Latest Vacancies at Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Limited

Duties and Responsibilities

• The Policy Advocacy, Communications and Partnerships Officer primary responsibilities are outlined below.

Relationship Building & Management:

• Contributes to partnership building and engagement with all Stakeholders via platforms such as Agriculture Working Group, planning and facilitating events with key traditional and non-traditional partners, including government, civil society, private sector, development partners, and others new as well as conventional actors on the ALDDN Agenda
• Build and manage relations with the funder, Government of Nigeria, all implementing partners to ensure ongoing alignment, commitment and accountability to deliver on the program’s targets
• Actively engage, provide direction and oversight to all processor partners to ensure alignment on program deliverables as outlined in MOU
• Provide oversight and guidance to all program implementing partners to ensure excellent service delivery
• Identify and engage relevant private and public sector stakeholders to join the ALDDN National Advisory Committee to provide guidance, support and opportunities for collaboration

Branding & Communications:

• Supports the formulation and implementation of project communications and advocacy strategies, and supports ALDDN program development focusing on achievement of the set targets:
• Assist in coordination and communication of implementation strategies among stakeholders, particularly the processor, State government officials, and the Program Lead;
• Support to increased awareness of ALDDN's mandate and goals through the dissemination of information, press release, organization of public events;
• Extract lessons learned to support program improvement, advocate for durable solutions and policies, and facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing; Monitor and analyze the media in the areas related to the mandates of ALDDN as well as other issues relevant to the Dairy Development brand and positioning in Nigeria;
• Identify and assess potential issues, concerns, and risks related to communications and advocacy, and suggests corrective actions to the ALDDN Program Management Team and Field or Project officers;
• Undertake regular liaison with other partners for content development, information exchange, collaborative communication efforts, and innovative communication and advocacy tools, as assigned;
• Compile and analyze communication experiences and shares findings with other Sahel Program Management Team so that best practices benefit the Sahel Consulting's communication work;
• Prepare official briefing materials, talking points, speeches, statements, op-eds, and presentations on any development-related topic as necessary;
• Develop and maintain external and internal communications platforms such as the Sahel Consulting website, official social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.), Intranet and on-line collaboration platforms, etc.;
• Provide substantive support to the ALDDN program team on joint publications ensuring high-quality standards and the correct application of the ALDDN branding guidelines and publishing standards;

Policy Advocacy:

• Provide leadership and advocacy to address policy-related issues and other challenges to ensure sustainable dairy development in Nigeria;
• Organization of publicity, advocacy, knowledge-sharing events, and promotional opportunities. Provision of logistics support to the events;
• Research, analyze and present inputs to the ALDDN strategic advocacy and program communications to boost the impact of programmatic objectives under the ALDDN program;
• Plan and facilitate the promotion of advocacy and communications as a tool for a participatory approach to ALDDN program implementation and monitoring, reflecting the views and priorities of beneficiary communities;
• Provide substantive support to the Sahel’s ICT officer on public messaging and media outreach, and assists in managing reputational risks or crises around sensitive issues;
• Assists all the ALDDN team in projecting the program's image effectively and accurately as well as promoting transparency and accountability;
• Provides substantive support to ensure that communication performance indicators are identified, incorporated, monitored, and reported on throughout the program cycles;
• Provides substantive support in significantly expanding public outreach on the Dairy Development Agenda and the Sahel Consulting's role and impact in Nigeria;

Resource Mobilization:

• Plan and facilitate resource mobilization in ALDDN and other key thematic areas;
• Advise the Program Lead on possible sources of funding and in-kind support and partnerships that could be leveraged for promoting project campaigns, galvanizing local and national support as relevant;
• Organize and conducts educational outreach activities, including the organization of national and international conferences and public speaking engagements at academic institutions;
• Evaluate results and impact of communications and advocacy initiatives promoting the ALDDN program management team's work in key thematic areas other than development, reporting the outcome to the Donor, the State government, Processor partners, and other relevant stakeholders.

Minimum Required Skills & Experience
Professional Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in Mass Communications, ICT, Public Relations or related field of study
• Minimum of five years of work experience in such position with demonstrated results focus, skills and a track record of delivering beyond expectations.
• Strong communications abilities including planning and organizing events and project visibility and capturing of impacts.
• A familiarity with and commitment to advocating gender equality and inclusiveness is also required.
• Ability to shape a vision and strategy.
• Able to create positive narration of program achievements.
• Superior interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills
• Strong negotiation and diplomatic skills to support effective work through implementing partners.
• Fluency in the English language, and excellent writing and presentation skills.
• Ability to inspire confidence and create trust.
• Excellent judgement.
• Ability to understand new issues quickly and make wise decisions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Preference is for candidates who has worked as a Communications and Partnerships Officer in a top consulting firm.

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Duties and Responsibilities

• The Financial Inclusion and Cooperative Development Analyst’s primary responsibilities are outlined below.

Cooperative Formation and Strengthening:

• Undertake an institutional / organizational analysis of the existing cooperatives in terms of their legal, functional and governance structures to identify gaps and opportunities for improvements.
• Support the formation of Self-help groups (SHGs) and strengthen their growth and capacity into Cooperatives.
• Identify the critical capacity gaps and training requirements for the SHGs/cooperatives and design a capacity building plan.
• Conduct trainings for the cooperative members based on the capacity needs assessments by focusing on the supply, production, and marketing aspects of dairy and dairy products.
• Provide direct technical assistance on a case-by-case basis to cooperative management structures based on the areas needed for improvement and on their individual needs and requirements.
• Coordinate activities related to mobilization of cooperatives and capacity building in collaboration with dairy processors, local and State Government authorities, Implementing Partners, non-dairy host communities.
• Monitor the day-to-day performance of cooperatives and report on the findings and areas of required attention.
• Monitor the monthly financial performance of all cooperatives in collaboration with implementing partner.

Financial Inclusion:

• Advise the Program Team on aspects of access and financial inclusion and align tasks with program objectives and support the farmer’s access and financial inclusion products;
• Coordinate the financial inclusion project team in providing operational & technical supports for mainstreaming financial access and inclusion within the Processor’s high priority areas for the milk collection location.
• Lead the financial inclusion project teams in the preparation, appraisal and implementation of financial sector projects and initiatives for the purposes of Smallholder dairy farmers’ access to finance and financial inclusion;
• Supports the ALDDN Program team to implement supportive policy reforms to broadening access to financial services to farmer’s Enterprises and entrepreneurs (including women and youth)
• Develop legal and institutional policy frameworks to develop micro finance, credit facility and farmers protection;
• Contributes to the dialogue (both policy and technical level) on financial sector issues in the dairy value chain sector at State and National levels;
• Provide assistance to ALDDN dairy processors in designing specific innovative transactions, projects and initiatives that will contribute to improved access to finance by Smallholder dairy farmers including requisite performance monitoring and reporting frameworks
• Support management to review the project proposal and provide technical guidance to improve quality for financial institutions entry and support to ALDDN communities;
• Participates in the development of a capacity building program to ALDDN dairy processors and farmers to create an efficient platform for the provision of access and financial inclusion solutions;
• Contributes to the Building of partnerships within and outside the Program for the promotion of access and financial inclusion (exchange of information on projects, policies, operational experience, identification of co-financing opportunities, organization of joint promotional activities, etc.);
• Provides support to other duties as assigned by the Program Lead.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master's or its equivalent in Development Economics, Business Administration, Economics, Rural Development or related areas
• Have a minimum of five(5) years of relevant professional experience in financial systems development.
• Strong knowledge of socio-economic development issues, specialized knowledge of cooperative development and demonstrated knowledge of the SME policies of Nigeria.
• Demonstrated experience in providing training and technical assistance to rural cooperatives as well as smallholder farmers
• Engagement with microfinance ecosystem, with entrepreneurship and MSMES financing vehicles.
• Good knowledge of financial infrastructure, financing payment systems, for mobile banking, including payments by the government or private institutions.
• Proven track record in the structuring of a range of products, such as loans, guarantee products and technical assistance, policy-based operations.
• Experience working in developing/emerging market economies, especially in Agriculture sector.
• Communication: Provides clear and concise oral and written communication; presents oral information with clarity and appropriate style and adapts language and style to suit the requirements of a particular audience. Ability to speak Hausa Language is an added advantage.
• Problem solving: Applies business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Ensures that the Smallholder dairy farmers in all transactions and interactions. Strives to understand, and when appropriate, anticipate their needs, and ensures that they receive the best possible service from the financial institutions engaged
• Team working and relations: Works with others to maximize the effectiveness of the team, sharing the knowledge and workload. Develops strong working relationships with colleagues and contributes to creation of a positive team environment.
• Operational project management: Demonstrates broad knowledge of project management tools and methodologies; identifies risks and mitigations measures; interprets background analysis and proposed solutions.
• Financial regulation: Demonstrates in depth knowledge of public policy, regulation, supervision, and enforcement related to financial system stability, integrity and development; delivers strategic advice and technical assistance to policy makers.
• Capacity to conduct independent research and analyses, identify problems, propose solutions, and make recommendations to Management.
• Capacity to prepare reports and documents. Capacity to present and defend the consistency of proposed programs and projects. Capacity to work within specified time limits.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).