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Regional Program Coordinator, East Africa Dairy Development Program
GENERAL INFORMATION:
TechnoServe, Inc
. is an international non-profit economic development organization founded in 1968. Its mission is to help entrepreneurial men and women in poor rural areas of the developing world to build businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, communities and countries.
The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) program aims to move smallholder women and men farmers out of poverty by improving their profit participation in the dairy value chain. This project is being implemented through a partnership of three established organizations –Heifer International (lead partner), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and TechnoServe – working in targeted districts in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. TechnoServe’s role is to increase market access for smallholder farmers and expand dairy markets, in particular to:
Organize smallholder dairy farmers to effectively bulk and market dairy products;
Ensure steady, cost effective supply of goods and services to farmers and farmer groups; and
Expand dairy markets.
I. PRIMARY PURPOSE:
Working closely with the EADD Regional Project Director and TechnoServe’s East Africa Regional Director, the TechnoServe Regional Dairy Manager will manage TechnoServe’s regional activities, with a particular focus on regional knowledge management and coordination of TechnoServe activities across the region. To do so, s/he will:
Representation: Establish and maintain strong working relationships with partners in the regional office, each of the three project countries and across the region
Analysis and Knowledge Development: Analyze regional market information, formulate recommendations to improve overall program performance, particularly with respect to doubling farmer incomes, and disseminate key findings
Project Management: Lead day to day regional project management activities, including budget management; tracking performance against project milestones and work plan development and monitoring
Facilitation: Coordinate TechnoServe project activities across the region
II. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Representation
Establish and maintain strong working relationships with Heifer International, ILRI and other EADD partners; participate in project planning meetings, contribute to problem-solving and work collaboratively
Liaise regularly between TechnoServe and other project partners to ensure smooth communications and coordinated activities
Coordinate TechnoServe input into all project review and regional meetings
Analysis and Knowledge Development
Finalize development and roll-out of the 5- and 10-year dairy market model. Ensure output and forecasted results are shared with, and understood by all relevant partners and stakeholders. Update markets periodically, and share results
Market information system established, based on dairy market model, that provides price, quality, quantity and timely information to farmers and other key stakeholders
Ensure that all country teams are abreast of project and industry developments across the region, are aware of their own performance against project milestones, sharing lessons-learned and benefiting from each other’s work
Assemble and update regional market information on a regular basis, analyze and synthesize, and disseminate
Coordinate various modeling exercises and ensure consistency in assumptions, collection and use of data, sharing of results and implications, etc.
Ensure that best practices from elsewhere are shared into the project and that new lessons learned are shared externally
Develop case studies of successes and/or failures and lessons learned
Project Management
Manage regional budget and monitor country budgets to ensure adherence to budget limitations
Produce consolidated financial and narrative reports for TechnoServe management, partners and donor, as required by the contract and requested on an ad hoc basis
Report internally and externally on progress and status of project activities
Support Senior Business Managers and Country Directors to identify strategies and tactics to achieve the project’s goals and milestones, as well as bottlenecks to effective execution of the project objectives; share and address both with the larger project team
Manage Regional Business Analyst and Regional Administrative Assistant, ensure production of high quality, timely outputs per the project milestones
Ensure timely production and sharing of collated project performance metrics
Regional Operations Coordination
Standard template for chilling plant business plans utilized consistently and updated as needed
Coordinate and oversee data collection from the field teams. Ensure data collection and analysis is completed each month, and shared with both the regional office and the field staff
Monitor and coordinate use of Basecamp website/document management service for the program
Overall coordination and quality monitoring of TechnoServe team’s input and work content
Ensure information is shared and flows transparently between TechnoServe teams in different countries and between TechnoServe and EADD partners
Ensure that lessons learned in one country are transferred to others
Manage all regional stakeholder relationships that require TNS lead
Create, disseminate and support country-level adaptation and use of standard templates and tools for key project deliverables including but not limited to: chilling plant business plans; hub feasibility studies and market assessments; country-level work plans and other management and quality assurance challenges
Work with country staff to identify TNS technical assistance needs at both regional and country levels
Impact
Partners and implementers informed of current conditions and new developments in the market through periodic dairy market reports for the region
Toolkits, best practices information and market resources readily available to all partners and implementers. Toolkits and other resources should support and strengthen TNS’s roles in the program (organization of smallholder dairy farmers, strong supply of goods and services and expanded dairy markets)
III. REQUIREMENTS:
Qualifications in business related studies and proven skills in project management
Strong analytical skills with proven ability to provide sound, fact-based recommendations
A minimum of four years professional experience
Strong interpersonal/people management skills, excellent oral and written communication skills
Ability to develop well written, cohesive analyses and reports
Track record of building strong client and partner relationships
Excellent English oral & written presentation skills
Strong private sector experience and entrepreneurial skills
Strong financial analysis and management skills
Willingness to travel domestically and internationally when necessary
REPORTS TO: Regional Project Director: East Africa Dairy Development Program, East Africa Regional Director: TechnoServe
POSITION LOCATION: Nairobi, Kenya
For details of how to apply, click here.
TechnoServe is an equal opportunity employer.
