Crops Program Coordinator at Heifer International

The Organization

• Heifer International is a global non-profit organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. Since 1944, Heifer International through its work in 21 countries (in Africa, Asia, and the Americas) has supported more than 56 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way, and millions more now on a pathway to living incomes. Working with rural communities and other stakeholders across Africa for over 50 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. Heifer’s foundation was built on the belief that ending hunger begins with giving people the means to feed themselves, generate income and achieve sustainable livelihoods for their households. Heifer’s global vision for 2020 - 2030 is to close the living income gap for additional 10 million families. This vision is a focused approach for the African continent to support at least 6.47 million smallholder farmers reach sustainable living income. As a part of this commitment, Heifer in 2021, expanded its presence in Africa to include Nigeria, with a goal of supporting at least two million households to achieve sustainable living income by 2030, through (a) strategic private and public sector partnerships, (b) unlocking demand and market opportunities, (c) investing in priority value chains, and (d) leveraging innovation and emerging agricultural technologies to achieve impact at transformational scale.
• Heifer is implementing Naija Unlock signature program in locations across Nigeria. The program aims to support the unlocking of the potentials in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to achieve food self-sufficiency by working with smallholder farmers and local value chain actors to increase their productivity and meet local demand for food and raw material, while closing the living income gap for families in the rice, tomato, poultry, and dairy value chains, with plans to add small ruminant value chains.

KEY PURPOSE OF JOB

• The Project Coordinator will be responsible for the coordination and monitoring of all interventions in the crops or livestock sector, ensuring that achievement of Naija Unlock goals and objectives remain on track. Areas of focus include efficient management of project resources; project plans and budgets; engagement with relevant stakeholders; ensuring quality control and timeliness of all deliverables as required. The Project Coordinator will report to the Signature Program Technical Lead, Naija Unlock

Main Responsibilities

Project Management, and Effectiveness (40%)

• Develop detailed project work plan to drive changes and improvements, for approval and ongoing monitoring to ensure project activities are on schedule.
• Provide coordination of project implementation including technical, administrative, operational, and logistical direction of the projects.
• Develop and provide an ongoing project management dashboard.
• Monitor and review progress on project tasks within the context of agreed project deliverables and timelines.
• Provide support to project teams through planning and reviews as well as implementation.
• Collaborate with relevant teams and departments and ensure timely dissemination of project information and reports.
• Carry out operations on the Naija Unlock signature program.

Quality and Risk (15%)

• Carry out all necessary activities for the review, documentation, and optimization of processes that will enable seamless project execution.
• Provide project performance highlights and communicate major issues, slippage, and suggested remedies and escalations as required.
• Track and assess the effectiveness of projects.
• Provide project status reporting and updates of progress, dependencies, issues, and risks.
• Compile and present research findings and recommendations as may be beneficial to the project.

Stakeholder Management (15%)

• Provide practical and all necessary support to Signature Program Director in achieving successful execution of the project.
• Manage the day-to-day projects/logistics and the corresponding communication for each project.
• Establish plans for multi-stakeholder engagement and learnings.
• Develop strategies for capturing and processing sharing knowledge from projects.
• Participate in periodic meetings with stakeholders.

Sustainable Locally Led Development Initiative (15%)

• Promote local ownership of projects and project activities by local stakeholders.
• Engage local stakeholders in participatory project design and development.
• Ensure project stakeholders receive regular feedback from the project team and provide feedback to the team.
• Support the implementation of inverted organogram principles and practices among team members.

Project Budget Management and Monitoring (10%)

• In collaboration with the Signature Program Technical, develop program annual budgets and workplans, consistent with program documents and donor contracts.
• In collaboration with Project Officers, undertake necessary review and updating of the workplans and budgets to respond to any emerging field implementation challenges and program review processes.
• In liaison with the Signature Program Technical Lead and Finance department, undertake quarterly budget monitoring and variance analysis with all Project Officers, while reviewing and tracking spending to adhere to annual budgets.

Any Other Assigned Function (5%)

Minimum Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required in agricultural economics, crop production, agricultural extension or related field, plus 7 years relevant work experience.
• Master’s Degree preferred.

Preferred Requirements

• A minimum of seven (7) years of project management experience.
• He/she will possess at least five years of experience implementing complex inclusive market systems, value chain development projects with diverse stakeholders.
• The person is required to have proven experience working with private sector organizations.
• Excellent communication, people, and leadership skills, as well as a keen eye for others’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to interact effectively at all levels.
• Critical thinking and excellent decision-making skills
• Proven ability to supervise the successful execution of each stage of the project.
• Ability to resolve derailments and communicate effectively with team members and other stakeholders to ensure the project gets back on track.
• Ability to monitor spend rates and make modifications based on budget allocation.
• Experience in managing project data and reports.
• Ability to determine ongoing maintenance and troubleshooting needs of a project.

Key Behavioural Competencies

• Accountability
• Professional Excellence
• Humility
• Customer Orientation
• Empathy
• Innovation