POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

FIELD PROJECTS MANAGER

IITA-TZ2022-R4D-001 -NRS- MOROGORO

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Please visit https://www.iita.org/for more information on IITA.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has won a competitive two-year grant from IFAD- South-South Cooperation (SSTC) Facility to implement a project on supporting the recovery of priority food crop value chains from the effects of COVID 19 to strengthen community resilience, markets, and trade development in Tanzania. The project will operate in the Central Corridor and part of the Lake Zone and will provide technical input and support to the IFAD-funded Agriculture and Fisheries Development Programme (AFDP). The two-year grant will be implemented in collaboration with the Alliance Bioversity International -CIAT (ABC) and other partners in target regions along the Central Corridor and part of the Lake Zone.

The second project is BASICSII which is a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates with a vision of developing and commercializing the cassava seed supply chain–from pre-basic seed of officially released varieties to the farmers through a network of government-certified commercial cassava seed entrepreneurs located throughout the primary cassava growing regions of Tanzania. The project has been operating in Nigeria since 2020 and has been extended to Tanzania from 2022 up to 2025.

IITA is seeking to recruit a qualified person to fill the vacancy of the Field Projects Manager for the IITA-led IFAD-SSTC and BASICII projects areas respectively. The position will be for a period of two years renewable subject to availability of funds, a successful probation period and high performance throughout the implementation of the project.

Duty Station: This is a Nationally Recruited Position, and the incumbent will be based in Morogoro, Tanzania.

Responsibilities:

Provide overall leadership and coordination of projects teams to ensure that project targets are achieved within the set timelines and corresponding budgets.
Develop elaborate work plans for all actions and activities of the projects including preparation of planning, implementation, reporting, monitoring, and evaluation studies.
For the IFAD-SSTC project, create efficient mechanisms for synergies and extensive sharing of knowledge between the project and the IFAD-funded Agriculture and Fisheries Development Programme (AFDP)
Managing successful relationships with the government, donor agencies, the business community, related donor-funded projects, and other stakeholders as required.
Prepare the periodic financial and technical reports which include- quarterly, semi-annual, and annual reports.
Establish and strengthen productive partnerships with public (district) and private sector partners to facilitate learning and knowledge sharing.
Organize coordination-planning and review meetings with the project implementing partners
Work closely with the MEL officer to develop a performance management plan for the projects and monitor the implementation processes to track milestones.
Ensuring daily management of the projects and assuming full accountability of projects results
Responsible for day-to-day operational coordination of partner activities,
Contribute to publication of action research results and success stories.
Ensuring effective and efficient management of project’s compliance with planning, monitoring, evaluation, performance, and reporting
Work closely with the projects Finance Administrator to ensure monitoring and strict budgetary adherence
Work closely with the projects Finance Administrator to review and ensure timely submission of regular financial reports
Perform other activities as may be assigned by supervisor.
Qualification and Experience

The candidate should have a master’s degree relevant to general agriculture, agribusiness, and seed systems or its equivalent from a recognized university with experience in agricultural technology transfer, marketing, and management of partnerships.

A minimum of five years of senior level field experience in cassava productivity and seed business system Core Competencies:

Experience of at least 5 years as a project manager/ coordinator of large-scale agricultural development projects, in East Africa and Tanzania in particular.
Having experience and goo d understanding of production, markets, sustainable seed systems development, marketing challenges and opportunities in Tanzania
Demonstrated ability to integrate gender, youth, and private sector engagement issues into development projects
Ability to work collegially and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural environment.
Demonstrated communication, networking, computer, and organizational skills and ability to prepare high quality reports.
Proven experience with engaging with public and private sector stakeholders
Experience in marketing and business development skills is an added advantage
Demonstrated ability in stakeholder and partner engagement and policy dialogue with emphasis to district engagement.
Excellent leadership, interpersonal and team building skills.
Excellent writing skills.
Excellent resource mobilization skills
General information:

The initial contract for the position is for two years: renewable subject to performance and availability of funds. The duty station for the position will be IITA in Morogoro. This is a nationally recruited position and IITA offers a competitive remuneration package.