Catholic Relief Services, Uganda Program
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Job Title : Senior Project Officer – Agroforestry (2)
Department : Programs
Supervisor : Chief of Party
Job Type : Regular, Full Time
Grade : 8
Country/Location: Uganda/Kampala
About Catholic Relief Services:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) supporting relief and development work in over 100 countries around the world. CRS carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. CRS’ Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations; serving people on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs.

CRS has worked in Uganda since 1965, initially providing emergency assistance to Sudanese refugees living in the north. Over the years, CRS has expanded its programming to also address development needs in western, central and eastern Uganda. CRS’ projects in Uganda currently include agriculture, health, microfinance, peacebuilding and youth. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with local organizations, including the Catholic Church, other faith-based organizations and community entities for maximum impact and sustainability. CRS Uganda employs around 190 staff and has its main office in Kampala, with sub-offices in Moroto, Yumbe, and Hoima .

Project Summary:
The Vines Project, implemented by CRS Uganda, is a five-year, $13 million Food for Progress project that will make Uganda the world’s next leading supplier of high-quality vanilla. Vines will leverage the expertise of CRS and its partners to enhance the production of safe, pure vanilla and develop sustainable market links with US vanilla companies, directly transforming the lives of 16,200 farmers, 836 supply chain actors and create 15,820 new jobs to reach 32,856 vanilla stakeholders. The Vines strategy reflects best practices in sustainable development and will leave Uganda with a robust vanilla farming community resilient to the boom/bust nature of the market and a cadre of private sector agricultural extensionists to support more sophisticated production, processing, and marketing needs.

Job Summary:
The Agro-forestry Specialist will implement field activities related to the coordination, training, and monitoring of project agro-forestry approaches, good agricultural practices and climate smart adaptations to increase the production, productivity, and quality of Ugandan vanilla. The Specialist will support the analysis of farming systems and implement the capacity building of farmers in key areas such as soil and water management. This position will report to the Agro-forestry Lead Specialist. Your technical, training, and collaborative skills, as well as vanilla value chain knowledge will ensure that the CRS delivers high-quality programming and continuously works towards improving the impact of this project

Job Roles and Responsibilities:
• You will support the implementation of technical, coordinating, monitoring and reporting activities through most of the project cycle – start-up, implementation and close-out – in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
• Provide training, coaching, monitoring, and coordination in all project activities related to agro-forestry, good agricultural practices, and climate smart adaptation.
• Support learning properly accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability through coordinating project evaluation activities following MEAL Policy. Proactively identify issues, report them to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.
• Support the strengthening of partnerships relevant to Vines project, applying appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools and approaches.
• Identify staff capacity needs and technical assistance needs of partner organizations and contribute to capacity strengthening and required interventions to support quality project implementation.
• Assist with preparation of trends analysis reports and disseminate results.

Education and Experience:
• Bachelor’s Degree required. Master’s Degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, or a related field would be a plus.
• Minimum of 3 years of work experience in technical or management positions in the field of Agriculture, preferably for a donor funded, time-bound project.
• Proven understanding of agro-forestry approaches and good agricultural practices.
• Experience in value chain projects or programs.
• Additional experience may substitute for some education.

Preferred Qualifications
• Relevant technical experience, especially for USG or other public donors, a plus.
• Experience in farmer training, coaching, and capacity building related to agro-forestry, good agricultural practices, and climate smart adaptations.
• Experience working with stakeholders at various levels and strengthening community partnerships.
• Experience analyzing data and contributing to evaluation reports.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Required/Desired Foreign Language: English fluency, including excellent oral and written skills, required
Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 80% within Uganda. This is a field-based position, based outside Kampala.

Key Working Relationships:
• Supervision: Supervise two field technical staff.
• Internal: Chief of Party, Vines Project Staff, Agro-forestry Lead Specialist, Partner Organizations, Head of Programs.
• External: Government, Farmers, Peer Agency, Farmer Groups, Private Sector Organizations.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• Critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with local stakeholders. Representation abilities.
• Ability to contribute to written reports.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented.
• Attention to details, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.
• Attention to details, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities

Agency-Wide Competencies (for all CRS staff) These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Method of Application

NOT be considered:
• Email a cover letter and CV only to [email protected]  by September 25th, 2020 at 5:00pm.
• Large files and/or scans of documents will lead to rejection of your application, in the subject line of the email, copy and paste –PROJECTASSISTANTMEAL only
• All applications that do not contain this exact subject line will be rejected and not read ONLY SELECTED CANDIDATES THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE NOTIFIED. EOE/M/F/D/V