooperatives and their partners
• Experience working with saving and credit cooperatives (SACCO), village saving and lending associations (VSLA), and financial institutions to improve farmers’ access to financial services.
• Proven ability and demonstrated experience of appraising business cases, with experience in Gender (male, female, and youth) entrepreneurship programs.
• Strong agribusiness relationship management experience and focus with ability to connect and to stimulate trustful relations between stakeholders.
• Excellent communication in English (written and oral), knowledge of local languages spoken in the Elgon project area is of important added value.
• Excellent reporting and presentation skills.
• Flexible approach to take on additional responsibilities as assigned/delegated.
• Willingness to travel to all project locations (in addition to Elgon: Rwenzori and Kigezi)

How to Apply:

Candidates who meet the criteria outlined above should submit their applications, resume and academic documents in pdf format with “HCBSU-AME-AGRIBUSINESS AND MARKETING EXPERT” as the Email subject via recruitment@hcbsltd.com

Deadline: 25th October  2024 by 5:00 pm

NB: Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. Female Candidates are encouraged to apply.

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