JOB TITLE: Marketing / Co-operative Officer

REPORTS TO: Field project co-ordinator of SHARE II Bale

REPORTING TO POSTHOLDER: None

LOCATION: Bale

DURATION & HOURS: Until 30th April, 2024 with probation period of 60 work days

The overall responsibility of the position holder is to coordinate planning and execution of marketing related activities of the project – working closely with the agriculture and NRM experts. He/she will be specifically responsible in planning, execution of capacity building trainings, facilitate market linkages, organize farmers groups, support co-operatives with technical advice, and provide technical support to government counterparts.

He/she ensures that communities are engaged in improved high value crop and livestock production, processing and marketing. In coordination with the project coordinator, he/she will ensure good partnership with government stakeholders, community members, CBOs, consortium partners, CSOs, private sectors and other relevant partners in the operational areas of the SHARE II project.

Key areas of responsibilities are:

1.       Ensure timely project implementation at Woreda level

• Work with the project team and government counterparts to achieve the project outputs/outcomes at his/her specific cluster
• Ensure adequate consultation and participation of Woreda and village/community level stakeholders ensuring active participation of women
• Facilitate identification of training needs, prepare training materials, and deliver training, business plan development and other services to CBOs and unions
• Conduct other duties as may be assigned by the Project Field Coordinator

2.       Bring technical expertise to ensure high quality project delivery

• Support set up of new cooperatives and strengthen existing ones
• Support in identifying process in aggregation hubs of NTFPs and rangeland products to maximise marketing potential.
• Work with Cooperative Bureau in establishing support to cooperatives on registration, and licensing support
• Facilitate market linkage of crop and livestock producing and marketing groups to private sectors
• Support small business group development:

3.       Facilitate and coordinate community/institutional capacity building activities

• Provide technical support to Woreda level technical staff and government staff to support cooperative leaders/managers in building capacity technically and managerially by using OCAT tools
• Train cooperative managers/leaders in inventory for agricultural input issue, market linkage, loan management (disbursals and repayments), financial management, record keeping, legal requirements on registration and licensing.
• Organizes and coordinates capacity building trainings and workshop for beneficiaries, consortium partners, CBOs, private sectors on the improved agronomic and livestock practices and support.
• Facilitate development of Organizational and Managerial Capacity Assessment
• Organize periodical assessment of cooperatives organizational and managerial capacities using the developed OCAT tool
• Analyse the results of the assessment and prepare tailor made capacity building plans
• Ensure implementation of these capacity building plans in close collaboration with the relevant stakeholders

4.       Contribute to project management and reporting

• Participate in assessment, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes of the project activities with other woreda experts and project staff.
• Prepare and develop status reports as required by management.
• Ensure proper recording and documentation of best practices and success stories
• Ensure that the project implemented according to work-plan and BER framework.
• Monitor and document the project progress, lessons, good experience and impact with rural communities.

5.       Play an active role as a member of the Farm Africa Project team

• Identify and explore opportunities to improve project implementation and guarantee it’s sustainability
• Keep up to date with developments in the sector, including best practice examples in-country and internationally, to ensure ongoing organizational and personal development and learning;
• Identify and explore opportunities to grow and expand the country project pipeline, both in relation to the current project (e.g., potential scale-up opportunities, replication in other geographies/regions) or related to new project opportunities
• Pro-actively share information with other project and BER consortium partner staff members to support Farm Africa’s aims
• Participate in broader Farm Africa meetings with other project staff members, as requested by line manager.

6.       Additional roles and responsibilities

• Participate in monthly activity and budget plan session which is commonly facilitated by the field project coordination unit
• Provide a strong support to Farm Africa’s internal digital monitoring reporting sytem
• Responsible to implement a research project supported by David and Lucile Packaged Foundation
• Identify beneficiaries of a research project and provide all necessary capacity building elements in consultation with a research officer
• Facilitate integration and complementarity between SHARE II and research projects

These essential functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties performed. Employees will be required to perform other job-related duties as required. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals and/or targets established.

Our Values

Investing in smallholder farming is the number one way to combat poverty in rural Africa. Farm Africa is a leading NGO specialising in growing agriculture, protecting the environment and developing businesses in rural Africa.

EXPERT: Expertise and insightful evidence-based solutions are at the heart of everything Farm Africa does.

GROUNDED: Our teams and partners work closely with local communities, engaging them in every level of decision-making.

IMPACTFUL: We deliver long lasting change for farmers, their families, and the environments they live in.

BOLD: We model innovative approaches and are not afraid to challenge strategies that are failing.