Ministry Of Agriculture, Animal Industry And Fisheries
National Oil Palm Project (NOPP)
Employment Opportunities

Project Overview
The Government of Uganda (GoU) has received a loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) towards financing a ten-year National Oil Palm Project (NOPP). The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) as the Lead Project Agency, in partnership with other agencies, private sector and farmer Organisations.

Project Objectives and Outcomes of National Oil Palm Project (NOPP).
The overall goal of the NOPP is inclusive rural transformation through oil palm investment. The development objective is to sustainably increase rural incomes through opportunities generated by the establishment of an efficient oil palm industry that complies with modern environmental and social standards. This will be realized through three outcomes: 1) sustainable supply chains for oil palm growers established; 2) household livelihoods diversified and resilience increased; and 3) an enabling environment created for sustainable scaling-up of oil palm investment. The Project has three components;

Project Components
The project has three components:
• Component 1. Scaling-up smallholder oil palm development.
• NOPP will establish sustainable commercial partnerships between smallholder oil palm growers and private processors. In total, it will involve 11,000 growers with a total of 19,700 ha under oil palm in four new hubs where the crop will be planted for the first time, and in Kalangala where production is already established.
• Component 2. Livelihoods diversification and resilience.
NOPP will support the creation of alternative economic opportunities and the mitigation of social risks in the larger communities.
• Component 3. Oil Palm Sector Development Framework.
The Project will work to establish the enabling conditions for the sustainable scaling-up and long-term development of oil palm through policy and institutional support for national oil palm sector development; and Strengthening of national capacity for oil palm research. .

Oil palm Hubs:
NOPP will support the development of five oil palm hubs namely Kalangala; Buvuma; Mayuge (Mayuge, Bugiri and Namayingo); Greater Masaka (Kyotera, Kalungu and Masaka); and Greater Mukono (Mukono and Buikwe).
For Hub establishment, NOPP will establish a hub coordination unit responsible for farmer mobilization and recruitment to grow oil palm and provide technical advice for oil palm production. The Hub team will support the establishment of oil palm plantations by smallholder farmers; and facilitate establishment/strengthening of farmer organization (s) while working hand-in-hand with the NOPP Project Management Unit (PMU) and Nucleus Estate technical team to carry out the day-to-day activities of the Hub during the first five years of operations and will directly report to the NOPP PMU. Once sufficient numbers of farmers have joined the scheme, production initiated and grass root oil palm farmer institutions are established, the responsibility of farmer mobilization, recruitment and oil palm plantation management will be shifted to the Farmer Organisations. Borrowing from the experience of oil palm development in Kalangala, farmer institutions in the hub will be organized into primary and secondary groups at three levels: Units and Blocks at Village and Parish levels; and linked to the district apex body. Hub Office Establishment will be phased, starting with Buvuma Hub where preparations for initiation of development activities are in advanced stages.

Establishment of Buvuma Hub Office
The Work Station will be Buvuma District on Buvuma Island
The hub team will be comprised of the following staff who will be based in Buvuma district. These will include:
• Hub Manager
• Hub Accountant
• Credit Officer
• Hub Community Development and Liaison Officer
• Logistics and Inventory Officer
• Field Surveyor
• Agriculture Extension Officers (4- one per sub-county where NOPP activities are planned to take place)
• Hub Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant
• Hub Engineering Assistant
• Office Administrator
• Office Attendant

General Qualifications for the NOPP Buvuma Hub Office Staff
The Buvuma Hub Office will have the general responsibility for management of Buvuma Project activities, working closely with the NOPP PMU, Buvuma District Local Government and Management of Oil Palm Buvuma Limited (OPBL). The team will ensure that the project is implemented according to the Loan Agreement and within the Government regulations. The Hub team will be responsible for planning, executing and reporting on the project implementation progress in Buvuma Hub. They will mobilize smallholder farmers to participate in oil palm production.
They will provide technical support to the farmers in oil palm production and support access to production inputs by farmers. The team will keep accurate information and data on each of the farmers as required, including general farmer information, acreage, input amounts and value, to mention some.

The candidates for the positions should meet the following general qualifications:
• Be a Ugandan citizen with a National Identification card
• Have general knowledge of project and business management with emphasis on work planning, budgeting and reporting;
• Be computer literate and well versed in the use of word, excel and internet;
• Be self-motivated and have the ability to take initiative and work with minimal supervision to meet deadlines;
• Be fluent in English – written and oral and demonstrate excellent report writing skills;
• Possess advanced advocacy, communication and negotiation skills and ability to work as a team member;
• Be conversant with rural development strategies and gender equity;
• Have a working knowledge of GOU policies, operations and reforms;

Hub Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant
Reports to: Hub Manager
Job purpose:
The Hub Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant will be responsible for the operation of the project M&E system at Hub level, viz., planning, reporting, monitoring, evaluation, communications and knowledge management functions at the Hub.

Key Responsibilities
• Compilation of Hub Annual & Quarterly Work Plans and Budgets
• Compilation of Hub Annual, Semi-Annual & Quarterly Performance reports
• Quarterly reporting of hub activities
• Ensuring adherence to reporting timelines, including activity reporting, by the Hub team
• Manage the M&E Management Information System database for all relevant project data, including the registration of the identified farmers and their progress
• Collaborating with implementing partners and primary stakeholders, conduct effective discussion events where M&E data are analysed and corrective actions can be agreed upon.
• Document lessons learnt for application in future implementation
• Collect data on project outputs, outcomes and impact.
• Study the NOPP Log frame and identify areas of relevance to the hub for implementation and data collection processes
• Undertake knowledge management functions including development of knowledge products and work with other hub members to disseminate.
• Undertake evaluation of project implementation activities and inform management on effectiveness and efficiency of approaches and adjustment where necessary
• Undertake M&E surveys in collaboration with the NOPP PMU
• Prepare M&E reporting formats and data collection templates, in collaboration with the PMU, for use by al the hub members
• Perform any other duties assigned from time to time.

Academic Qualifications
In addition to the general qualifications detailed above, the following specific qualifications are required:
• A Bachelor’s (Hons) Degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics, Economics, Statistics, Development Economics,
• Post Graduate Diploma training in M&E

Work Experience
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience in data collection, data entry and data analysis
• Good knowledge of computer applications (particularly MS Excel, Word, Access and Power point, SPSS, STATA) is a must.