Regional Technical Advisor (RTA) - Agriculture & Environment

Job Title: Regional Technical Advisor (RTA) - Agriculture & Environment
Department/Country: East Africa Regional Office (EARO)
Position Type: Full-Time
Job Location: Nairobi, Kenya   
Reports To: Deputy Regional Director (DRD), Program Quality 

About CRS:
Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Background:
The East Africa Region (EARO) is a large and complex region comprised of six country programs (Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia) and two outreach countries, Somalia and Djibouti managed from Nairobi.  CRS works predominantly in marginalized areas, characterized by arid and semi-arid lands, where agro-pastoralist communities reside.  CRS implements a variety of agricultural programs in the region, including crop production, agro-enterprise development, natural resource management as well as emergency response and early recovery activities.  Over the last 15 months, CRS has responded to the drought across the Horn of Africa, focusing on community managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CM-DRR) approaches for building household and community resilience.  New projects are focusing on scaling-up production of new crops, and linking farmers and crops to specific markets, such as a new soybean value chain project in Tanzania. But in recent years the CRS EARO agriculture programming has not kept pace with community need and CRS strengths.  CRS East Africa needs to expand its agriculture programming in the region, and must ensure that its programming is competitive, innovative and results- oriented.  CRS is working to better define its niche in agriculture, and integrated programming with nutrition, water and conflict mitigation are strong possibilities in this region.

Job Summary:
To provide strategic leadership and technical guidance and support in the area of agriculture, IWRM and natural resource management to CRS’ Country Programs in East Africa; to maintain and improve the program quality of such programs; and to help build CRS’ expertise and portfolio in the area of agriculture, with a focus on dry land farming systems, pastoralist systems and livestock management, water for productive uses, agro-enterprise development and resilience.   The position will assist EARO countries to develop high quality funding proposals; implement programming in line with CRS program quality standards; and promote learning and innovation.

Specific Responsibilities:
Project Implementation

• Develop strategies, tools and approaches to support and strengthen the implementation of innovative agriculture projects.
• Provide technical support to projects which support pastoralist livelihoods including livestock management, as well as other agriculture and environment projects.
• Promote and expand the implementation of agency priorities including, integrated seed systems, agro-enterprise development and the 5 skills set in EARO projects.
• Provide technical support to agriculture and emergency interventions including DRR; lead the EARO CM-DRR regional initiative.  The RTA will coordinate the regional CM-DRR initiatives which include multi sector approach such as WASH, PB and Health.
• Provide technical support on the development of disaster risk management and climate change adaption strategies and interventions.
• Support IWRM programming in collaboration with the RTA for WASH.
• Provide punctual and practical technical support to CRS EARO country programs
• Support project implementation by participating in start-up workshops, quarterly reviews and planning, mid-term assessments, transition planning and evaluation.
• Submit trip reports, describing activities undertaken, raising significant issues, and making recommendations. Provide remote support to country programs as a follow up to visits. 
• Make regular visits to ongoing projects to conduct a program review (PQ audit). Help troubleshoot, recommend changes as needed and identify areas of improvement and learning. 

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• In coordination with the S/RTA for M&E, provide guidance to country programs and partners in the design and/or enhancement of participatory M&E tools and protocols to strengthen data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Assist in the design and implementation of baseline, mid-term and final evaluations and ensure follow-up of findings/recommendations to improve program quality of programs.
• Ensure that relevant reports are disseminated within the Region and Agency.
• Promote learning and innovation in new projects and throughout the life of activity. Assist CPs to document learning at key points during the project life. Support meta-analyses, impact evaluation and strong monitoring in order to facilitate learning.
• Attend international conferences representing CSR and our work, and prepare abstracts, full papers, posters for conferences and assist country programs in preparing their abstracts, papers and posters.

Fundraising/Marketing/Growth

• Contribute to the design and technical approach for any agriculture proposals under development in the region to ensure adherence to best practices, incorporation of lessons learned and overall competitiveness. Participate in write up of large projects when invited by the country program
• Carry out a scan of the agriculture actors and institutions that CRS might compete or collaborate with: Identify emerging funding opportunities and assist country programs acquire them
• Liaise with regional and sub-regional agriculture research institutions (CIAT, IITA, ILRI) to stay updated on research findings and new practices, as well as to seek partnerships.
• Build working relationship with USAID offices in each country and with the REDSO in Nairobi, and explore relationships with other donors in the sector (DfID, FAO, EU).

Capacity Strengthening

• Create a CRS East Africa agriculture community of practice
• Facilitate understanding of the linkages between agriculture, nutrition and food security.
• Facilitate  understanding  on the convergence and divergence of development dynamic on climate change adaption and disaster risk reduction in the region
• Maintain an understanding of regional and international policy debates and processes on climate change and DRR.
• Work closely with the other sectors on the EARO PQ team to integrate programming areas
• Coordinate and facilitate annual regional agriculture meetings and other training opportunities for agriculture staff; explore capacity building options for staff and partners. Facilitate relevant sectoral workshops and trainings for country program and partner staff
• Assist country programs with the recruitment and orientation of agriculture field staff 

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Supervisory Responsibilities, Reporting and Collaboration: 

• Report to the Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality, EARO
•  Support from the CRS Principal Agriculture Advisor
• Member of the All Africa Agriculture Team
• Member of the EARO PQ Team: comprised of the EARO Technical advisors in M&E, Nutrition, WASH, SILC/MF and Peacebuilding.

Key Working Relationships:
Internal:  EARO Regional Director,  EARO Deputy Regional Director for PQ and MQ, the EARO PQ team, EARO Country Representatives and agriculture project managers; CRS/HQ Agriculture Technical Advisor; CRS agriculture technical advisors in other regions; CRS Senior technical advisors.. 
External: Host country government ministries, bilateral and multilateral organizations, non-governmental organizations, USAID, WFP, ICRISAT, CIAT, IIRR, IFPRI, and other agriculture partners, as appropriate.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s required.  PhD preferred in agronomy, crop/soil/animal science, natural resource management, agricultural economics or related field.  MA or MS required.
• Minimum of 5-7 years overseas experience in development and relief programs.  Thorough understanding of development issues and solid international agricultural research/development experience, strategic leadership and experience in integrated programming (agriculture and nutrition, WASH, conflict mitigation and microfinance).
• Knowledge of the agriculture and natural resource management policy environment in East Africa. Experience with Disaster Risk Reduction in the content of the Horn of Africa and its cyclical droughts, preferred.
• Experience in dry land farming systems, sustainable agriculture, agricultural marketing and monitoring & evaluation.  Knowledge and experience in pastoralist systems, livestock management, agro-pastoralist livelihoods, a plus.
• Experience with participatory methods and strong M&E skills with an emphasis on learning.
• Ability to coach, mentor and build the capacity of CRS staff and partnerships using a variety of interactive and static methods (community of practice, newsletters, webinars, meetings, workshops)
• Expertise in project design and proposal review. Knowledge of CRS PQ tools and standards, a plus.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to represent and market the strengths of CRS in East Africa to peer agencies and donors globally as needed. Demonstrated ability to work independently
• Willingness to travel 35-40% of the time within the East Africa region

Required Foreign Language:   None

Required Travel:
Position will be based in a CRS country program in East Africa.  The position will require extensive travel throughout East Africa, to Nairobi (if the position in not based in Nairobi) to meet donors and partners, to the US and Europe for CRS meetings and donor conferences etc.

Work Environment:
Normal working conditions at duty station.

Disclaimer Clause:
This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

EOE/M/F/D/V

NOTE:  This position is contingent upon approved donor funding.  July 2014 is the estimated start date. 

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