Agropastoralist Programme Manager at Action Against Hunger | ACF-International

Action Against Hunger is currently looking to fill the role of an Agropastoralist Programme Manager who will be responsible to implement and monitor the activities of the Regional Project to Support Pastoralism and Livestock Marketing in the Cameroon/Nigeria/Chad Cross-Border Territories – PASCO.

Reporting to: Head of Department Food Security Livelihoods
Proposed start date: September 2024
Work location: Maiduguri, Borno State

Key Responsibilities

The Agropastoralist Programme Manager is responsible:

• Plan, manage and supervise the implementation and monitoring of PASCO activities in conjunction with the municipalities and the partner Civil Society Organization in the humanitarian context (CSO) associated with the project and in collaboration with the RDD SAME and the PASCO experts (IRAM and ACF);
• Ensure communication and the smooth reporting of information and its transmission to the country team and RDD SAME and the ACF expert;
• Develop collaboration and partnerships with authorities, local partners (such as CSOs, decentralized local authorities, STD) and complementarity with other development projects/programs in the PASCO area of implementation;
• Depending on the results of the studies carried out in the area, the evolution of the context, issue in concert with the Country Team, the RDD SAME and the PASCO experts (from IRAM and ACF) proposals for adjustment or reorientation certain activities to maximize the achievement of project objectives;
• Develop framework documents, methodological notes and the action plan for implementing the various PASCO activities, in close collaboration with the RDD SAME and PASCO experts (from IRAM and ACF);
• Support the IRAM partner in carrying out diagnostics and studies to update knowledge on cross-border livestock marketing routes throughout the project area;  
• Ensure the institutional anchoring of the project in the different implementation areas (collaboration with state technical services, with the authorities and with local stakeholders in the sector, etc.);
• Update information relating to the geographic targeting of intervention areas and coordinate the targeting of the project's target groups, ensuring that gender dynamics and sensitivity to conflict are taken into account;
• Support – in conjunction with PASCO experts (from IRAM and ACF) and RDD SAME – the facilitation of dialogue mechanisms and consultations with market players and the various stakeholders concerned by commercial flows (traders, breeder groups, market managers, freight forwarders, technical and administrative services);
• Support IRAM in the development of cross-border agreements or cross-border development plans;
• Contribute to the structuring and functioning of agropastoral organizations;
• Support stakeholders in the creation/rehabilitation of pastoral infrastructure and development and the promotion of inclusive governance around these works;
• Contribute to strengthening the skills of local committees and community dialogue structures in terms of inclusion and prevention and alternative conflict management;
• Facilitate monitoring of the operation of livestock markets;
• Facilitate the organization of unifying events promoting social cohesion, the promotion of a culture of peace and exposing young people (boys and girls) to the roles of models/mentors of citizenship;
• Participate in the revitalization of traditional mechanisms and expansion of innovative information, prevention and conflict management systems for appropriation of these mechanisms by stakeholders throughout the marketing axes;
• Support the participation of women and young people in the planning, implementation and monitoring-evaluation of economic development initiatives, particularly those linked to pastoralism along marketing routes;
• Provide support for job creation initiatives for women and young people in the value chains of livestock products, particularly in the meat, cooking and milk sectors;
• Carry out training sessions on entrepreneurship, linked to the value chain approach occurring in the meat, cooking and milk sectors;
• Identify the different technical and financial partners with a view to creating better complementarity with the project;
• Contribute to the development and implementation of Work Plans, monitoring and periodic reporting of the project;
• Document lessons learned and contribute to the good visibility of the project;
• Actively participate in the recruitment of the PASCO team and the identification of the partner CSO;
• Identify training/capacity building needs, put in place and operationalize the support plan for the project team and the staff of the partner CSO;
• Lead and/or supervise project team meetings;
• Ensure technical monitoring of the teams, organize the evaluation of the entire SAME team according to the frequency defined by the mission;
• Support the partner CSO in the implementation of the activities assigned to them;
• Participate in setting up/forecasting/supervising administrative, budgetary and logistical monitoring of the project;
• In collaboration with the MEAL team, and the partners associated with the project, ensure the documentation of project interventions: monthly reports, training reports, supervision and visit reports, implementation of recommendations from site visits donor/teams and hierarchical superiors, annual reports. Ensure that activities are implemented in accordance with the project documents and the country's sectoral strategic vision, that regular monitoring, but also evaluations are carried out;
• Carry out regular field visits to the project intervention areas, gaining precise knowledge of the reality of the teams' work in the field and reporting the problems, challenges and obstacles observed to the Field Coordinator and the SAME RDD in order to to initiate reflections in search of an adequate response;
• Be responsible for the proper implementation and deployment of project activities across all links in the project cycle (identification, needs analysis, formulation, implementation, reporting, monitoring, evaluation, capitalization and learning);
• Ensure the quality of project implementation (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, impact, and accountability to beneficiaries);
• Organize, animate and disseminate documents from experience capitalization meetings;
• Participate in advocacy with all implementing partners and other allied partners involved in the project implementation area on the key themes of the program;
• Contribute to capitalizing on the program's good practices, experiences, evaluations;
• Contribute to mapping actors favorable to the program's advocacy actions in the project area;
• Participate in ACF base coordination meetings on a regular basis;
• Participate in filling out the 5W matrix of SAME stakeholders in the far North region;
• Seek and strengthen areas of partnership with State Decentralized Technical Services and other actors working in the field of pastoralism in the far North/North region;
• Participate in meetings of the Food Security Working Group in the far North;
• Strengthen coordination with other ACF SAME project initiatives in the area;
• Actively contribute to the development of the sector/country strategy;
• Collect, collate and analyze humanitarian, resilience and/or development needs and inform the Field Coordinator and the RDD SAME on opportunities for project development and rapprochement with the sector/country strategy;
• Continuously monitor and analyze the overall context in the project intervention areas and beyond if possible (climate, population movements, food availability, market prices, transhumance, pastoral resources, conflicts, etc.) and report back regularly provide information to the RDD SAME in the form of a biweekly sitrep.

Position Requirement:

Education Qualification: Master's degree specialized in Animal Production, Bsc in Agronomy or Agroeconomics or any other relevant specialty in relation to the themes of rural development, livestock breeding and/or pastoralism;

• At least 5 years of experience in cross-border project management (including team management);
• Good knowledge of rural development and support for livestock farming in particular;
• Proven expertise in Natural Resource Management and pastoralism;
• Having worked in the humanitarian sector would be an asset;
• Having worked in capacity building projects for state structures would be an asset;
• Strong skills in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word);
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Fluency in the Hausa language is an advantage;
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly within remote areas, where services are limited.