Senior Dairy Productivity Advisor at TechnoServe

The Senior Dairy Productivity Specialist will work under the supervision of the Senior Program Manager. S/he will provide support and leadership to a team of Dairy Productivity Advisors to build herders’ capacities for a sustainable increase in quality and quantity of fresh milk. S/he will support the Senior Program Manager in developing plans and drive effective and efficient implementation.

Program Overview:

TechnoServe’s Building Precision Dairy Models in Nigeria (BuPreDMiN) aims to build a precision, sustainable, and productive local dairy value chain in Nigeria within 4 years in a way that increases the incomes, resilience, and carbon footprint of dairy farmers in Nigeria.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities: 

Project Inception Phase

• Plan, organize, and coordinate enrollment of smallholder herders into the Danone backward integration in the dairy value chain.
• Work with the Gender and Youth Manager alongside the M&E to develop and periodically review gender key performance indicators for identified and enrolled herders.
• Develop a job description for local community trainers to support the dairy productivity advisors in identifying potential candidates in their assigned communities and support the operations team during recruitment.
• Develop a framework to support the dairy productivity advisors in coordinating the formation of self-help groups for training interventions, milk aggregation, and supply to Danone

Project Implementation Phase

• Develop scope of work for the Dairy Productivity Advisors with the understanding, compliance with, and promotion of TechnoServe’s values, vision, and strategy.
• Design and support the Dairy Productivity Advisors in coordinating the scaling up of the enrolment of herders into the Danone backward integration in the dairy value chain
• Work with the gender specialist alongside the M&E to develop and periodically review gender key performance indicators for identified and enrolled herders on the project.
• Develop a job description for local community trainers to support the Dairy Productivity Advisors in identifying potential candidates in their assigned communities and support the operations team during recruitment.
• Develop a framework to support the dairy productivity advisors in coordinating the formation of self-help groups for training interventions, milk aggregation, and supply to Danone
• Build the capacity of the Dairy Productivity Advisor to provide training to the Local Community Trainers on best practices for herders' dairy business.
• Provide leadership to the Dairy Productivity Advisor through adaptive management.
• Support the Milk Collection Centre Manager (MCC Manager) in addressing quality and quantity gaps identified at the Milk Collection Center (MCC) through the development of appropriate training schedules and content
• Lead conversations with financial institutions in resolving herders’ financial inclusion gaps for seamless business transactions with Danone.
• Lead conversations with high-quality and cost-effective input providers for herders to drive yields and profitability.
• Support the MCC manager and work in alignment to mobilize herders to supply Danone with high-quality quantities of milk at designated collection points.
• Work alongside the MCC manager in planning and organizing regular town hall meetings with herders to brief and address emerging issues in the supply chain.
• Provide support to the monitoring and evaluation team in conducting quality-related activities, surveys, and developing success stories and lessons learned.
• Support the Senior Program Manager. in weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual report writing for donor and internal consumption.
• Develop templates and processes to support the Dairy Productivity Advisor in coordinating the herders in maintaining records of activities and data collection of information required for monthly reports and analysis.
• Develop a risk register and update it periodically to support the Dairy Productivity Advisors in mitigating evolving issues.
• Interface with stakeholders and represent TechnoServe at official functions.
• Perform other duties in line with the evolving needs of the program.

Required Qualifications and Experiences:

• Bachelor’s degree or HND in Agriculture, Vet. Medicine, Agribusiness, Animal Science, or other relevant fields with at least 5 years of experience in capacities relating to project planning and execution, agribusiness, training, or Marketing, which should include at least three years of experience in the livestock value chain (cattle, goats, sheep) within western Nigeria.
• Master’s degree in Agriculture, Vet. Medicine, Agribusiness, Animal Science, or other relevant fields with at least 3 years of experience in capacities relating to project planning and execution, agribusiness, training, or Marketing, with at least two years of experience in the livestock value chain (cattle, goats, sheep) within western Nigeria.
• Demonstrate understanding of the dairy value chain in Nigeria.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Must have strong interpersonal skills.
• Strong communication and knowledge transfer skills
• Ability to constructively engage a broad range of stakeholders, especially community leaders, and influential persons
• Good negotiation and persuasion skills
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills
• Proven skills with Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). Knowledge of the use of Appsheet or a similar application will be an advantage.