Agronomy Officer at International Medical Corps

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES/SCOPE OF WORK: 

Job Summary

• The Agronomy Officer is responsible for the overall management implementation & monitoring of agriculture asset creation activities in the Nutrition, Livelihoods and Resilience project in Shani LGA.
• The Agronomy Officer will technically be supervised and supported by the Project Manager.

Main Responsibilities

• Conduct rapid assessment to identify specific operational villages/locations
• Lead the process of beneficiary selection as per the criteria set by the project in collaboration with local administrations and community representatives
• Lead community based participatory planning exercise and development of community action plans for agriculture asset creation activities
• Lead the implementation of the agriculture assets creation component of the project as per the timeframe, budget and resources set and implement the project within the specified parameters
• Actively participate in conducting the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in collaboration with the M&E officer
• Actively engage in formation of local committees and community mobilization
• Facilitate and provide community agriculture trainings in collaboration with relevant line ministries
• Joint planning and provide capacity building activities with the program manager
• Maximize the nutritional sensitivity of the project by working closely with nutrition program team.
• Provide capacity building and backstopping to agronomy assistants/volunteers under your supervision
• Prepare and submit regular internal reports on all agriculture asset creation activities and prepare external reports as per the donor format
• Implement seed and tools distribution
• Build capacity of beneficiaries of agriculture, crop production and post-harvest related activities, and conduct scheduled regular visits to their farms
• Participate in food security & livelihoods related assessment missions with other stakeholders in the area representing International Medical Corps
• Actively represent International Medical Corps in food security and livelihoods cluster and early recovery coordination meetings
• Capture lessons learnt from monitoring and evaluations, document success stories, and replicate successful projects and scale up.
• Understand the gaps in food security and come up with project idea, write concept notes and share with technical supervisor.
• If required, lead the process of national staff recruitment in close collaboration with Nutrition Coordination and FSL manager, Human Resource and train the newly hired staff
• Work with M&E team to develop monitoring tool, sending weekly update to the program manager, follow up closely and update the team if the situation in the ground is changing quickly
• Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
• Actively promote PSEA (Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) standards within International Medical Corps and amongst beneficiaries served by International Medical Corps.

Compliance & Ethics:

• Promotes and encourages a culture of compliance and ethics throughout International Medical Corps.
• As applicable to the position, maintains a clear understanding of International Medical Corps’ and donor compliance and ethics standards and adheres to those standards. Conducts work with the highest level of integrity.

Qualifications and Experience

• B.Sc in Agriculture or other relevant fields with four years of field experience in food security, agriculture, and livelihoods, including experience in early recovery and development contexts.
• Experience in assessment, community consultations, program design and evaluation and technical training and support.
• An up-to date understanding of food security, emergency response, early recovery, food security and livelihoods concepts.
• Familiarity with design and programming processes of different donors
• Proficient analytical skills that demonstrate an understanding of the current concepts, priorities, and issues in program monitoring, data collection and evaluation.
• Skills in implementing food security programs
• Ability to exhibit tact, diplomacy, and resourcefulness in dealing with high level officials from donor agencies, international organizations, and other foreign and domestic government officials and partners.
• Must have excellent English written and oral communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with other departments within International Medical Corps, donors, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector
• Accountability is required to develop and achieve activities.

Key Competencies:

• Strong communication skills: oral, written and presentation skills.
• Should be a team player and culturally sensitive.
• Demonstrated proficiency in computer applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, email and utilization of the internet
• Strong leadership, team building, conflict resolution and ability to deliver IMC’s strategic objectives.
• Extremely flexible, and have the ability to cope with stressful situations.