Job Opportunities at the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Vacancy No.: 057

Bakground

• As a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, we are dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security. The diverse expertise of our federal enterprise is in demand around the globe – from the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector and governments of other countries.
• We work with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. Our main commissioning party is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
• The registered offices of GIZ are in Bonn and Eschborn. Our approximately 23,500 employees, almost 70 percent of whom are national personnel, work in a round 120 countries (July 2020) GIZ has worked in Nigeria since 1974. From 2004, GIZ has maintained a country office in the capital city Abuja. Currently 361 national and 66 international employees, 19 regional staff, 4 integrated specialists and 3 development workers are working in the country (June 2020).

The Programme
Germany has been supporting the ECOWAS Commission through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH since 2006. Commissioned and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the current Programme, “Support to the ECOWAS Commission on Organisational Development” is aimed at strengthening the Commission in executing its core mandate of facilitating economic and political integration. The support is focussing on two areas:

• Unit 1: Strategic Management promotes the establishment of a Result-Based Management (RBM) guided by strategic orientation as fundamental management model at ECOWAS. In addition, the Unit supports the internal management directorates of ECOWAS.Furthermore, the project strengthens the strategic orientation of the ECOWAS Commission and the establishment of a regional monitoring and evaluation system for programmes implemented by ECOWAS.
• Unit 2: Institutional Support to ECOWAS supports ECOWAS on the preparation of a certification process that would allow ECOWAS to manage funds provided by the European Union in indirect management mode. This process is called Pillar Assessment. The support in this field targets the improvement of internal processes that are related to financial management, HR management, Ethics, etc.

Responsibilities
The project management officer must:

• Ensures that GIZ rules and regulations as well as standard procedures are complied with regarding all financial and administrative functions; in accordance with and;
• Ensures the smooth functioning of administrative processes to prepare, roll-out and document the project’s activities in Abuja/Nigeria and in other ECOWAS Member States.
• Liaises and follows up with GIZ Country Offices in Nigeriaand other West African countries to organise the project’s activities;
• Liaises and follows up with ECOWAS administrative staff for the organisation of joint activities;
• Prepares procurement requests and follows up based on requests of the project team;
• Assists the project team on demand to ensure proper project management;
• Ensures proper documentation and knowledge management of the project’s activities;
• Organises the monitoring and update of the project’s management online planning system;
• Assumes the function of a security focal point for the project.

The Project Management Officer Performs the Following Tasks:
Tasks:

Administrative Tasks:

• Organizes administration and logistics for meetings, workshops, trainings, conferences in Abuja.
• Coordinates and organizes rooms for meetings;
• Prepares procurement and contract requests on project level and liaises with the project’s procurement officer.
• Prepares procurement and contract requests on project level and liaises with the responsible country office outside Nigeria in line with GIZ rules and regulation and the specific SOP for each country office.
• Handles all communication with procurement focal points in ECOWAS projects and GIZ country offices.
• Supports in drafting and amending of contracts in English and French;
• Prepares and follows up on participant’s lists, handouts, facilitation materials etc. for meetings;
• Supports consultants and visitors on logistic and admin questions.

Knowledge Management and Documentation:

• Compiles information about contact persons and SOP’s in GIZ country offices across the ECOWAS region;
• Compiles supporting documentation for meetings;
• Prepares and organizes information materials for or meetings;
• Maintains and updates the ECOWAS Cluster’s data base for venues, vendors and consultants in Nigeria and across the region;
• Participates in internal and external (team) meetings and workshops and assists with documenting these e.g. by taking minutes;
• Maintains the filing system and management of the project files in DMS, shared drive and One Point.

Security Focal Point:

• Supports Security prevention measures for project staff as Security Focal Point of the ECOWAS OD project;
• Submits weekly travel monitoring to RMO;
• Submits the updated HRE plan to RMO quarterly;
• Informs Risk Management.

Other Duties/Additional Tasks:

• Treats information confidentially
• Maintains the annual Leave Plan of the project team and updates the leave schedule monthly;
• Supports foreign delegations and VIP visits;
• Coordinates equipment etc. required for meetings with the responsible person;
• Performs any other coordinating task between technical and administrative/finance staff of GIZ.
• Performs other duties and tasks at the request of management.

Required Qualifications, Competences and Experience

• University Degree in Business Administration, Social Sciences, Finance or any other related field. A Master’s Degree will be an added advantage.

Professional Competencies and Experience:

• A minimum of 4 years’ professional experience in a comparable position in an international environment.

Other Knowledge and Additional Competencies:

• Very good knowledge of English and French Language- Oral and written capacities. (This will be tested).
• Knowledge of German and/or Portuguese language would be an advantage;
• Strong intercultural management skills;
• Very good working knowledge of ICT technologies (related software, phone, email, the internet) and computer applications (e.g. MS Office);
• Willingness to upskill as required by the task to be performed – corresponding measures are agreed with management;
• Good organizational skills;
• A good team player who is willing to take on responsibility
• Innovative and possessing a positive attitude to change and results orientation.
• Prior experience with an international organization/NGO will be an added advantage.

go to method of application »

GIZ EAT - a vibrant new project for the ECOWAS region

The BMZ funded regional project ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) is implemented by GIZ and officially started in January 2022 with a funding of 10 Mio. EUR for 5 years. The project management unit is based in Abuja. Major activities will start from January 2023. The project focuses on five countries, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and three others to be determined with the partner.

The objective of EAT is to improve institutional and technical requirements for intra-regional agricultural trade in the ECOWAS region and selected countries. The main partner is the ECOWAS commission (Directorates for agriculture, trade and customs), regional organizations and national line ministries or trade associations.

EAT works on 3 components:

Strengthen the role of the ECOWAS Commission in coordinating sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade instruments with ECOWAS Member States

Support sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade facilitation measures and services for traders at border posts and along agricultural trade value chains.

Improve regional agri-trade promotion services and business performance of the traders.

The target group of the project comprises trade companies, organizations and actors in agri-food sector trade in the ECOWAS region. The supported agricultural commodities are raw, semi-finished and finished products that are traded form farm gate, factory or warehouse to consumer markets.

A.        Profile
You are supporting the Senior Technical Advisor and the Project Leader of the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) project with operational tasks for the implementation of components 1 and 2 (esp. on trade facilitation) and to support conceptualization, planning and implementing of major project activities in those two components. The position involves key responsibilities in analyzing the implementation of agri-trade policies in the ECOWAS region and in member states/ at borders, to perform technical, institutional support and to back stop activities of implementing partners. Main activities are the organization of public private dialogues, the support and follow up of trade facilitation measures at borders, contribute to M&E and knowledge management, provision of project data and report writing/ documentation. A special focus is on women in cross border trade and measures to improve small scale trade facilitation under the ETLS. Good communication skills for assuring a good cooperation with implementing partners, stakeholders and private sector actors as well as target groups on various levels is one of your strengths. You are taking over responsibility proactivity within your scope of work and have a results-oriented and structured way preforming according to agreements and plans. You contribute essentially to outputs 1 and 2 of the project and are motivated to travel in the ECOWAS region (border areas, markets, capitals) and work in close contact with partners and stakeholders.

As a Technical Advisor, you will have the following responsibilities and tasks:

1.      Project implementation and backstopping

• Gives support to the Senior Technical Advisor on the implementation of components 1 and 2 in the ECOWAS region
• Contributes to planning, organization and implementation of activities and events in both components
• Supports the drafting of TOR, the initiation of service or financial contracts with partners or consultancies and accompanies partners and service providers during the contract period
• Backstops, follows-up and adapts activities and assures the achievement of results in both outputs

2.      Technical advice and inputs

•  Sources and processes data from implementing partners and consultants in collaboration with the Monitoring and Communication Expert; extract findings, results and recommendations of studies; extract key messages for policy advice
•  Gives updates on agricultural trade facilitation (agreements, directives, sector policies and programs, etc) in the ECOWAS region. Screens and summarizes news and events in that regard
•  Scopes for innovation and new solutions in trade facilitation that the project can support or use
•  Prepares and organizes technical activities carried out by EAT and assures the quality of activities done by implementing partners with the backing of the Senior Technical Advisor

3.      Communication and facilitation

• Screens the institutional landscape and makes contact to potential partners; manages and documents contacts partner networks
• Contributes to fluent communication and reporting of important information and knowledge with partners and within the technical team
• Informs the project team on best practises and obstacles during implementation
• Facilitates and moderate during technical meetings
• Supports the Project Leader and the Monitoring and Communication Expert on knowledge management and learning through evaluation of activities carried out, identification of lessons learned and best practices.

C.        Required qualifications, Competences and Experience

Qualifications

University degree in agronomy, economics, geography, political sciences (with special qualifications in economics, trade, agronomy) or other related field of study

Professional Experience

• At least 3 years’ experience working in the areas of trade facilitations (custom instruments at borders, certificates of origin, phyto and veterinary certificates, training concepts, services for traders, esp. women) and trade policies (implementation of ETLS, CET ECOWAP, national policies) in West Africa.
• At least 2 years of professional experience in implementation of technical activities, advice, cooperation and communication with public and private partners institutions in the field of agricultural value chains, trade or policy advise.
• Previous work with regional and national institutions such as ECOWAS Commission, national line ministries, regional and national organisations such as CILSS, WACTAF or NGOs is an advantage
• Know the political environment, cultural and socio-economic context in at least 1 other West African country esp. related to agri trade facilitation and trade policies
• A deep understanding of the work and mandate of the ECOWAS commission on agricultural and trade policies, implementation of ECOWAS trade instruments in the member states and knowledge of the regional context in trade promotion and facilitation for agricultural value chains  

Other skills and competences

• Ability to implement activities in a dynamic political context from regional to national and local levels by understanding the different abilities and capacities of institutions and actors.
• Capability to analyze and summarize specific trade related aspects, find pragmatic solutions for specific contexts related to challenges in agricultural trade facilitation
• Identify policy network in the region that are capable to contribute to the objective of the project
• Spoken and written language skills in English (level C2); French would be an advantage.
• Proficient use of MS Office and MS Teams

go to method of application »

chGIZ EAT - a vibrant new project for the ECOWAS region

The BMZ funded regional project ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) is implemented by GIZ and officially started in January 2022 with a funding of 10 Mio. EUR for 5 years. The project management unit is based in Abuja. Major activities will start from January 2023. The project focuses on five countries, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and three others to be determined with the partner.

The objective of EAT is to improve institutional and technical requirements for intra-regional agricultural trade in the ECOWAS region and selected countries. The main partner is the ECOWAS commission (Directorates for agriculture, trade and customs), regional organizations and national line ministries or trade associations.

EAT works on 3 components:

1.    Strengthen the role of the ECOWAS Commission in coordinating sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade instruments with ECOWAS Member States
2.    Support sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade facilitation measures and services for traders at border posts and along agricultural trade value chains.

3.    Improve regional agri-trade promotion services and business performance of the traders.

The target group of the project comprises trade companies, organizations, and actors in agri-food sector trade in the ECOWAS region. The supported agricultural commodities are raw, semi-finished and finished products that are traded form farm gate, factory, or warehouse to consumer markets.

A.        Profile
You are supporting the Senior Technical Advisor and the Project Leader of the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) project with operational tasks for the implementation of component 3 (esp. on agri-trade promotion and market) and related subject matters such as agricultural value chains, agri-business and private public partnerships. This includes support for conceptualization, planning and implementing of major project activities within the component. The position involves key responsibilities in screening and analyzing markets, businesses agri-trade promotion strategies, programs at the ECOWAS and member states levels as well as cooperating with regional business chambers, trade promotion agencies, associations of trade actors etc. You give technical and institutional support and back-stop activities of implementing partners within the component 3. Main activities are the support and follow up of trade promotion and market access measures for the private sector, contribution to M&E and knowledge management, provision of project data and report writing/ documentation. A special focus is on women in cross border trade and measures to support small scale trade and leadership of women. Good communication skills for assuring a good cooperation with implementing partners, stakeholders and private sector actors as well as target groups on various levels is one of your strengths. You are taking over responsibility proactivity within your scope of work and have a results-oriented and structured way preforming according to agreements and plans. You contribute essentially to outputs 3 of the project and are motivated to travel in the ECOWAS region (different levels of value chain) and work in close contact with partners and stakeholders.

As a Technical Advisor, you will have the following responsibilities and tasks:

1.      Project implementation and backstopping

• Gives support the Senior Technical Advisor on the implementation of component 3 and private sector cooperation in the ECOWAS region
• Contributes to planning, organization and implementation of activities and events in component 3
• Supports the drafting of TOR, the initiation of service or financial contracts with partners or consultancies and accompanies partners and service providers during the contract period
• Backstops, follows-up and adapts activities and assures the achievement of results in both outputs

2.      Technical advice and inputs

•  Sources and processes data from implementing partners and consultants in collaboration with the Monitoring and Communication Expert; extract findings, results and recommendations of studies; extract key messages for policy advice
•  Gives updates on agricultural trade promotion news and information in the ECOWAS region (markets, commodities, businesses, private sector innovations in agri trade, support programs and services provided by associations and chambers etc, events and agri-business news)
•  Scopes for innovation and new solutions in trade promotion, access to markets, market and price information that the project can support or use
•  Prepares and organizes technical activities carried out by EAT and assures the quality of activities done by implementing partners with the backing of the Senior Technical Advisor

3.      Communication and facilitation

• Screens the private sector landscape in agi trade and agri business and makes contact to potential partners; manages and documents contacts partner networks
• Contributes to fluent communication and reporting of important information and knowledge with partners and within the technical team
• Informs the project team on best practises and obstacles during implementation
• Facilitates and moderate during technical meetings
• Supports the Project Leader and the Monitoring and Communication Expert on knowledge management and learning through evaluation of activities carried out, identification of lessons learned and best practices.

C.        Required qualifications, Competences and Experience

Qualifications

University BSc degree in agronomy, economics, business management, marketing or other related field of study

Professional Experience

• At least 3 years’ experience working in the areas of trade promotion (public-private partnership projects, training concepts, services for traders, esp. women, work with associations and chambers), agri-business and agricultural value chains in West Africa.
• At least 2 years of professional experience in the private sector rated to trade or agri-business, experience in cooperation and communication with public and private partners institutions
• Previous work with regional and national business chambers such as FEWACCI and associations such as WACTAF or NANTS is an advantage
• Know the political environment, cultural and socio-economic context in at least 1 other West African country esp. related to agri trade promotion and agri-business/ trade
• A deep understanding of the regional context in trade promotion for agricultural value chains  

Other skills and competences

• Ability to implement activities in a dynamic business environment by understanding the different abilities and capacities of partners and actors.
• Capability to analyze and summarize specific trade related aspects, find pragmatic solutions for specific contexts related to challenges in agricultural trade facilitation
• Identify policy network in the region that are capable to contribute to the objective of the project
• Spoken and written language skills in English (level C2); French would be an advantage.
• Proficient use of MS Office and MS TeamsAbility to implement activities in a dynamic business environment by understanding the different abilities and capacities of partners and actors.
• Capability to analyze and summarize specific trade related aspects, find pragmatic solutions for specific contexts related to challenges in agricultural trade facilitation
• Identify policy network in the region that are capable to contribute to the objective of the project
• Spoken and written language skills in English (level C2); French would be an advantage.
• Proficient use of MS Office and MS Teams

go to method of application »

GIZ EAT - a vibrant new project for the ECOWAS region

The BMZ funded regional project ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) is implemented by GIZ and officially started in January 2022 with a funding of 10 Mio. EUR for 5 years. The project management unit is based in Abuja. Major activities will start from January 2023. The project focuses on five countries, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and three others to be determined with the partner.

The objective of EAT is to improve institutional and technical requirements for intra-regional agricultural trade in the ECOWAS region and selected countries. The main partner is the ECOWAS commission (Directorates for agriculture, trade and customs), regional organizations and national line ministries or trade associations.

EAT works on 3 components:

1.    Strengthen the role of the ECOWAS Commission in coordinating sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade instruments with ECOWAS Member States

2.    Support sustainable gender-sensitive agricultural trade facilitation measures and services for traders at border posts and along agricultural trade value chains.

3.    Improve regional agri-trade promotion services and business performance of the traders.

The target group of the project comprises trade companies, organizations and actors in agri-food sector trade in the ECOWAS region. The supported agricultural commodities are raw, semi-finished and finished products that are traded form farm gate, factory or warehouse to consumer markets.

A.        Profile

You are supporting the Project Leader of the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) project with key strategic and operational tasks along the project cycle such as conceptualization, planning and implementing or backstopping of all project components. You are representing the project in absence of the Project Leader and when needed, collaborate with 2 Technical Advisors and an Administrative and Financial team to manage and implement activities. The position involves key responsibilities to support the ECOWAS Commission in policy advice for trade facilitation and trade promotion by providing technical advice. Another key responsibility is to assure on-track project implementation and sound management. Excellent and adaptive communication skills to support political partners, private sector actors, target groups and team members on various levels is one of your main strengths. You are taking over responsibility proactivity within your scope of work and have a results-oriented way performing in a team approach. This includes co-leadership for the technical advisors in the team. With a mind-set and passion to improve processes for management change and innovation, you contribute essentially to major project outputs and key requirements of ECOWAS Commission. You find the right balance between service orientation and convincing partners to change perspectives. You have a motivation to frequently travel within the ECOWAS region and to work in close contact with various partners and stakeholders in different contexts.

As a Senior Technical Advisor, you will have the following responsibilities and tasks:

1.      Project management and co-leadership

• Give advice to the Project Leader on strategic and operational aspects and assures co-leadership for the team
• Supports the Project Leader with management, backstopping and technical inputs related to all components
• Ensure proactively a sound and efficient planning, organization and implementation of activities and events
• Assure the use of (digital) GIZ project management tools during implementation
• Contributes to the elaboration of a Capacity Development Strategy for the project and to a communication strategy
• Drafts TOR, initiates and manages service or financial contracts according to the overall planning
• Manages, backstops, follows-up implementation of activities in 3 components with the 2 Technical Advisors and with partners
• Assures efficient collaboration between technical and financial teams for project implementation
• Assures the compliance with GIZ rules and standards within the technical team
• Leads and motivates the technical team to take responsibility for their work and to provide quality results
• Travels to countries within the ECOWAS region to assure quality of implementation and to manage partner networks

2.      Policy advice and technical inputs

•  Assures the availability of data, findings, results and recommendations of studies
•  Feeds back information and knowledge into policy advice and formulation of agri-trade instruments and measures; extract key messages for policy advice
•  Give updates on major developments and events in agricultural trade policies, trade promotion and facilitation in the ECOWAS region. Manages information on agri-trade and sector policies, news and events with 2 Technical Advisors and the Monitoring and Communication Expert
•  Organizes joint activities with ECOWAS and members states at political level with the GIZ and ECOWAS advisors

3.      Communication, facilitation, partner and knowledge management

• Assure fluent communication with ECOWAS Commission and other regional partner institutions at technical levels
• Focal person for the GIZ Advisor at ECOWAS Commission to assure the exchange of information and the cooperation on activities
• Facilitate and moderate during conferences and workshops, as well as team meetings
• Organize a system for partner network management with key partners
• Support the Project Leader and the Monitoring and Communication Expert on knowledge management and learning through evaluation of activities carried out, identification of lessons learned and best practices.
• Assures flow of information and high degree of collaboration in the project team and other GIZ units, esp. M&E, technical and financial staff

C.        Required qualifications, Competences and Experience

Qualifications

Master’s degree in agronomy, international economics, geography, political sciences (with special qualifications in economics or agronomy) or other related field of study

Professional Experience

• At least 7 years’ experience working in the areas of agricultural value chains, trade or market development with the private and public sector in West Africa.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in project management, policy and technical advice, cooperation and communication with public and private partners institutions.
• Previous work with regional institutions such as ECOWAS Commission, regional business chambers and associations is an advantage
• Know the business environment, cultural and socio-economic context in at least 2 other West African countries esp. related to agricultural value chains and trade
• A deep understanding of the work and mandate of the ECOWAS commission on agricultural and trade policies, implementation of ECOWAS trade instruments in the member states and knowledge of the regional context in trade promotion and facilitation for agricultural value chains  

Other skills and competences

• Ability to work in a highly political and dynamic context from regional to national and local levels by understanding the different mandates and interests of institutions and actors.
• Capability to analyze and summarize complex situations, find pragmatic solutions for complex technical and policy related challenges in agricultural trade promotion and facilitation
• Identify policy and business network in the region that are capable to contribute to the objective of the project
• Spoken and written language skills in English (level C2) and French (level C2) are required for this position.
• Proficient use of MS Office and MS Teams