Business Development Adviser

WECF - Women in Europe for a Common Future - is an international network of over a 140 organisations working in 40 countries worldwide. WECF focuses on promoting a healthy environment for all and strengthening the role of women in sustainable development at local, regional, national and international level. Focus areas for WECF are Energy and Climate Change, Water and Sanitation, Chemicals and Health and Sustainable Agriculture. WECF was created as a result of the Rio 1992 Earth Summit, to give the women’s major group a voice in sustainable development policies locally and globally. Historically WECF’s local projects focused on countries in Europe, Balkan, Caucasus, Central Asia and in Afghanistan, but more recently activities have moved to countries worldwide.

The Business Development Advisor will be part of the EWA (Empower Women – Benefit for All) project team. The aim of the EWA project is to increase the economic self reliance and political participation of 25,000 people (70% women) in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uganda and South Africa.  The project started in 2012 and will continue till December 2015.

For more information see: www.wecf.eu and http://www.wecf.eu/english/about-wecf/issues-projects/projects/EWA-empowermentforall.php

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

• Coordinate the implementation of the economic empowerment part of the EWA programme including planning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation.
• Assess the current capacity of the local partners on small scale business trainings and market studies in particular targeting smallholder farmers, and make an inventory of the tools and materials they use.
• Capacity building of local partners and other local stakeholders in the area of small scale business development and marketing studies.
• Enhance the training concepts and materials currently used by local partners with a special focus on women friendly and environmentally sustainable business opportunities.
• Coordinate the implementation of three marketing studies and/or value chain analyses of agriculture related products; develop ideas to increase the impact of the programme.
• Develop concepts on the commercialization of sustainable technical solutions like fruit dryers, solar panels and dry toilets and the role women can play in this.
• Stimulate learning and sharing amongst partners, play an active role in the promotion of the EWA activities via social media.  
• Active participation in EWA team meetings and other staff meetings

Profile

• University degree in a relevant field.
• 5- 10 Years of working experience in the area of small scale business development, preferably in the EECCA region. Experience on the implementation of value chain analyses is a pre.
• Good working knowledge on environmental and gender concepts and the ability to mainstream those concepts in all aspects of the work
• Capacity to  develop new ideas & concepts and a strong drive for continuous learning and improving
• Good training and communication skills. The candidate has the ability to motivate partners.   
• Excellent communication and writing skills in Dutch and English. Russian is a strong advantage
• Good computer skills
• Flexible, willing to travel

Applications
Salary indication: € 2,519 – 3,884 based upon a 40 hour working week. If you are interested in this vacancy, please send a motivation letter and CV to vacature@wecf.eubefore 15 November 2013. For questions contact the Operational Director - Maureen Brouwer (030-2310300).