About Ethio-Dutch Program for Horticulture Development (EDPHD)

Ethio-Dutch Program for Horticulture Development (EDPHD) is designed to ensure the competitiveness of Ethiopia as producer and Exporter of fresh produce. The Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) is the implementer of the program with the financial support from the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands Embassy. The project has been designed based on priorities set in the Growth and Transformation Plan I and II and the experiences and the lessons learned from previous projects.

In addition to attracting investment in to the horticulture sector, the program also emphasizes promoting environmental friendly production systems like Integrated Pest Management (IPM) parallel to increasing the volume of production and exports.  It also includes supporting emerging entrepreneurs in vegetable, fruit and herb businesses in addition to the large scale flowers production and export.

Role Purpose:

The program manager will provide overall technical, managerial and coordination support to the project teams implementing the Ethio-Dutch Program for Horticulture Development (EDPHD) components i.e Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Capacity Building and Human Resource, Finance and Logistics components. Key functions of the role will include technical joint planning of the intervention, monitoring of the intervention, consolidation of the donor reports and budget management. The program manager is also expected to promote and disseminate best practice, documenting achievements and lessons learned from projects to commercial farms, research centers and other pertinent stakeholders of the Ethiopian Horticulture industry. The Program manager is also expected to be conversant in agri- business programming with focus to investment promotion, capacity building, and marketing and compliance issues. The role holder will closely work with project managers, technical teams, commercial farms, and the Executive Director as well.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Institutional relations: He/she manages relations with the main institutional donors and with potential ones. He/she represents EDPHD/EHPEA by engaging in relations with commercial farms, institutions, NGOs, local and international organizations and partners.
• Strategy and planning: He/she verifies and proposes to the Executive Director the intervention priorities with clear implementation strategies and also with proper planning of project timelines.
• Projects’ management: He/she coordinates and directly monitors projects, guaranteeing the correct implementation in conformity with the contractual obligations and donors’ procedures, and in line with EHPEA’s procedures and management standards. He/she coordinates the elaboration, writing and documents’ preparation for presenting new projects. He/she is responsible for the preparation of project reports and all the monitoring documents requested by the management. He/she ensures the transmission of all official and administrative project documents to the EHPEA.
• Program office management: He/she is responsible for all different aspects related to the program management:  financial situation, local regulations, program organization charts, logistics, and personnel management, in conformity with EHPEA’s organization’s guidelines.
• Staff management: He/she is responsible for the staff management of the projects. He/she coordinates and monitors the program’s local and expatriate staff management.
• Financial management: He/she is responsible for the program’s economic result. He/she supervises the financial management and ensures – through the administrative function – that all financial reporting deadlines and donor/EHPEA’s procedures are respected. He/she participates to the projects/coordination budget preparation.
• Visibility: He/she cooperates with the Promotion and Information Service head for all communication, awareness and fund raising activities in a proactive manner.

Contract Duration: 36 Months

Location: Addis Ababa with frequent travel locally and Internationally,

Essential:

• MA/MSC in a relevant field, such as Management, Agri-business, Horticulture, Sustainability, Social Sciences, or Development Studies,
• Program management experience in development program context with relevant qualification in management or related field. At least 7 years’ experience in similar role with substantial relevant experience in agri-business program management
• Ability to support and build capacity of staff through performance management.
• Excellent skills in planning, monitoring and report preparation activities.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and local languages.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively to the field
• Experience in grant management and proposal writing is preferred.
• Excellent computer skills: MS Word, Excel, Power point, Epi-Info/SPSS, Outlook and the internet.
• Ability to multitask, work under pressure, and adaptability to multi-culture context.