Vacancy: Technical Specialist (Agribusiness) at UNDP

Location:                                          Abuja, Nigeria

Application Deadline:                  10th Sept 2012

Type of Contract:                          FTA International

Post Level:                                      P-4

Languages Required:                   English

Duration of Initial Contract:     Initial Period of One Year

BACKGROUND

The Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA), unveiled by the Honourable Minister for Agriculture presented opportunities for the provision of technical assistance and other support to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) for the scale up of positive inclusive markets experience in Nigeria. The ATA is aimed at establishing a sustainable agriculture and agribusiness in Nigeria to raise the income of rural farmers. UNDP through its project, Facility for Inclusive Markets (FIM) has offered to support the Government of Nigeria (GoN) in key demand areas that include developing and implementing key value chains in agriculture and agro-industry and enhancing inclusiveness. FIM will also work towards its goal of catalysing the scale up of positive Inclusive Market experience in Nigeria and as a platform for capturing knowledge in and out of Nigeria.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is providing, through UNDP, long term technical assistance to the Agricultural Transformation Implementation Group (ATIG) as the organ established by the FMARD to implement the Agricultural Transformation Agenda. This support will compliment the UNDP-FIM project and ensure the successful delivery of the goals of the ATA. This project will provide critical technical expertise to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to successfully implement the ATA. The UNDP-BMGF technical assistance to FMARD will support term technical assistance for capacity development and the expansion of value chains in agriculture and agro-industry, institutional policy support and direct intervention to farmers and other small holder value chain actors that are vital to ensuring inclusiveness and sustainable results in the creation of business opportunities and jobs at the grassroots.

The implementation of the agricultural transformation action plan requires very close supervision and execution at the state and local government levels, working closely with the private sector. To ensure effective execution, active participation of the states, and monitoring and evaluation of the action plan, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have now been decentralized to regional and state levels. A key component of the transformation of agriculture at the state level is the development of agriculture as a business, with special focus on young entrepreneurial commercial farmers, private sector investments, and development of agri-businesses (seeds, fertilizers, machinery, storage and logistics, food manufacturing etc.).

The successful development of agri-businesses within the staple crop processing zones at the state and regional levels will ensure reduction of post-harvest losses, backward integration to use surplus production of agricultural produce, assure markets for farmers and ensure the emergence of more competitive food systems that can produce and deliver food at competitive costs. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture will work with the state governments to attract foreign direct investments and local investments into the staple crop processing zones.

The government is treating agriculture as a business to help diversify the economy away from oil, create jobs, secure food supply and expand foreign exchange earnings through a market-led agricultural transformation that will impact on the lives of millions of smallholder farmers. This requires sharp focus on development and expansion of agri-businesses.
This post is Development Project Funded (DPF).

Duties and Responsibilities

The Technical Specialist on  agribusiness will report directly to the Deputy Country Director Programme and will have the following responsibilities:

• Develop a Public-Private Partnership framework for developing agri-business investments to promote the agricultural value chains with priority at the state levels, including appropriate modalities for concessions with the private sector.
• Develop a comprehensive database of all existing agri-businesses in Nigeria, their locations, production levels, capital base and their work with farmers.
• Identify gaps with respect to agro-processors with practical time-bound plans for establishing them.
• Develop an agricultural investment code that will support and attract private investors into agriculture in Nigeria, working closely with the Ministry of Trade and Investment and Ministry of Finance, respectively, as well as the Nigerian Investment Promotion Authority and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.
• Organize agricultural investment forums for the states to attract private sector investments to promote agricultural businesses and market development to support accelerated agribusiness development that helps diversify incomes, create jobs and diversify the economies of the state governments.
• Develop and implement a clear strategy for attracting agri-business investments into the staple crop processing zones and ensure that adequate level of private investments are in place to drive the establishment of food processing facilities across the staple crop processing zones for relevant value chains.

Work closely with the Regional Directors on all agri-business and investment opportunities to support accelerated investments by the private sector in agricultural value chains.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

•   Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
•   Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP.
•   Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
•   Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge Management and Learning.
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example.
• In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues.
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
• Ability to lead formulation and monitoring of management projects.
• Solid knowledge in financial resources and human resources management, contract, asset and procurement, information and communication technology, general administration.
• Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change.

Management and Leadership

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Ability to lead effectively,  mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.

Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:  

• Minimum Master’s degree in Agriculture, Marketing, Business Administration, Agric Enterprise, Food Security or related field is required.

Experience:

• 7 years in a senior management position in agricultural or related sector in Nigeria  with a government, international or private sector agency.
• Remarkable track record in developing and executing strategies plans and initiatives on agriculture development/transformation with particular emphasis on agribusiness, agro-processing enhancement and food security. that creates employment for young people and income.
• Demonstrated track record in building, leading and managing high-performing organizations and teams.
• Exceptional experience in communicating consistently, clearly and effectively with a broad range of stakeholders.

Deep knowledge of Nigeria and the ability to navigate the Nigerian system to achieve results.

Language requirements:    

• Fluency in English is essential. Fluency in one national language is desired.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Visit  https://jobs.undp.org/cj_apply.cfm?cur_job_id=32258 to Apply