Background: The International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the position of Project
Coordinator, N2Africa.
IITA is an international non-profit agricultural
research-for-development (R4D) organization established in 1967, governed by a
Board of Trustees, and a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our R4D approach is
anchored on the development needs of tropical nations. We work with partners to
enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and
generate 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. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information
on IITA.
The Putting Nitrogen Fixation to Work for Smallholder
Farmers in Africa (http://www.n2africa.org)
Project is led by Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The project will
deploy state-of-the-art legume and rhizobial inoculant technologies to African
smallholder farmers to enhance inputs of free atmospheric nitrogen by
biological nitrogen fixation, thereby improving legume productivity, human
nutrition and farm income, while enhancing soil health. In its second phase,
the project will put a major emphasis on (i) institutionalizing N2Africa
technologies, approaches, and expertise and (ii) fostering sustainability of
the various components addressed by N2Africa, including seed, inoculant, and
fertilizer supply chains, access to profitable legume markets, and knowledge
transfer. The project will primarily work in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda,
and Ethiopia (with a limited range of activities in DR Congo, Rwanda, Kenya,
Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique).
The Project Coordinator has executing and
coordinating responsibilities for the project. This involves the coordination
of project activities (including oversight of finances and expenditure),
internal and external communication, management of partnerships, as well as
documentation and data management. For the execution of these task use is made
of support staff of the executing and implementing institutions. A project
management assistant and accountant will be appointed exclusively for the
project. For tasks related to communication and knowledge management a
consultant will assist.
The successful candidate will report to the R4D Director on
Natural Resource Management and the R4D Director for East Africa.
More specifically the project coordinator will:
- Facilitate
cooperation among project staff both in the ‘core team’ and the country
teams
- Build
collaboration among partners across the thematic areas and countries
- Establish
and operate a project management system
- Manage
partner contracts
- Oversee
the implementation of the development and research activities by partners
- Monitor
and evaluate progress towards project milestones
- Report
on progress to donor and stakeholders through the N2Africa leadership team
- Facilitate
internal and external communication
- Organize
meetings for coordination and planning
- Organizing
project events, including annual planning and review meetings and meetings
of the N2Africa Advisory Committee,
- Coordinate
organization of training workshops and scientific meetings
Educational Qualifications
The candidate should have a PhD in agronomy, soil fertility
management or a related field from a highly recognized university with at least
10 years post-PhD experience.
Core Competencies:
- Strong
experience in rural development and or agricultural research in Africa.
- Strong
knowledge and experience of African farming systems.
- Strong
skills in team building and creating synergies between project partners
and activities
- Demonstrated
ability to lead the writing and publication of technical documents in
relation to the project goals.
- Experience
with facilitating national and/or partnership platforms related to
agricultural intensification
- Proven
success in work relations with a wide range of partners, including
research institutes, governments, private sector, and other development
actors.
- Experience
with project activity implementation and monitoring.
- Excellent
spoken and written English (with French being an added advantage).
- Ability
to work independently in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and
multi-cultural environment.
Duty station: Nairobi, Kenya, but will involve
extensive travel to the various project countries.
General information: Initial appointment is for
two years. IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.
Applications: Applications which must include
covering letter, curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three referees should
be addressed to the Head, Human Resources Service. Please complete our online
application form using this link:http://www.iita.org/irs-online-application
Closing Date: 31 December 2013
IITA is an equal opportunity employer and particularly
welcomes applications from women candidates.
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be
contacted.
