BACKGROUND: The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the position of a Country Manager.
IITA is an international non-profit research-for-development (R4D) organization created in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Our R4D is anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty by reducing producer and consumer risks, enhancing crop quality and productivity, and generating wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa. http://www.iita.org/
POSITION/RESPONSIBILITIES: The Country Manager (CM) will have increasing responsibility in the next phase of STCP that cuts across action oriented research coordination, project/financial management and technical support, resource mobilisation and new program development, administration and personnel management. The STCP pilot project offices will become STCP country offices (CO). The CM will lead a country office management team supporting multiple and multi-sector research-for-development program.
THE SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE COUNTRY MANAGER WILL INCLUDE:
FACILITATION OF RESEARCH-FOR-DEVELOPMENT
Identify opportunities for mainstreaming validated STCP innovations into broad-base national level developmental efforts.
Facilitate the scaling up/out of tested and validated innovations from the STCP pilot phase in the country.
Identify new development innovation to be tested within the program and contribute to the setting up of the appropriate research agendas/protocols and coordinate the implementation of the innovation testing process.
Ensure that impact assessments are conducted on all innovations (production, marketing, institutional and policy) being introduced in country programs and that International Public Goods are generated.
Develop partnerships with local stakeholders for innovation testing and implementation of tested innovations.
Identify the capacity development needs of institutions involved in scaling out of validated program activities and work in collaboration with these institutions in the capacity development process.
PROGRAM COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT
Take full responsibility for managing and coordinating the implementation of country-level portfolio of projects in coordination with STCP Regional Management (RM).
Coordinate with STCP RM the prioritisation within the country program and lead the process of establishment of country-level partnerships.
Develop and coordinate relationship building with relevant government agencies, and private sector entities towards effective program execution.
Take leadership in negotiating the timing and scope of country office involvement in partnership projects/programs.
Maintain working relationships with a broad range of officials/heads of donors, national government agencies and civil society for the purpose of influencing positive policy environment.
Ensure that the necessary monitoring and evaluation of program interventions are effectively measured, reported and disseminated based on program impact assessment guidelines.
Facilitate appropriate country level tree crop sector policy dialogue and change in tandem with STCP regional specialist on policy.
Convene country level stakeholders roundtable as appropriate to make substantive presentations and to develop annual and strategic program plans.
Facilitate the establishment and maintenance of a multi-disciplinary national network membership that cuts across the tree crops sub sector in the country to provide advisory services and support to program management and implementation.
Determine when, how and who among the national network membership could be used in pursuing specific country level linkages based on clear scope of work for the task.
Provide periodic short-term technical assistance to field projects.
Take leadership in identifying appropriate consultants and technical support staff and the tendering and management of subcontracts in a transparent manner.
Regularly update the STCP RM on partnership development work as they occur.
Contribute to capacity building within the region by sharing information, knowledge and experience with colleagues.
Serve as the primary link person with the STCP RM.
RESOURCE MOBILIZATION
Develop and promote new programmatic concepts by developing project proposals and/or contribute towards the development of new project design and planning for execution in collaboration with various partners.
Continuously search for local and international funding opportunities and identify mechanism for accessing the funds to support old/new programmatic activities.
Contribute to strategic decision making in the region, particularly relating to programs, planning and resource mobilization.
ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Take the lead in the hiring of STCP nationally recruited staff by determining and justifying program staffing needs, staff job description, appraise staff annually and provide other broad base personnel management in line with IITA policies.
Determine staff training needs and take steps for a continuous development of local staff capacity to ensure program efficiency and effectiveness.
Prepare through consultative process the program budgets for approval by the regional management, implement the budget and ensure accountability through timely submission of stipulated financial reports.
Conduct periodic staff salary and benefits surveys among comparable institutions and advise STCP RM management on staff benefits and salaries to ensure competitiveness of IITA/STCP staff at all times.
OTHERS
Participate in media interviews and appearances as appropriate and maintain and excellent public relations for IITA/STCP in-country.
Prepare documents and other publications such as results of studies, reports, letters, website text etc to ensure program visibility.
Attend relevant international, regional and national level conferences to promote IITA/STCP with the view to establishing strong partnerships.
PARTNERSHIPS DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Serve as a leader of the consortium of technical partners involved in the implementation of the Cocoa Livelihood Program (CLP).
Assist the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF)/Gates Program Director to coordinate country level activities.
Organise and host team meetings on a regular basis.
Serve as the focal point person for collecting data and other reporting information from the other team members and for the entire CLP implementation.
Assist the consortium of country team in their responsibility of coordinating the planning and implementation of activities and collection/reporting of data for M&E purposes.
Play a leadership role towards the formation and institutionalization of country level value chain platform for cocoa.
Assist in the implementation coordination of subcontracts arising from the CLP to IITA.
DUTY STATION: Yaoundé, Cameroon
QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE:
Minimum qualification of a master’s degree and will have studied agriculture, natural resource management, forestry or the social sciences. However, other study areas will be considered.
At least 15 years working experience in a managerial position preferably in the humid tropical zone in Africa and in multi-cultural environments.
The position demands strong leadership but the candidate must also be a team player. He/she therefore will need to demonstrate experience in leadership and/or management positions and possess excellent communication skills.
Networking, ability to interact with government agencies, NGOs, and private sector at senior country levels are essential requirements.
Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary organization would be advantageous. The position demands good oral and written communication skills and fluency in English and French languages.
GENERAL INFORMATION: Initial appointment is for three years. IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars. This is a regional position and is open to nationals and residents of Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria.
APPLICATIONS:Applications including curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three referees should be addressed to the Human Resources Manager. Please complete our online application form using this link: http://old.iita.org/cms/details/job_application.aspx
CLOSING DATE: September 17, 2010
IITA is an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from women candidates
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted
CLICK HERE TO APPLY
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment