Fresh Jobs at TechnoServe

Job Summary:

• The Program Manager will manage a team of up to 15 staff to implement this entrepreneurship, job creation and skills building project in Kano and Lagos state, Nigeria, over a 2 year and 4 months period.
• S/he will lead the overall implementation and management of the project, including providing oversight of activities, developing work plans, overseeing the project budget, overseeing M&E, and reporting to the donor on delivery and progress.
• The Program Manager will continuously develop operational efficiencies and drive innovations in delivery and will serve as the primary point of contact with the donor, ensuring that the project meets established objectives and targets.

Program/Practice/Department Overview:

• TechnoServe’s Skilling Adolescents and Young Women for Entrepreneurship and Employability (SAY-WEE) project in partnership with MindTheGap, will leverage TechnoServe’s global Entrepreneurship and Gender expertise, replicating and scaling our proven multi-country approaches, which have provided 68,000 youth with the skills and knowledge they need to improve their livelihoods.
• SAY WEE will improve the employability and entrepreneurship capability of 37,000 adolescent girls & young women in Kano and Lagos states in Nigeria, targeting those enrolled in vocational training or formal education institutions and those running microbusinesses, providing them with the entrepreneurial, digital and soft skills to secure formal employment or succeed in entrepreneurial ventures.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Recruit staff and oversee their induction on TechnoServe and project systems and processes.
• Develop project work plans and M&E plans.
• Oversee project-related procurement.
• Identify staff training needs and oversee staff capacity development as required.
• Maintain a good working relationship with the donor, partners, project steering committee members and key stakeholders.
• Effectively plan and manage the project steering committee meetings.
• Lead overall project strategy to improve the employability and entrepreneurship capability of 37,000 adolescent girls & young women.
• Ensure that project objectives, outcomes, and deliverables are met on time and within budget, and that financial, operational, and reporting requirements of the donor and TechnoServe are adhered to.
• Guide team to develop effective monitoring and evaluation plans, turn data into actionable insights to guide implementation, and disseminate results and learning.
• Lead the development of reports for donors, as required.
• Develop and share internal and external project performance metrics.
• Manage the activities and performance of project staff and consultants, ensuring high-quality execution and delivery of project targets.
• Supervise, mentor and develop staff capacity to ensure project delivery, staff performance, and retention, overseeing the recruitment of new staff as needed.
• Ensure all payments/activities are in compliance with donor requests, restrictions and regulations.
• Develop and maintain a budget for each respective project work-stream, ensuring operational plans are aligned with project budgets.
• Monitor project expenditures and manage budget variances, realigning as required.

Basic Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Marketing or related discipline with at least with 7 years’ experience in the following below. Alternatively, a Master’s degree in similar fields listed with 5 years’ experience in the following below:
• Experience in implementing private sector or SME development assistance programs.
• Experience with SMEs is strongly
• Experience with entrepreneurship and business accelerator programs strongly preferred.
• Experience with youth and gender programming is preferred.
• Experience leading entrepreneurship and skills development programs, with aparticular focus on entrepreneurship, digital and soft skills.
• Among the experiences, at least 2 years of post-graduate experience in analytical and strategic roles within the private sector and/or development spheres (ideally with a top-tier management consulting firm).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Related work experience and knowledge of the Nigerian economic, social and development context preferred.
• Experience in leading/managing donor funded projects required.
• Knowledge of the private sector/SME landscape in Nigeria and/or anglophone West Africa preferred.
• Good experience in working with FCDO funded projects.

Required Languages: Fluency in English is required.

Travel: Local and International

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills in a multicultural
• Ability to work with tight deadlines while managing multiple tasks and projects.
• Ability to develop well written, cohesive analyses and reports.
• Proven experience managing and motivating teams.

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Job Summary:

• The Business Advisor will work under the supervision of the project manager to provide capacity building and aftercare coaching support to the businesses and other participants.
• S/he will facilitate business linkages, gather market intelligence and monitor performance. It should be understood that the tasks outlined below are the key responsibilities, but the employee will be expected to perform any tasks that are necessary within the context of the evolving needs of the project.

Program/Practice/Department Overview:

• The project seeks to increase the accessibility, and availability of fruits and vegetables while improving the resilience to climate and economic shocks, of low-income communities of Delta and Kaduna States.
• The project will deploy a combination of innovative pilots and scale up already proven solutions to address the food security challenges in the project states by improving access to, availability and affordability of nutritious foods for select low-income communities in the project states, while improving their incomes building their resilience to price and climate-related shocks and stresses.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:
Project Inception Phase

• Area mapping, mobilization and recruitment of program beneficiaries using set criteria.
• Support the Senior Business Advisor and Project lead in developing the project work plan.
• Support the rapid assessment and baseline evaluation activities.

Project implementation

• Implement the digital strategy of the project and ensure adoption by the beneficiaries
• Support the pilot of innovative strategies in the course of implementation
• Engage the beneficiaries consistently on the selected social media platform
• Support beneficiaries' training sessions on the selected and agreed platforms as well as monitor attendance according to the program guidelines.
• Provide linkages support to the micro retailers including connection to financial institutions, suppliers and other ecosystem players according to the program guidelines.
• Work with identified partners during the aftercare phase.
• Identify with stakeholders and perform a thorough assessment (initial and subsequent) of existing and envisaged problematic situations and offer solutions.
• Support in all types of monitoring and evaluation activities, surveys and in reporting, weekly, monthly and in developing program success stories and lessons learnt.
• Follow and maintain the program work plan
• Work closely with the Senior Enterprise Development specialist to ensure program deliverables are met through critical review of project activities in the field and eliminate any risks that may hinder effective implementation of the Project
• Understand, respect and promote Techno Serve’s values, vision, and strategy in the implementation of assigned duties.
• Perform other duties in line with the evolving needs of the program.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in Agribusiness, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship or any relevant business degree.
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience working with rural communities and supporting producers, micro and small growing businesses in Nigeria.
• Demonstrated understanding of the micro, small and growing businesses environment in Nigeria
• Demonstrated understanding of the fruit and vegetable value chain in Nigeria
• Ability to engage and advise a broad range of stakeholders, including senior management of private sector companies, community leaders, and others;
• Demonstrated experience in data collection and analyses.
• Demonstrated experience with digital training and delivery mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience in report writing

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ability to engage and advise a broad range of stakeholders on the field.
• Must have strong interpersonal skills.
• Proven skills with Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). Knowledge in the use of Comcare, KoBoCollect will be an advantage.
• Excellent communication skills.

Required Languages:

• Excellent written and spoken English Language

Travel:

• Long distance travel is not anticipated

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Experienced in writing excellent reports.
• Must have strong interpersonal skills.
• Proven skills with Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). Knowledge in the use of Comcare, KoBoCollect will be an advantage.

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Job Summary:

• Under the overall guidance of the Project management, the MEL Specialist will perform activities related to monitoring, evaluation and learning for the project, including organizing and implementing data collection and analysis for the project.
• He/she will serve as a point of contact for data collection and aggregation that supports project reporting and will provide inputs to inform project decision-making and adaptive management.

Program/Practice/Department Overview:

• The project seeks to increase the accessibility, and availability of fruits and vegetables while improving the resilience to climate and economic shocks, of low-income communities of Delta and Kaduna
• The project will deploy a combination of innovative pilots and scale up already proven solutions to address the food security challenges in Kaduna and Delta States by improving access to, availability and affordability of nutritious foods for select low-income communities in Kaduna and Delta states, while improving their incomes building their resilience to price and climate-related shocks and stresses.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

The MEL specialist will support MEL implementation for the project, including:

• Coordinate data collection from primary data sources to final reporting and reporting against project performance indicators and emergent project information needs
• Support application of qualitative and quantitative methods to inform knowledge gaps
• Contribute to the design of forms, surveys, and indices as well as the data management system
• Perform regular development of databases and dashboards
• Perform regular data quality assessments, data cleaning, and data analysis
• Conduct field visits to understand the context and identify additional data needs
• Provide ongoing technical assistance and training to project technical staff on their role in performing data collection, basic analysis, and data review and use
• Coordinate the project’s learning agenda through data collection, analysis and reporting and in the mobilization of consultants and other experts for specific learning questions
• Ensure that project’s monitoring system captures impact of project activities on women and other disadvantaged groups
• Become familiarized with the applicable donor rules and regulations, including the donor’s evaluation guidelines and indicator handbook
• Understand the specific MEL deliverables that the project is contractually responsible for, and manage their development

Provide inputs to data-driven decision-making:

• Assist in the process of adaptive management in the project using project MEL data
• Support the documentation of best practices and production of information to capture and share lessons learned
• Support information flows across the implementation team and the sharing and analysis of new information
• Actively engage with project staff on areas for course correction, serving as a collaborative and reflective source of information to inform project progress.
• Assist in the development of all project reports.

Participate in the broader MEL ecosystem at TechnoServe:

• Attend capacity building meetings and other relevant events related to MEL as directed
• Support access to and insight into the project’s MEL approach to facilitate the Regional MEL’s assessment of the project against organizational standards and annual impact reporting
• Assist in the development of corporate measurement reports as required

Basic Qualifications:

These are the requirements that any qualified candidate must meet. Typically includes

• Bachelor's Degree in Business management, Agribusiness, project management, social sciences or related discipline with 3 years’ experience (alternatively Master's Degree + 1 years’ experience) in monitoring and evaluation and also donor funded programming.
• Demonstrable critical skills in data collection, analysis and reporting, and performance monitoring of donor funded projects.
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the enterprise development landscape in Nigeria Minimum years of experience.
• Experience utilizing M&E methods and methodologies (including qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methods as well as the use of causal logic in designing, planning, implementing, and evaluating projects) Technical skills required to do this job.
• Ability to work in a multicultural context as a flexible and respectful team player.
• Proficiency in working with Comcare is an advantage.
• Proficient in MS Office: MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel.

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional qualifications that would make a candidate more desirable.

• Experience working in Nigeria
• Experience working with an INGO
• Experience working on an entrepreneurship donor funded projects