Job Vacancies at Centre for Community Development and Research Network (CCDRN)

Key Functions / Responsibilities

• Lead in designing and implementation of livelihood initiatives on irrigation, water resources management as well as rural infrastructure projects
• Participate in preparing food and agriculture, rural development, and natural resource management studies and strategies in formulating national sector and sub-sector plans and programs.
• Support the development of inclusive and sustainable food systems involving producers, their organizations, other private sector actors, civil society organizations, and governments.
• Supervise the delivery of CCDRN’s rural infrastructure projects and ensure compliance with quality standards and global best practices.
• Contribute to capacity development initiatives in food and agriculture, rural development, and natural resource management support to government staff, non-state actors, and private sector organizations.
• Prepare reports following the requirements of CCDRNs, governments, and other partners.
• Research problems of soil drainage and conservation and advise on the most sustainable irrigation technology that optimizes production and minimizes off-site and downstream impacts for the different communities
• Support and promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at local and national meetings and fora.
• Establish, promote, and maintain relationships with relevant strategic programs managers, CCDRN Technical Units, and Field Offices to ensure the best synergies between programs, policy, and innovations.
• Support resource mobilization activities following CCDRN’s corporate strategy and specific functions
• Interact with team members to facilitate the exchange of critical information and validation of findings and recommendations regarding constraints and opportunities of irrigation and rural development.
• Support knowledge gathering on agriculture and water requirements of crops, modern agriculture practices with applied irrigation technics, and appropriate institutional set-ups.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as necessary or as assigned by the Executive Director.

Technical Focus:

• The job holder will provide analytical and technical support on water resources management, irrigation, drainage, and rural infrastructure aspects for the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of investment policies, strategies, programs, and projects in food security, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, rural development, and natural resource management in the CCDRN communities.

Reporting Lines:

• To be based in the CCDRN’s North East Regional Office, Damaturu Yobe State, the Irrigation and Rural Infrastructure Engineer will work closely with the Yobe state Rural Infrastructure Engineer, Livelihood Manager, and Agronomist and report directly to the Program Director (PD).

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced University Degree in Irrigation Engineering, Agriculture Water Resources Management, or a related field.
• Five years of relevant experience in irrigation, drainage, rural infrastructure, and agricultural water management, including experience in engineering design, construction, supervision, institutional set-ups in systems operation, and maintenance for investments.
• Registration with professional bodies such as COREN
• Work experience in multiple locations or areas of work, particularly in field positions.
• Extent and relevance of experience in major technical fields related to engineering irrigation and rural infrastructure design, construction, and work supervision.
• Experience in participating in multidisciplinary teams for preparing strategies and sector studies as well as formulation, implementation support, or evaluation of irrigation, drainage, and rural infrastructure, agriculture water resources management, food and agriculture, rural development, natural resource management, and agro-processing.
• Extensive experience in irrigation and rural infrastructure design, implementation support, and evaluation procedures
• Experience in capacity development for the design and implementation of support programs for water users’ communities and promotion of participatory irrigation management as well as the training of irrigation engineers and managers

Required Competencies, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills
• Able to manage, guide and lead employees to ensure appropriate financial processes are used.
• A solid understanding of budget development and tracking for accountability
• Working knowledge of all statutory rural development and Engineering regulations
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and management skills/capacities
• Knowledge of data privacy standards
• Good problem-solving and independent thinking skills.
• Ability to work well with senior management, colleagues, and the public.
• Excellent skills in facilitation, team building, and coordination.
• Ability to plan, schedule, and monitor work to meet timely deliverables.
• A high degree of trustworthiness, discretion & confidentiality
• Willingness to travel to any part of the country (Especially Northeast - Nigeria).

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Job Description

• The Agri-Business and Market Development Manager identifies, designs, and supervises the implementation of interventions that support value chain development for the CCDRN's Agri-based livelihood projects.
• S/he analyzes and strengthens value chains, supports agribusinesses' development through producer organizations, service providers, and value chain enterprises, and establishes sustainable market linkages.
• To be guided by the principles of Market for the Poor (M4P), the Agribusiness Development Manager will support the achievement of the CCDRN's agricultural production, agro-industry, and marketing objectives, principally through leading the organization's capacity-building strategy with the staff, farmer groups, government officials and entrepreneurs in these areas.
• S/he will work closely with Livelihood Advisor and the field-based teams to oversee interventions to increase and improve linkages between farmer groups, business service providers such as micro-finance institutions, aggregators, government, and the private sector; and manage the monitoring and evaluation component. Specifically, the persons will be responsible for the following:

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinates and represents CCDRN in various forums, including with relevant government institutions and the private sector, and updates the donor on the organization's performance in providing sustainable livelihood and pro-poor market linkages for beneficiaries.
• Develop a detailed Monitoring and Evaluation system to measure targeted value chain enterprises' profitability and relevant business indicators.
• Oversees the data collection and monitoring of field activities and documents key qualitative and quantitative changes by beneficiaries.
• Identify markets and supply chain relationships, focusing on market opportunities and sustainable, demand-driven solutions for various livelihood projects.
• Develop, execute, and facilitate training for CCDRN staff, farmer groups, relevant government officials, and entrepreneurs, ensuring all training materials meet the branding and gender requirements.
• Provide technical support for establishing a marketing database to keep farmers, aggregators, and buyers informed of the prevailing market prices of various products and commodities.
• Facilitate access to timely market information by the targeted smallholder farmers and buyers through existing platforms.
• Facilitate business analysis and development of business plans and access to finance for Cooperatives/Associations/Producer Organizations.
• Support exploring business opportunities along the value chain of the selected commodity(ies) and preparing business plans for cooperatives and farm families.
• Build innovation in business development for smallholder farmers and cooperatives and increase efficiency and effectiveness.
• Support beneficiary smallholder farmers with updated technology for reducing post-harvest loss and compliance with quality standards.

Qualifications

• Interested candidates should possess a Bachelor's or Master's Degree with at least 5 years experience.