• Vacancy Announcement
• ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTE
• Position:     Senior Project Officer II – Youth Entrepreneurship Development
• Term of Employment:              One year with a possibility of extension
• Duty Station:                            Somali, based in Jigjiga  
• Required Number:                   One
• Application Deadline:              January 12, 2025

BACKGROUND

The Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) was established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify systemic bottlenecks, conduct studies, and provide recommendations, provide implementation support, manage projects, create linkages and coordination among activities and agricultural development programs. The Institute is a strategy and delivery-oriented government institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions that, to be the leading centre of innovative solutions to catalyse and contribute to the transformation of Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030 where smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability.

ATI provides a unique platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector. We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training. We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our teams with the tools, training, and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

The programmatic focus of the Institute responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and other sectors along commodity value chains. Across the programs, the ATI engages public, private, and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models. Currently, ATI is tasked to coordinate the revised Agriculture and Rural Development policy agendas of the sector and such sectoral level delegation requires high level expertise in the policy areas and skillsets in coordination and networking with multiple stakeholders.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated, and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great teamwork to achieve excellent results. At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector. We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training. We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training, and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) has designed a program called “Agriculture-focused Dignified Employment for Youth in Ethiopia” (ADEY) to address youth and women unemployment and increase the participation of young people in the labor market, particularly in the agriculture sector. ATI has mainstreamed youth employment, gender equality, climate-smart, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture in all its programs and projects with the primary objectives of increasing access to sustainable and inclusive job opportunities for youth, inclusivity, and the sustainable use of natural resources while building resilience capacities to shocks at all levels.

ATI, among others, currently works with more than 3 million smallholder farmers (540,300 are women and youth) engaged in the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) and digital agriculture programs designed to improve production and productivity while supporting other actors along the value chain. Taking ATI’s reputable experiences, the ADEY program is designed to create inclusive and dignified work opportunities for over six hundred thousand youth. Livestock is one of the major pillars of ACC initiatives identified for the ADEY program based on its potential and job creation opportunities. The major intervention areas of the ADEY program are: enhance skills and mindsets of young women and men through technical and business skill development; increase access to agricultural inputs for production and marketing enterprises; introduce youth-friendly and cost-effective agricultural production practices and technologies; establish young people owned micro, small and medium agro-processing and value addition enterprises; increased access to inclusive financial products tailored to the needs of young people; enhance access to market tailored to the needs and capacities of young people and create an enabling environment for work opportunities through policy interventions.

The Youth Entrepreneurship Officer- SPO II is responsible for the overall planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting of dignified job creation along agricultural value chains. He/she will provide day-to-day management and technical support to youth entrepreneurs and local partners to ensure effective implementation of the project and other duties as listed below. The Youth Entrepreneurship Officer- SPO II will report to the regional ADEY Program manager and closely work with the program team across value chains and with ACC team members at federal and regional levels.

The Senior Project Officer will directly report to the Regional ADEY Program Manager with Matrix reporting to the ADEY program Deputy Director at the Head Office. The SPO II will closely work and collaborate with Regional Bureaus of Agriculture, the Bureau of Labor and Skills, Cooperative Promotion Agencies, and partners implementing the ADEY program in the region based on the direction given by the regional project manager.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES

Duties and responsibilities for the regional SPO II include, but are not limited to the following activities:

• Analyse and identify social and cultural barriers, and mindset and behavioural problems affecting youth employment in agriculture.
• Design and coordinate implementation of context-based awareness creation and training activities for youth mindset and behaviour change, and promotion of employment along agricultural value chains.
• Analyse and strategize interventions that can positively transform social norms, especially in Favor of young women, persons with disabilities, and internally displaced youths’ employment in agriculture.
• Lead establishment and implementation of platforms for youth mindset and behavioral change, and skill training.
• Develop and implement coaching and mentorship plans to sustain dignified and fulfilling jobs.
• Provide mentorship and support to entrepreneurs, helping them develop their business ideas, navigate challenges, and access resources
• Collaborate and coordinate with partners to ensure alignment of the program interventions with the National Employment Policy and Strategy (NEPS), and synergies for enhanced impacts and sustainability.
• Monitor progress and provide feedback for continuous learning and programming.
• Lead quality data collection and preparation of reports for the thematic intervention.
• Establish relationships with implementing partners, government offices, and youth enterprises in implementing mindset and behavior change activities and sharing best practices.
• Develop an annual work plan for youth mindset and behavior change interventions, and skill-based training in collaboration with other ATI and program staff.
• Identify and engage relevant training institutions to provide mindset and behavior change, and skill-based training to targeted youths and follow up on its implementation.
• In collaboration with other teams, organize and facilitate learning events, and agricultural value chain alliance meetings, and document and share lessons learned.
• Develop appropriate database and data collection tools in consultation with MEAL advisor and other teams, and ensure quality data collection and analysis.
• Monitor implementation progress and evaluate the performance of youth mindset and behavior change interventions across project regions and provide recommendations for continuous learning and programming.
• Compile progress and performance reports and share with the project team periodically (weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually).
• Closely follow up with implementing partners (sub-grants) for the proper implementation of technical and financial matters.
• Develop strategies or approaches for outreach and advocacy of youth mindset and behavior change, and social behavioral change at large.
• Organize and facilitate stakeholder meetings, workshops, and related activities and produce learning materials as needed to expand the outreach and advocacy.
• Implement other activities as required by the supervisors.