Project Officer –Agriculture & Livelihoods

Background:

The Agriculture and livelihood Officer will implement and supervise the activities in Salaheddin governorate/ Tuz and Amirli districts and the targeted villages.

1. Role and responsibilities

The purpose of the officer position is to undertake day to day activities of NRC’s “Activating Markets and Agricultural Livelihoods” project (AMAL) relating to agricultural plant-based value chains (incl. horticulture) and trainings in Kirkuk and Salahadin governorates.

Generic responsibilities

1. Ensure adherence with NRC policies, tools, handbooks and guidelines
2. Implement delegated Livelihoods project portfolio related to agricultural / horticulture plant-based value chains according to work plans
3. Prepare and develop status reports as required by management
4. Ensure proper filing of documents
5. Ensure that projects target beneficiaries most in need, and explore and asses new and better ways to assist
6. Promote and share ideas for technical improvement
7. Support with referrals to other NRC sectors or through external referral mechanisms

Specific responsibilities

• Initiate, promote and establish/strengthen linkages between key actors in the value chains targeted by the AMAL-project, such as Input Suppliers / Service Providers, producers / farmer organizations, processors and traders.
• Facilitate and oversee technology transfer from teaching / research institutions to farmers through different initiatives such as farmer field schools – while considering and following the seasonal calendar.
• Provide technical guidance and backstopping to all actors involved with AMAL’s identified plant-based value chain development activities (incl. horticulture).
• Take a lead in collection, analysis, storage and dissemination of value chain data such as for input supply, production, processing and trade.
• Assess training needs for project beneficiaries in all areas of targeted agriculture / horticulture value chains development such as agro-business development, agricultural livelihoods and quality management through regular consultations with relevant institutions and stakeholders.
• Organize Field Days / exposure visits and collaborate with district based government staff to ensure that there is effective delivery of extension services.
• Carries out vulnerability assessments and mapping as well as market assessments and give necessary recommendations to the Project Coordinator.
• Take the lead in community mobilization and targeting and monitor movement and distribution of in-kind assistance and grants maintaining a complete paper trail for all registrations, verifications and distributions for all agriculture and training related activities.
• Conduct regular field visits to project sites and update the project coordinator with the progress of project activities in the field.
• Establish strong working relationship with targeted communities, (including local leaders and identification of local focal points), relevant government departments as well as other agricultural actors in the operational areas.
• Implement NRC Community Engagement Approach.
• Conduct Focus Group Discussions, household surveys, and Key Informant Interviews, with assistants and enumerators
• Any other tasks required by the line manager

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Activating Markets and Agricultural Livelihoods staff in country office and other locations.
• Other Core Competencies namely ICLA, Education, WASH, and Shelter for programme integration and referrals.
• Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) department
• Security and Access
• Logistics
• Finance

Scale and scope of position

Staff: n/a

Stakeholders: Key external stakeholders – the post has relationships with INGOs staff, local NGOs staff, civil society, Government departments, local business people and local community leaders

Budgets: n/a

Information: Use of Kobo and CTO data collection platform

Legal or compliance: Must adhere to NRC internal and donor compliance requirements. Including Code of Conduct

1. Competencies

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

1. Professional competencies

Generic professional competencies:

• Experience from working as a Project Officer in a humanitarian/recovery / development context, related to agricultural livelihoods.
• University degree or higher education relevant to the assignment (Agronomy). Proven work experience might be considered as a substitute for formal education.
• Previous experience from working in complex and volatile contexts
• Demonstrated results implementing and tracking field-based activities
• Experience conducting project inceptions with communities
• Experience conducting beneficiary identification, verification and registration
• Experience supporting referrals and/or identifying service providers

Context/ Specific skills, knowledge and experience:

• Sound technical knowledge in the fields of 1. agriculture / farming / horticulture, 2. business economics / business development and 3. developing and overseeing trainings
• Strong communication, interpersonal, analytical and negotiation skills.
• Overall good knowledge of geography, local population and local language in the areas of operational interests.
• Ability to show leadership in a multi-cultural team.
• Fluency in Arabic both spoken and writing and medium-level fluency in English.
• Competencies in all computer related tasks including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Good understanding of community participation, and very good ability to communicate with beneficiaries.
• Ability to manage (sometimes) high workloads for a limited time and meet deadlines.

2. Behavioural competencies

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies, and the following are essential for this position:

• Planning and delivering results
• Empowering and building trust
• Communicating with impact and respect
• Handling insecure environment

1. Performance Management

The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the NRC Performance Management Manual. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The Job Description.
• The career and performance.
• The End-term Performance Review Template.
• The NRC Competency Framework.