Position: Program Advisor – Good Food for Cities

Rikolto in East Africa is part of the Rikolto network, an international NGO with more than 40 years of experience working with farmer organisations and food chain actors in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Rikolto’s mission is to contribute to the development of a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive agricultural sector with family farmers supplying quality products for their own consumption and for various markets (national, regional and international). In its programme in Tanzania, Rikolto is currently implementing a food systems programme in 8 regions of the Northern and Southern Highlands of Tanzania, mainly through 3 programmes focusing on transforming urban food systems (Good Food for Cities), sustainable rice for all and livelihoods through cocoa/coffee program.

Rikolto in Tanzania has secured funding from the Belgian Directorate for Development Cooperation (DGD) to implement the 2022-2026 strategy for the Good Food for Cities (GF4C) programme. The programme aims to contribute to sustainable incomes for farmers and access to healthy and nutritious food for all categories of consumers in Mbeya City. This program is co-funded by several projects such as ‘Building Inclusive and Competitive Horticulture Businesses in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands’, Norad funded through AGRA namely Grow Together, Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) etc. Therefore, the successful candidate will be expected to liaise with the managers of these projects and the overall coordinator of projects in the Southern Highlands to ensure alignment and synergies.

Job purpose

To promote the inclusion of smallholder farmers in sustainable and fair-trading relationships with private companies in national, regional and export markets, and access to healthy and nutritious food for all, by catalyzing collective action to address food system challenges.

Reports to: Good Food for Cities Director

Geographic scope: Country Regional Level

Rikolto Grade: -9-DPM-Z1: Program advisor

Duty Station: Mbeya

Responsibilities

• A favorable environment for urban food systems is promoted.
• In collaboration with the program team, encourage financial institutions to stimulate investment in SMEs in the food sector.
• Monitor and document the processes of change/innovation in business models, changes in behavior at the level of the enterprises involved, and the results of these in terms of improving the livelihoods of smallholders, young entrepreneurs and drawing lessons from them.
• Facilitate exchanges of experience at all levels.
• Reporting, advocacy and documentation of program evidence.
• An Inclusive for Food Systems:
• Facilitate multi stakeholder engagement in Mbeya city to address food system challenges to ensure access to healthy and nutritious food by all categories of consumers.
• Facilitate the process of creating sustainable market links between
• Farmer Business Organizations (FBO) and potential urban buyers.
• Develop innovative local food distribution models.
  Participate in the implementation of the “Generation-Food and Food business accelerations” model for the inclusion of young people in modern city food systems.
• Participate in the design and implementation of the incubation and acceleration program for young entrepreneurs in innovative city food systems.
• Support partners in the development of projects incubated and run by young people and women entrepreneurs in sustainable food.
• Co-design and implement models and physical spaces for food distribution (e.g. youth economic interest groups).
• Design, test and validate changes/innovations in related business models
• Program Management, Partnership, Learning, Planning and Budgeting, Networking and Fundraising.
• Monitor the knowledge management process within the program and multi-stakeholder dynamics to build on evidence of impact.
• Participate actively in the learning and experience-sharing initiatives of relevant continental networks,
  Plan, monitor, manage and defend the program’s budget and forecasts.
• Ensure local and regional networking and fundraising (facilitate donor information, establish and maintain relationships, write proposals) for greater impact.
• Operationalize fundraising opportunities for the program in line with overall program strategy.
• Report and ensure that program reports are delivered on time with maximum quality.
• Other tasks requested by the line manager

Expected Outputs

• Innovative pilots that contribute to the desired planned structural changes and business models
• Strong business linkages between FBOs and private companies
• Strong entrepreneurial attitude, skills and capacities of FBOs
• High quality analysis of trends and opportunities in relation to the business environment
• Strong network and coordination with partners and key stakeholders
• Significant and sustainable benefits for farmers working in the pilots
• Effective learning processes which lead to improvements in programme design
• Effective multi-stakeholder platforms which strengthen smallholder farmer voice
• Meticulous documentation and translation of the outcomes of the pilots

Education and Experience

• Masters’s Degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Economics, Business or Cooperative development.
• At least 5 years in Horticulture or high value crops value chain development, working with a variety of stakeholders.

Knowledge and Skills

• Strategic thinker who is able to see problems from different angles
• Results orientated
• Communicates clearly in a variety of settings and styles and has good networking skills
• In-depth understanding of value chains development approaches including gender empowerment approaches
• Knowledge and good understanding of food safety standards, certifications and quality management systems
• In-depth understanding and development of sustainable non-financial (BDS development) and financial services including market information systems
• Vast experience working with FBOs and facilitation of collective action (including marketing where necessary)
• Proven track record of developing FBO or SME business models and business plans.
• Good understanding of sustainability/environment issues and is ability to interpret the information to stakeholders
• Understands national, regional and global market dynamics of high value crops and grains
• Good computer operation Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Good proficiency in English (speaking and writing)
• Licensed and able to drive a manual car