The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) has been established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to Ethiopia’s agricultural development and transformation. The Agency does this through problem-solving, project implementation and support, and coordination and capacity building of stakeholders involved in implementation.

The National Framework for Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) is being introduced in Ethiopia by the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, and partners at the Federal and Regional levels, and from the development and private sectors. ACCs apply a geographically-focused approach for rapidly enhancing priority agricultural commodity value chains throughout the country. The implementation of this National Framework will support agricultural sector transformation by enhancing and supporting existing structures to address systemic as well as commodity- and geography-specific bottlenecks across priority commodities value chains. This Framework builds on previous federal and regional efforts for value chain development and advocates for a more focused and market-driven solution with significant coordination between diverse public, private and development sector actors.

To support implementation of this National Framework for ACCs, Regional ACC Secretariats are being established by Regional Governments with the following main responsibilities:

• Provide effective upward reporting to the Regional President and the Regional ACC secretariat, chaired by the Regional President and the Head of the Bureau of Agriculture, as well as to the National ACC Coordination Unit

• Act as Secretary of the Regional ACC secretariat , including organizing and supporting Board meetings, following up on actions agreed, and other related responsibilities

• Support effective stakeholder coordination and problem-solving of issues at the Regional level, including alignment with other national and regional policies, strategies and programs

• Support effective escalation of issues which cannot be addressed at the Regional level to the National ACC Coordination and Capacity-building Unit for resolution

• Oversee stakeholder coordination, planning, reporting, problem solving and implementation support activities by ACC Support Teams in clusters across the Region

• Provide capacity building and training to ACC Support Teams

• Facilitation of private sector investments by ensuring timely and efficient investment support (e.g. registration, certification) and ongoing problem-solving support

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Regional ACC Secretariat will consist of a regional Director (Secretariat Lead), Program manager, Program and Performance Reporting Officer and several additional professional staff. The Program and Performance Reporting Officer reports to the Unit Lead, and provides effective support for planning, activity and deliverable progress reporting, management reporting, M&E and related decision-making processes within the overall ACC structure through template and indicator design, developing and overseeing implementation of data collection and reporting processes, and other activities. The ideal candidate will have performance management and reporting, M&E, and ideally also financial reporting expertise, with over 5 years of experience in these areas in public, private and development sector organizations. Specific experience with DevResults software is preferred. The candidate will also demonstrate a passion for transforming agriculture and improving the lives of small-holder farmers.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Coordinate performance and M&E planning and reporting, including use of standard tools and templates:
  • Assist the regional director, program manager  and professional staff to develop relevant Regional/Cluster level indicators
  • Lead the development of specific M&E plan and manage implementation of reporting tools at regional and cluster levels
• Ensure effective reporting to leadership and externally to support decision-making, forward visibility and proactive issue remediation, utilizing best practice process and tools
  • Write reports, presentations, summary dashboards on the assessments conducted and present results to relevant stakeholders
  • Work closely with the Cluster teams to provide necessary data/evaluation results, which these teams can use according to their specific needs
  • Provide M&E support to program managers and other relevant stakeholders in project planning and implementation monitoring
  • Seek continuous improvements on existing tools

• Ensure quality of data and reporting

• • Develop Regional and cluster support team capacities on M&E techniques and methodologies
  • Validate M&E reports from Cluster support teams
• Coordinate performance and M&E planning and reporting, including use of standard tools and templates:
  • Assist the Secretariat Lead and professional staff to develop relevant processes and Regional/Cluster level indicators for activity and deliverable planning and progress reporting, management reporting as well as monitoring and evaluation
  • Lead the development of specific reporting and M&E plan and manage implementation of reporting tools at regional and cluster levels
• Ensure effective reporting to leadership and externally to support decision-making, forward visibility and proactive issue remediation, utilizing best practice process and tools
  • Write reports, presentations, summary dashboards on the assessments conducted and present results to relevant stakeholders
  • Work closely with the Cluster teams to provide necessary data/evaluation results, which these teams can use according to their specific needs
  • Provide M&E support to program managers and other relevant stakeholders in project planning and implementation monitoring
  • Seek continuous improvements on existing tools

• Ensure quality of data and reporting

• • Develop Regional and cluster support team capacities on data collection and verification techniques and methodologies
• Validate data and reports from Cluster support teams

• A university degree, preferably in business administration, agribusiness, agriculture, agricultural economics, economics
• At least 5 years of work experience in Reporting,  Performance Management and M&E in public, private and development sector organizations
• Knowledge of management reporting and M&E methods and approaches (including quantitative, qualitative and participatory)
• Specific knowledge and/or experience with DevResults or similar tool
• Good understanding and exposure to data visualization and GIS technologies
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, start-up environment, with an emphasis on high-performance, teamwork, accountability and results
• Excellent stakeholder management skills including thorough knowledge and understanding of various regional level and federal level institutions; extensive experience in facilitating dialogue with relevant stakeholders
• Strong personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service
• Fluency in English and Amharic required; fluency in other regional languages preferred