Coordinator Capacity Strengthening ICRA East Africa
ICRA is an international centre established in 1981 by European members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR) to support leadership and develop critical mass in facilitating knowledge-based rural and agricultural innovation. ICRA does so
by providing training and coaching to ssionalsprofe and to inter-organizational and multidisciplinary teams of staff from education, research, and development organizations in the following areas: Agricultural Researchfor Development (ARD, AR4D); Advisory Services; Agribusiness coaching and Higher and Vocational Education outreach (and action research).
ICRA’s capacity strengthening programs ear pragmatic and non-academic, and typically
involve a (repeated) sequence of phases:
• Knowledge acquisition (adult / non-academic learning modules);
• Field assignments (learning by doing and, preferably, in teams);
• Coaching of alumni to practise knowledgenew and skillswithin their own
organizational and institutional context;
• Reflection sessions, to exchange experiencesand identify / analyse opportunities to
improve impact.
As part of its mandate, ICRA supports several multi-stakeholder partnerships in the South, involving ICRA’s alumni, to establish:
1) Dynamic learning networks and develop clusters of innovation, and
2) National level platforms, facilitating stitutionalin change in support of research and education for development.
ICRA has partnerships and extensive alumninetworks in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and Uganda.
ICRA has accumulated significant experience training of agribusiness coaches – in particular in the Dutch-funded IFDC-Africaproject called 1000s+. This project will be followed up, as of 1 June 2012, by a new projectentitled “Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship” (2SCALE). 2SCALE will develop a portfolio of 500 agribusiness clusters in ninetarget countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, zambique,Mo South Sudan and Uganda). The agribusiness cluster approach is designed to help rural smallholders move from subsistence farming to farming as a business and to supply agricultural productsfor local, national, regional and international markets. Specific attention will be given to ‘Base of the Pyramid’ (BoP) markets. The project will partner with national and multinational agro-food companies as drivers to increase productivity and to improve efficiencyand sustainability of supported agribusiness clusters.
The 2SCALE project will be implemented roughth a consortium of 3 institutions IFDC, ICRA and the BoP-innovation center. The project has 2 main offices, co-located with IFDC divisional offices in Accra for West Africa andin Nairobi for East and Southern Africa, with technical and administrative staff in the 9 target countries.Local Business Support Services (BSS) will play a key role in the implementation of activities.
The 1000s+ project has made clear that there isa need for qualified ‘hands-on’ coaching to (co-)facilitate coordinated learning and action for scaling-up of agribusiness development.
The 2SCALE project therefore aims to develop more critical mass, in terms of bothindividual and organizational capacity in Africa, to facilitate agribusiness cluster formation and value chain development. At the individual level, the project aims to develop a significant number of agribusiness coaches. Thes coaches basically operate at the interface between 2SCALE staff and cluster (including BSS) and value chain actors.
ICRA takes the lead in the Capacity Strengthening activities of the project, specifically geared towards the trainers and coaches asintermediates between the 2SCALE staff and the BSS.
Position Summary
The East Africa Coordinator Capacity Strengthening will lead the Capacity Strengthening activities in the East African target countries of the 2SCALE project (i.e., Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, south Sudan, and Mozambique). S/he will be based in one these countries, possibly Kenya (within the IFDC country office) and will act under the supervision of the project supervisor - ICRA. Capacity Strengthening is an integrated part of all project activities. It is therefore of utmost importance that the Coordinator Capacity Strengthening collaborates closely with all other project staff (i.e., from IFDC and BoP Innovation Center) within and, when required, beyond East Africa.
Duties
• Develop a tailor-made Training-of-Trainers program for selected professionals on facilitating interactive learning and concerted action in competitive arenas (agribusiness clusters, value chains, transactional governance). These professionals will constitute a pool of trainers1, who in turn will implement an intensive program intended to produce a significant number of qualified agribusiness coaches.
• Design and manage an in-depth capacitystrengthening program, implemented byprofessionals from the pool of agribusiness trainers, to expand the number of professional agribusiness coaches and to support (targeted) BSSs involved inproject-supported clusters and chains. The program will follow a sequenced format, with training and reflection sessions before and after work in the field.
• Monitor the performance of agribusiness achesco by collecting feedback and through reflection workshops.
• Conduct a series of learning programs for selected BSSs to build leadership in agribusiness facilitation and to strengthen performance and expand the reach of the
project.
• Establish a community-of-practice for agribusiness trainers and coaches and BSSs
involved in facilitation of interactive learning and collective action in support of inclusive agribusiness.
• Organize workshops for the 2SCALE team toexchange experiences and lessons learned and to document and reflect on interesting cases. These sessions will help align strategies and promote sharing of best practices between the West and East African teams.
• Develop training manuals, modules and othermaterials, in close collaboration with
his/her counterpart in West Africa.
• Collaborate with partner organizations in the Agricultural Education and Training (AET)
sector in the targetedcountries to anchor their ningtrai programs and to assist in
enhancing the relevancy of the AET systemfor an increasingly professional agribusiness
sector.
• Write and submit quality progress and other technical progress reports or notes (including text and pictures) with a strict respect of deadlines.
• Produce technical papers, success stories and possible video-scenario highlights to support capacity strengthening activities, and to promote public awareness.
• Develop activity budgets whenever needed and in compliance with 2SCALE’s policies, regulations and procedures.
• Monitor expenditures vs. budgets available for activities and operations, and avoid both underspending and overspending.
• Prepare monthly fund requests with a strict respect of deadlines.
Any other assignment that the project supervisor of ICRA deems necessary for the success of the project or contribution to the work of ICRA as a global institution.
Supervision
The Coordinator Capacity Strengthening will beupervised by and report to the project supervisor of ICRA, based in Wageningen, the Netherlands.
S/he will collaborate closely with the Regional Agribusiness Coordinator (based in Nairobi, Kenya), with the Cluster Advisors (CA) in thetarget countries, as well as with cross-cutting regional staff.
Job requirement
• Advanced degree in agricultural economics, communications, extension or rural development.
• Proven experience in organizing and conducting a variety of training programs – e.g., technical, business, marketing, management, organizational
• At least 10 years working experience with agriculture in East Africa
• Knowledge of and experience in ngtrainiand train the trainer concepts and
methodologies
• Ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels involved in the
project and to stimulate a genuinely participatory and inter-active learning process
• Ability to speak and write effectively in English; some basic knowledge of French will be considered as an asset
• Ability to work independently and to take initiative.
• Computer literate with knowledge of relevant software (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and communication soft-ware)
The position will require frequent regional travel.
What we offer
ICRA offers a dynamic international work environment with and attractive remuneration in accordance with experience.
Interested candidates should send a letter of interest-motivation and up- dated CV to Dr. Toon Defoer,
Toondefoer1@gmail.com and to ICRA@wur.nl, before the 20th of June 2012.
by providing training and coaching to ssionalsprofe and to inter-organizational and multidisciplinary teams of staff from education, research, and development organizations in the following areas: Agricultural Researchfor Development (ARD, AR4D); Advisory Services; Agribusiness coaching and Higher and Vocational Education outreach (and action research).
ICRA’s capacity strengthening programs ear pragmatic and non-academic, and typically
involve a (repeated) sequence of phases:
• Knowledge acquisition (adult / non-academic learning modules);
• Field assignments (learning by doing and, preferably, in teams);
• Coaching of alumni to practise knowledgenew and skillswithin their own
organizational and institutional context;
• Reflection sessions, to exchange experiencesand identify / analyse opportunities to
improve impact.
As part of its mandate, ICRA supports several multi-stakeholder partnerships in the South, involving ICRA’s alumni, to establish:
1) Dynamic learning networks and develop clusters of innovation, and
2) National level platforms, facilitating stitutionalin change in support of research and education for development.
ICRA has partnerships and extensive alumninetworks in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and Uganda.
ICRA has accumulated significant experience training of agribusiness coaches – in particular in the Dutch-funded IFDC-Africaproject called 1000s+. This project will be followed up, as of 1 June 2012, by a new projectentitled “Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship” (2SCALE). 2SCALE will develop a portfolio of 500 agribusiness clusters in ninetarget countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, zambique,Mo South Sudan and Uganda). The agribusiness cluster approach is designed to help rural smallholders move from subsistence farming to farming as a business and to supply agricultural productsfor local, national, regional and international markets. Specific attention will be given to ‘Base of the Pyramid’ (BoP) markets. The project will partner with national and multinational agro-food companies as drivers to increase productivity and to improve efficiencyand sustainability of supported agribusiness clusters.
The 2SCALE project will be implemented roughth a consortium of 3 institutions IFDC, ICRA and the BoP-innovation center. The project has 2 main offices, co-located with IFDC divisional offices in Accra for West Africa andin Nairobi for East and Southern Africa, with technical and administrative staff in the 9 target countries.Local Business Support Services (BSS) will play a key role in the implementation of activities.
The 1000s+ project has made clear that there isa need for qualified ‘hands-on’ coaching to (co-)facilitate coordinated learning and action for scaling-up of agribusiness development.
The 2SCALE project therefore aims to develop more critical mass, in terms of bothindividual and organizational capacity in Africa, to facilitate agribusiness cluster formation and value chain development. At the individual level, the project aims to develop a significant number of agribusiness coaches. Thes coaches basically operate at the interface between 2SCALE staff and cluster (including BSS) and value chain actors.
ICRA takes the lead in the Capacity Strengthening activities of the project, specifically geared towards the trainers and coaches asintermediates between the 2SCALE staff and the BSS.
Position Summary
The East Africa Coordinator Capacity Strengthening will lead the Capacity Strengthening activities in the East African target countries of the 2SCALE project (i.e., Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, south Sudan, and Mozambique). S/he will be based in one these countries, possibly Kenya (within the IFDC country office) and will act under the supervision of the project supervisor - ICRA. Capacity Strengthening is an integrated part of all project activities. It is therefore of utmost importance that the Coordinator Capacity Strengthening collaborates closely with all other project staff (i.e., from IFDC and BoP Innovation Center) within and, when required, beyond East Africa.
Duties
• Develop a tailor-made Training-of-Trainers program for selected professionals on facilitating interactive learning and concerted action in competitive arenas (agribusiness clusters, value chains, transactional governance). These professionals will constitute a pool of trainers1, who in turn will implement an intensive program intended to produce a significant number of qualified agribusiness coaches.
• Design and manage an in-depth capacitystrengthening program, implemented byprofessionals from the pool of agribusiness trainers, to expand the number of professional agribusiness coaches and to support (targeted) BSSs involved inproject-supported clusters and chains. The program will follow a sequenced format, with training and reflection sessions before and after work in the field.
• Monitor the performance of agribusiness achesco by collecting feedback and through reflection workshops.
• Conduct a series of learning programs for selected BSSs to build leadership in agribusiness facilitation and to strengthen performance and expand the reach of the
project.
• Establish a community-of-practice for agribusiness trainers and coaches and BSSs
involved in facilitation of interactive learning and collective action in support of inclusive agribusiness.
• Organize workshops for the 2SCALE team toexchange experiences and lessons learned and to document and reflect on interesting cases. These sessions will help align strategies and promote sharing of best practices between the West and East African teams.
• Develop training manuals, modules and othermaterials, in close collaboration with
his/her counterpart in West Africa.
• Collaborate with partner organizations in the Agricultural Education and Training (AET)
sector in the targetedcountries to anchor their ningtrai programs and to assist in
enhancing the relevancy of the AET systemfor an increasingly professional agribusiness
sector.
• Write and submit quality progress and other technical progress reports or notes (including text and pictures) with a strict respect of deadlines.
• Produce technical papers, success stories and possible video-scenario highlights to support capacity strengthening activities, and to promote public awareness.
• Develop activity budgets whenever needed and in compliance with 2SCALE’s policies, regulations and procedures.
• Monitor expenditures vs. budgets available for activities and operations, and avoid both underspending and overspending.
• Prepare monthly fund requests with a strict respect of deadlines.
Any other assignment that the project supervisor of ICRA deems necessary for the success of the project or contribution to the work of ICRA as a global institution.
Supervision
The Coordinator Capacity Strengthening will beupervised by and report to the project supervisor of ICRA, based in Wageningen, the Netherlands.
S/he will collaborate closely with the Regional Agribusiness Coordinator (based in Nairobi, Kenya), with the Cluster Advisors (CA) in thetarget countries, as well as with cross-cutting regional staff.
Job requirement
• Advanced degree in agricultural economics, communications, extension or rural development.
• Proven experience in organizing and conducting a variety of training programs – e.g., technical, business, marketing, management, organizational
• At least 10 years working experience with agriculture in East Africa
• Knowledge of and experience in ngtrainiand train the trainer concepts and
methodologies
• Ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels involved in the
project and to stimulate a genuinely participatory and inter-active learning process
• Ability to speak and write effectively in English; some basic knowledge of French will be considered as an asset
• Ability to work independently and to take initiative.
• Computer literate with knowledge of relevant software (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and communication soft-ware)
The position will require frequent regional travel.
What we offer
ICRA offers a dynamic international work environment with and attractive remuneration in accordance with experience.
Interested candidates should send a letter of interest-motivation and up- dated CV to Dr. Toon Defoer,
Toondefoer1@gmail.com and to ICRA@wur.nl, before the 20th of June 2012.
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