Apr 14, 2018
Vacancy Announcement by Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency
Manager, MoANR Delivery Unit
Term of Employment : Through July 2020
Duty Station(s) : Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Required Number: 1
Salary & Benefits : Competitive
Application Deadline : April 24,2018
JOB BACKGROUND:
The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) was established by the Government of Ethiopia with assistance from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify and address systemic bottlenecks in Ethiopia’s agricultural development. The ATA does this through planning, analysis, implementation support, and reporting on the interventions outlined in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda. The Transformation Agenda is a set of prioritized interventions to accelerate the transformation envisioned as part of Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan II. The ATA is accountable to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Secretary to the Agricultural Transformation Council chaired by the Prime Minister.
ATA has launched a Delivery Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) to directly support MoANR’s work on the Transformation Agenda. Specifically, the Delivery Unit supports owners of Transformation Agenda Deliverables (TADs) within MoANR, with planning, reporting, project management and technical and strategic analysis. Delivery Units have played a critical role in accelerating execution of development initiatives in many countries, particularly in East and Southeast Asia, and today are also present in Ethiopia’s Prime Minister’s office and the Revenue and Customs Authority. The Delivery Unit will be jointly overseen by the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources and ATA senior management. The Delivery Unit team plays a highly visible and pivotal role in accelerating agricultural transformation and development in Ethiopia.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Manager leads planning, problem solving and analysis within the Delivery Unit. The Manager will manage a team of two Senior Associates and work directly with Transformation Agenda Deliverable (TAD) owners within the MoANR to ensure meaningful planning and target setting, timely and accurate reporting, and rigorous and practical problem solving. In addition, the Manager will lead provision of analytical support to senior leadership on high priority requests, including trend analysis, strategic planning and/or policy analysis.
The Manager will report to the Head of the Delivery Unit, manage two Senior Associates, and work with the Senior Data & Reporting Officer, Program Assistant and a team of 18 technical experts (Transformation Agenda Specialists and Advisors). The Delivery Unit is part of the Strategic Services vertical at the ATA, which also includes the Performance Management (planning, reporting and evaluations), Communications, Project Management Office (from Q4) and Core Analytics (from Q4) teams. The successful candidate for this role will have strong analytical and critical thinking skills, experience influencing others in large organizations to simplify, focus and have urgency, and a passion for both results and capacity building. We are applying private sector style rigor to major social issues that can transform Ethiopian society.
JOB ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
Establish robust annual planning, target-setting and budgeting processes with TAD owners
Develop regular performance monitoring routines with senior leadership, initiative owners and relevant stakeholders
Support roll out of enhanced planning, project management and reporting tools, processes and systems to track and report on progress of priority activities
Strengthen execution and day-to-day project and activity management capacity of MoANR staff
Proactively identify and prioritize key issues and bottlenecks for TAD implementation, through discussions with implementing teams, reviewing reports and data analysis
Lead problem solving and solution development with the DU team, both for specific TADs and for high priority requests from MoANR ministers
Collaborate with technical/agricultural colleagues, Project Management team, Performance Management team (planning and evaluations), Analytics team, or outside consultants as needed to solve more complex issues
Manage two Senior Associates, supporting them with work planning and prioritization, clearing roadblocks, and skill building
Work with the Head of Delivery Unit to develop materials and provide capacity building support on planning, activity management / execution, reporting and problem-solving
Advise Senior Data & Reporting Officer on production of value added reports for decision-making through analysis and synthesis of data, and provision of recommendations
Support the Head of Delivery Unit to engage and align with the Planning Department at the MoANR
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in business, economics, engineering, statistics, agriculture or development. Master’s preferred.
At least 6 years of experience with a Master’s degree, or 8 years with a Bachelor’s degree, working in project management, strategy, business development, management consulting, project design or other relevant field, in the public or private sectors
Experience in both design/strategy and implementation/operations required
Excellent critical thinking and analytical skills, with experience applying these for both strategy and implementation/operations
Strong team player with excellent relationship management skills, and a passion for capacity building, training and facilitation
Experience navigating complex organizations with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
Passion for improving the lives of smallholder farmers
Self-starter with strong motivation, ownership and commitment to drive transformation
Can act as a champion for change and can effectively support change management efforts
Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service
Very strong skills with Microsoft Office (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access)
Fluency in English required, with Amharic a plus
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter, (ii) CV (maximum 5 pages), and (iii) a completed ATA Application Form at http://apply.ata.gov.et .
Please note that CVs, cover letter and other application materials WILL NOT be considered unless accompanied by a fully completed ATA Application Form. Also, please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application form.
Women are highly encouraged to apply.
Only short listed candidates will be contacted.
Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Full time