Job Title: Social Development Officer
Organisation: Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries
Project Name: National Oil Palm Project (NOPP)
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
About Organisation:
The Government of Uganda (GoU) has received a loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) towards financing a ten-year National Oil Palm Project (NOPP). The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) as the Lead Project Agency, in partnership with other agencies, private sector and farmer Organisations.
Job Summary: Reports to the Operations Manager, the Social Development Officer is responsible for ensuring high standards of social performance of NOPP operations at all stages of the project cycle. This will entail managing all social activities considered under the Project, using data and learning from the field to fine-tune Project strategies, and feeding Project learning around social inclusion, youth and gender mainstreaming to local and national policy dialogue.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Guiding and overseeing community sensitization processes, ensuring that key information reaches all intended target groups, that beneficiary selection is transparent and in line with pre-defined criteria and that all target groups participate in relevant Project decision-making processes.
- Managing the effective implementation of NOPP’s gender and youth strategy in close coordination with other team members.
- Providing support to team members responsible for Component 1 and Sub-Component 2.1 to ensure that Project strategies promote social inclusion and avoid unintended negative social consequences.
- Identify emerging opportunities to reach male and female youth and the promotion of gender equality and wider social inclusion in Project activities.
- Liaising with local stakeholders regularly to disseminate information about social risk mitigation activities considered by NOPP, seek alignment and coordination of NOPP social processes and interventions in target communities and assess collective progress. Specific areas or intervention include: the fight against HIV/AIDS, promotion of food security, addressing malnutrition, gender equality, effectively targeting women and youth, inclusive participation in local governance processes.
- Manage the process of identifying service providers and partners to implement relevant Project activities (NOPP Sub-Component 2.2); provide oversight and support towards expected results of each specific intervention.
- Ensure that information from the field and data generated by the Project, as well as learning’s captured from supervision missions and other reviews are used to fine-tune Project strategies.
- Participate in national level fora related to youth empowerment and gender equality so as to ensure that NOPP is aligned with emerging policies and lessons learnt from other projects and programmes and actively shares best practices and lessons learnt to feed into policy development processes.
- Introduce house hold mentoring methodology in the project areas to ensure inclusive development.
- Any other duties as may be assigned from time to time related to the Project’s social performance.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- Degree in, Social sciences, Socio-Economics, Sociology, Development Studies or any other discipline in a related field.
- Post graduate training in community/rural development is required.
Experience:
- 5 years’ work experience in community development and applied gender mainstreaming, project targeting and social inclusion in agriculture-based development project in Uganda is required.
- Demonstrated experience in use of gender targeting or gender action methods and PRA tools in Uganda is a requirement
- Experience of at least 2 years in Household Mentoring Methodology.
Competencies:
- Wider knowledge and experience in national policies and intervention on women and youth empowerment is an added advantage
- Knowledge of project design and/ or appraisal is an added advantage
- Good knowledge of computer applications (particularly MS Excel, Word and Power point) will be required
General Qualifications
Hub Offices will have the general responsibility for management of Project activities, working closely with the NOPP PMU, District Local Government and Management of BIDCO/Its subsidiaries in respective hubs. The team will ensure that the project is implemented according to the Loan Agreement and within the Government regulations. The Hub team will be responsible for planning, executing and reporting on the project implementation progress in respective Hubs. They will mobilize smallholder farmers to participate in oil palm production. They will provide technical support to the farmers in oil palm production and support access to production inputs by farmers. The team will keep accurate information and data on each of the farmers as required, including general farmer information, acreage, input amounts and value, to mention some.
The candidates for the positions should meet the following general qualifications:
- be a Ugandan Citizen;
- have general knowledge of project and business management with emphasis on work planning, budgeting and reporting;
- be computer literate and well versed with the use of Word, Excel and internet;
- be self-motivated and have the ability to take initiative and work with minimal supervision to meet deadlines;
- be fluent in English – written and oral and demonstrate excellent report writing skills;
- possess advanced advocacy, communication and negotiation skills and ability to work as a team member;
- be conversant with rural development strategies and gender equity;
- have a working knowledge of GOU policies, operations and reforms;
How to Apply:
Interested applicants are advised to write application letters to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, attach copies of their Curriculum Vitae and academic documents. The applications should be submitted to the Ministry Registry
Deadline: 17th November 2025
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Level of Education: Bachelor Degree
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 60