Junior Project Officer at GIZ Nigeria

VA No: 059

Organization: GIZ Nigeria, Fund for Agricultural Policy and Innovation (FABI)

Background

• As a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, we are dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security.
• The diverse expertise of our federal enterprise is in demand around the globe –from the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector and governments of other countries.
• We work with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. Our main commissioning party is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
• The registered offices of GIZ are in Bonn and Eschborn. In 2019, we generated a business volume of around EUR 3.1 billion. Our 22,199 employees, almost 70 per cent of whom are national staff, work in around 120 countries.
• As a recognised development service provider, we currently have 556 development workers in action in partner countries. Furthermore, in 2019, the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), which is run jointly by GIZ and the German Federal Employment Agency, placed 262 integrated experts and 515 returning experts with local employers in our partner countries, or provided them with financial support, advice or other services.
• Personnel and business figures as at 31 December 2019

The Programme

• The Agricultural Policy and Innovation Fund (FABI) is part of the special initiative “One World without Hunger”, initiated by the German Ministry of International Cooperation and Development and implemented by the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) with the aim of fighting hunger and malnutrition worldwide.
• The FABI project supports policymakers in partner countries and regions in the development and implementation of agricultural and trade policy strategies and promotes innovations that can improve the agricultural and food sectors in partner countries.
• In its policy component, the project uses capacity building measures and evidence from economic and policy analysis as the basis for achieving a competitive, sustainable, and socially inclusive agricultural development.
• FABI works on a case basis, in response to concrete requests from partners in the targeted countries and regions. FABI is committed to supporting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commissionin implementingthe Regional Action Plan2020-2025 of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive that aims at achieving self-sufficiency in rice at regional level by 2025.
• As one of the implementing strategiesof the ECOWAS Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP/CAADP), the “Rice Offensive”aimsat a sustained and sustainable cultivation of rice in West Africa.
• The FABI’s support focuses on the workstream 1.3 (initiate, develop and implement additional regulations to boost the rice value chain in West Africa) of the Rice Action Plan, which aims at improving the regulatory framework in the rice sector to render the rice value chains more productive and competitive.
• The measure consists of two parts: the first is to develop a database to take stock of national and regional regulations affecting the rice sector and monitor their implementation, conduct a (gender sensitive) gap analysis to establish the need areas for additional regulations and develop drafts of the required additional regulations.
• The second part is to validate the new regulations in a consultative and participative way at regional level

Responsibilities & Tasks
Responsibilities:

• This position seconded to the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of the ECOWAS Commission will support the FABI activities on the ECOWAS Rice Action Plan.
• The position is based in Abuja (Nigeria) under the supervision of the CARI’s senior policy advisor.

The Junior Project Officer performs the following tasks:
General Tasks:

• Supporting general project planning, including preparation and organization of planning activities, implementation, management, monitoring, evaluation and documentation in relation to the ECOWAS Rice Offensive and its Action Plan.
• Supporting coordination mechanism and synergies among stakeholders
• Communication and knowledge management: development of policy briefs and newsletter articles
• Backstopping of external short-term experts
• Contribution to the organization of multi-stakeholder-consultations and regional workshops

Specific Tasks:

• Mapping and analysis of current regulations undertaken by each country in the rice sector in the ECOWAS region
• Development of a database on national and regional regulations supporting the rice value chain.
• Maintenance ofthe database and monitoring of the implementation of regulations
• Supporting coordination between the ECOWAS and stakeholders in the Member states
• Backstopping and regular communication with the short-term experts in charge of conducting the regulation gap analysis
• Development of terms of reference and back-stopping of external short-term experts to build an easy-to-use platform that will enable the Member states and ECOWAS commission to update the rice database in the future
• Supporting the organization ofmulti-stakeholder-consultations in the context of the regulation gap analysis and the development of additional regulations
• Supporting the organization of the regional validation workshop
• Any other task assigned by DARD in the implementation of the component 1 of the ECOWAS Rice Action Plan

Required Qualifications, Competences and Experience Qualifications

• M.Sc. Degree or equivalent in the field of Agricultural Economics or related topics

Professional Experience:

• 3 years of experience in the field of agricultural and rural development
• Experience with database development and maintenance
• Experience in value chain development, especially rice
• Experience in policy advice and interaction with stakeholders at regional and national levels
• Demonstrated ability in the organization of workshops, communication and public relations
• Strong conceptual and analytical skills
• Experience with gender mainstreaming
• Good English skills: C1 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and sound knowledge of French
• Experience with GIZ internal processes and instruments is an asset
• Previous experience in a comparable position is an asset
• Knowledge of the ECOWAS region and the rice value chain will be an asset

Other Knowledge, Additional Competences:

• Knowledge of database management software (e.g. Microsoft Access)
• Willingness to undertake short-term business trips
• Good working knowledge of ITC technologies (related software, phone, fax, email, the internet) andcomputer applications (e.g. Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, One-Note, Teams, Planner)
• Confidential handling of data and information.

Salary
According to GIZ salary scale for Band 3