Project Officer- Access to Finance/ Value Chain Development

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Description

Responsible for the implementation and coordination of value chain development and value chain finance activities precisely in Coffee, tea and horticulture value chains.

Spends 90% of time implementation responsibility for one project in Rwanda (tbd) and 10% of time on acquisition and business development for Rwanda in collaboration with other business developers in the cluster and in ICCO/Cordaid.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Project planning: Translates the Cordaid project results into specific results in designated project areas and formulates an operational project plan within a country/region. Remains within budget propositions and infrastructural possibilities.

 Project management: Assist program/project managers with respect to risks, stakeholders’ issues and the project team. Support in Agrees with all contributors to project success deliverables, with a large amount of intercultural sensitivity. Understands partners and matches desired results and contextual factors. Stimulates progress and makes necessary adjustments to realize the project within given boundary conditions: scope, time, budget and quality

Financial management: Assist program/project managers in managing the project budget ensuring expenditures are in line with what has been planned for. Reports regularly on budget realization and acts proactively to comply with the budget

Field & Partner visits: Support program teams to monitor project achievements, conduct field visits with partners, review field reports, analyze field data and formulate conclusions, discussion points and recommendations for all stakeholders

Fund mobilization/BS develop: Contribute and support to the development and writing of successful funding proposals. Interacts with (potential) local/institutional donors, convincingly argument the added value of Cordaid as to acquire funds and ensure the future funding for the programme(s) in Rwanda. This includes increasing revenues, growth in terms of business expansion, increasing profitability by building strategic partnerships and making strategic business decisions

 Bid management: Support bid manager on calls for proposals and tenders related to the assigned specific donor portfolio. Support negotiations for specific assigned bids, especially Value chain development. The bid team provides donor specific advice on rules, regulations, and policy. Uses donor contacts to ensure the winning outcome of calls and proposals. Oversees (parts of) the role division, planning and communication with donors and a consortium in order to achieve a positive outcome for Cordaid

 Supported partners: Support program/project managers to Identify the need for support with partner organizations and translate this into (customized) forms of support, taking into account (large differences in) the background and circumstances of (individuals in) partner organizations.

Network representation/ Communication: Support to Identify and establish contacts with organizations and explore representation for potential areas for collaboration, taking into account the mission statement of Cordaid and the possibilities within existing projects. Ensure the communication to both internal and external partners.

Project reports: Collects information within the project and reports about the results, specifics, budget and expenditures and possible deviations following required reporting standards, providing solutions to minimize impact of deviations

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MERL): Work closely with the monitoring evaluation team to identify project learning opportunities, research and publications and implementation of MEL policy. Facilitates the dissemination of promising practices and lessons learned. In collaboration with the MERL team, Ensure integration of innovations and best practices

Integrity: Adheres to the code of conduct and integrity policies, reports concern and follows regular integrity training. This is a medium-risk position, with direct contact with vulnerable communities and regular travels.

 Other: Any other duties assigned by the supervisor/manager

Requirements

Knowledge, Skills, and Experiences

• University degree in rural development, agribusiness, agriculture economics, business administration or other related   subject with good academic results
• 3 years of experience working in supporting Producer Organizations (POs) in value chain development and experience of 3 years in access to finance
• Experience working and managing different organization partners,
• Experience of access to finance/ agribusiness / market linkages / value chain development
• Experience with rural areas and understanding of the ability and constraints of rural smallholder farmers
• Good understanding of agribusiness in Rwanda
• Knowledge of the project field of expertise for example agriculture/health/economy or other relevant subject on an academic level and able to provide technical solutions
• Social skills to agree on deliverables, ensure progress with staff and to support partners
• Behavioral values and skills: trust, accountability, problem solving, cooperation, teambuilding, negotiation, conflict management, collaboration, flexibility, creativity
• Writing skills to clearly formulate project proposals, project plan and project reports
• Knowledge of the legal framework that governs Cordaid’s operations, as required by local and national government and by major donors (EU, UN, US, Bilateral Donors)
• Knowledge of the mission statement and goals of the Cordaid project and the security policy

• Core Competencies

• Quality orientation
• Organizational awareness including planning
• Negotiation skills
• Dealing with details
• Problem analysis
• Conceptual thinking
• Social awareness
• Intercultural orientation
• Managing conflict

• Key Result Area:

  Access to finance:

• Capacity Building
• Financial education
• Product Development
• Digitalization
• Linkage of Financial Institutions
• Communication

• Value Chain Development

• Develop non-financial services
• Planning, implementation and monitoring of value chain activities
• Linkage of value chain actors
• Partner Selection
• Capacity building 
• Communication

Others/Extra Details

Cordaid is fully committed to provide a safe and welcoming workplace to its employees, and to maintain respect and dignity of everyone that comes into contact with Cordaid. Therefore, Cordaid participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. For more information about Cordaid’s work on integrity https://www.cordaid.org/en/who-we-are/integrity-and-code-of-conduct/. 

Applications including a motivation letter and extensive CV in English, should be submitted online;https://cordaid.hrmagic.co/careers/job?id=OTc5 by 15th July 2024.