Latest Jobs at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA)

General Responsibilities:

The Chief of Party will be responsible for the overall management of the Activity and should possess leadership, communication, and management skills necessary to develop, articulate, and implement a closeout vision for the Activity. This position is also responsible at this time for the oversight of project close-out including final reporting and financial management activities. The Chief of Party will be responsible for meeting the following objectives:

• Promotion of smart and efficient policy and regulations within the agricultural finance sector,
• Mitigation of credit risks of agribusinesses and improvement in the services provided by financial institutions to agribusinesses, and
• Strengthen the readiness of agribusinesses to access and manage investments.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Responsible for the overall management of the program in line with USAID guidelines and within set timelines to achieve objectives.
• Oversees program administration, operations, implementation, and fiscal management to ensure technical and financial activities align with scope and budget allocations, internal policies, and donor regulations.
• Leads the project team to provide effective coordination and guidance among academic institutions, policy actors, local Governments, agribusiness MSMEs, smallholder farmer groups, service providers and other key stakeholders.
• Work closely with private sector actors to help leverage funding to support project implementation.
• Facilitates financial capital raising for investment funds and/or banks (including but not limited to financial capital for the ag sector).
• Represents CNFA with partners and key stakeholders, at conferences, workshops, meetings, and other industry gatherings.
• Oversees marketing and communications activities including completion of written outputs and learning event materials.
• Oversees Activity closeout engagements and dissemination events across the seven focal States and Abuja.
• Secures strategic buy-in from key stakeholders in the agrifinance market system in Nigeria towards sustainability of key Activity models.
• Provides leadership for the implementation of all Activity closeout tasks including personnel demobilization, discharge of contracts of service providers, financial audit and associated obligations, property disposition, and other regulatory requirements of the Nigerian government.
• Manages and oversees all contract management and implementation tasks based on established USG regulations, procedures and CNFA guidelines.

Job Requirements

Key Qualifications:

• Master’s degree, or higher, in agriculture, agronomy, economics, business administration, political economy, public administration, public policy, or related fields is required;
• Minimum of fifteen (15) years of significant international experience and expertise in agricultural development, food security, and/or  private sector engagement to successfully achieve meaningful and sustainable results is required;
• Experience supporting financial capital raising for investment funds and/or banks (including but not limited to financial capital for the agriculture sector)
• Extensive and substantive experience in working with counterparts at various levels of government, as well as with non-government organizations (including private-sector associations and organizations) in managing international development assistance activities is required;
• Meaningful experience in Africa is required, demonstrated knowledge of West Africa and Nigeria is strongly preferred;
• Strong technical expertise in the areas of agriculture, agricultural economics, agricultural finance, and/or agribusiness is required;
• Demonstrated management skills and effective interpersonal skills are required; and;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is required, knowledge of local languages is an advantage.
• Experience managing closeout phases of donor-funded development programs is desirable.

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Roles and Responsibilities: 

• Execute the Activity’s overall communications close-out plan to effectively communicate achievements, impact, and success stories.
• In collaboration with the Activity team, develop targeted messaging for the project close-out to convey its impact and successes and disseminate on the Activity’s various media channels including social media, email marketing using MailChimp and with inputs from USAID and CNFA.
• Closely collaborate with the Activity’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team, the technical program teams, and CNFA Home Office teams to design effective communication and knowledge management products that draw from results, data, and learnings, ensuring that information reported is accurate and presented appropriately in line with the Activity’s close out and exit phase.
• Maintain the Activity’s social media channels (Facebook page and Twitter) and develop social media content suited to the Activity’s close out phase and disseminated on the social media channels, shared with the CNFA’s home office Communications team, and the Development Outreach and Communications Specialist based in the USAID/Nigeria Mission
• Develop relevant communications products such as success stories, case studies, policy briefs, learning briefs, factsheets, etc. (particularly documenting and disseminating the impact of the Activity).
• Update the existing project contact database (including media contacts) that can be searched by component, institution, geography, or name).
• Follow communications protocols as agreed upon with USAID, the Chief of Party, and CNFA’s HQ Communications, including receiving approvals for outreach.
• Support the technical teams where applicable in developing SOWs for STTAs to support the marketing requirements of the Activity’s intermediary organization beneficiaries.
• Manage consultant labor for desktop publishing, graphic design, videography, technical writing/editing or similar, as required.
• Take responsibility for quality assurance of informational content and product development including PowerPoints, fact sheets, case studies, success stories, brochures, profiles, and the preparation of talking points.
• Coordinate and support programmatic and high-profile events, delegations, and field visits by U.S. government agencies, international organizations and donors, regional economic communities (RECs), embassies, and local partners and stakeholders.
• Develop outreach materials including quarterly newsletter, banners, brochures, reports, and other forms of internal and external communications, and manage clearance processes.
• Ensure program materials are branded correctly and consistently in keeping with USAID standards and the Activity’s branding and marking plan.
• Lead the process of collating and organizing document resources for the development of a learning website.
• In close collaboration with the MEL team, lead the planning and delivery of the close out dissemination event of the Activity.

Other duties as assigned by the Chief of Party.

Minimum Eligibility Requirements:

• University graduate with degree in Development Communications, Public Relations Management, Development Sociology, or other related fields. Graduate degrees would be preferred.
• At least 5 years hands experience working in similar role and with donor-funded development programs.  Prior work with USAID programs strongly preferred.
• Fluency in English.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a strong team player.
• Ability to travel to remote rural locations within Nigeria to support project work.
• Ability to work productively and with minimal supervision both independently and as part of a diverse team.

Scored Criteria:

• Skills and Abilities: 60 Points
  • Demonstrated experience in developing success and impact stories targeted at different audiences and using different mediums.
  • Demonstrated ability to unpack and communicate complex concepts simply with a range of stakeholders and sectors.
  • Demonstrated experience in program and event management.
  • Demonstrated experience in designing communications plans, developing, and implementing communications tools or systems, and developing content for social media platforms.
• Application Proficiency: 20 Points
  • Sound knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Proficiency with Prezi, Visio or other graphic arts and desktop publishing software a plus.
• Previous Work Experience: 20 points
  • Experience working collaboratively with institutional and private‐sector partners and stakeholders in Nigeria.
  • Experience working on previous USAID projects
  • Well organized, strong analytical skills, creative thinker, innovative, demonstrated personal initiative, stress tolerance, integrity, and ethics.
  • Excellent written and oral communications skills in English; and
  • The ability to produce various informational products under tight deadlines.