Job Vacancy-AGRIBUSINESS SPECIALIST-SKY-AVSI Foundation

DESIGNATION: AGRIBUSINESS SPECIALIST – SKY - (2 POSITIONS)
DUTY STATION: 1 BASED IN MBALE AND 1 BASED IN MBARARA

ORGANISATIONAL DESCRIPTION:
AVSI Foundation is an International NGO which has been operating in Uganda since 1984, implementing various programmes in several districts in the country in the sectors of Health, HIV/AIDS, Disability, Education, Food Security, Agriculture, Livelihoods and Nutrition.

PROGRAMME BACKGROUND:
AVSI is implementing a 5 year project titled “Skilling Youths for Employment in Agribusiness (SKY)”. The Goal of the proposed intervention is to enhance sustainable creation of employment of youths in the agribusiness sector. The programme intends to achieve this through the following four main objectives:

1. Strengthen the capacities of the agri-skills providers in a sustainable way to provide marketable and employable skilling
2. Provide pre and post-employment support to the skilled youths
3. Create strategic linkages of agribusiness for enhanced capacity building through skilling and brokerage
4. Facilitate Skilling Uganda Authority to be supportive to agri-skilling in the targeted areas.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the Agribusiness Development Specialist (BDS) based in Mbale or Mbarara respectively, the Agribusiness Specialist will be responsible for the implementation of objective 2 in his/her area of operation (Eastern or Western Uganda) and shall carry out the following duties and responsibilities.

Key Functions:

• Work closely with the agribusinesses and job brokers to design and test work/entrepreneurship related activities and learning objectives that help young people to secure jobs or start agribusinesses; 
• Facilitate job shadowing activities, agriprenuership training workshops, publications and/or special career events as needed and assigned in order to increase youth awareness of job opportunities and to build youth ‘soft skills’ for job readiness and retention. 
• Provide labor market and vocational information to participants and match participants’ skills, aptitude and abilities to prospective employment openings and make referrals to secure job placement. 
• Provide outreach services to market the program and recruit participants. 
• Provide support agribusinesses in the implementation of activities that support youth work and entrepreneurship; 
• Ensure strong alignment between market assessment results, learning pathways and youth employment throughout the project;
• Work closely with the agro-institutions and agribusinesses to facilitate internships and practical training approaches to enhance youth work readiness and entrepreneurship skilling.
• Support agribusinesses to carry out youth on the job skilling activities both in relation to the learning component and, more specifically, in relation to the employment/entrepreneurship component. 
• Provide ongoing technical assistance to the agribusinesses and agro-institutions and foster opportunities for actors to learn from each other. 
• Identify additional technical assistance needs among the trained youths and coordinate their capacity building. 
• In consultation with the BDS, ensure that skilling approaches foster the participation of youth and the private sector as well as relevant actors. 
• Offer business mentorship for the self-employed youths;
• Assist in interim and final assessments of agribusiness and youths progress and other project evaluations 
• Develop frameworks and support youths to document case studies and success stories related to youth skilling and employment 
• Represent and profile the project, its objectives and results, in publications and presentations
• Seek and leverage opportunities for partnership for youth and actors in the agricultural sector and its value chains and share these opportunities with other; 
• Coordinate closely with the team from Enterprise Uganda, LGHIE and others to ensure that other trainings are synchronized and adds value.

COMPETENCIES.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in youth in agribusiness capacity building;
• Experience in working with public sector, private sector and agro-training institutes on institutional development or similar projects will be an asset;
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of performance of business units and/or regional/local or community socio-economic development projects is desirable.
• Experience in training, teaching or mentoring role
• Resourcefulness, strategic thinking, creative problem solving and basic financial management skills.

Corporate and Functional Competencies:

• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.
• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.
• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of program, managing data, reporting;
• Focuses on result for the client and responses positively to feedback.

Education:

• University Degree in Education Management, Economics, Agribusiness, Small Business Management or related field and experience working in an entrepreneurial environment or as owner/manager of a training or learning firm
• Proven ability to follow through on objectives and produce timely results with little supervision
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written.

Desirable

• Experience of work in farming zones, social entrepreneurship, small business and/or private sector engagement.
• Experience in innovative product development
• Knowledge or experience in value chain development
• Knowledge of the local context and language is an asset

Application:
A convincing cover letter, accompanied with updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) indicating 3 work related referees, plus copies of relevant certificates, should be addressed to: The Human Resource Manager, AVSI Foundation, P.O.Box 6785, Kampala, Uganda and sent to hr.kampala@avsi.org, indicating the e-mail subject as ‘Application for Agribusiness Specialist – Mbale or Mbarara’, respectively.

THE CLOSING DATE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS IS 5.00 P.M, 11TH MARCH 2016.

Note: Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

AVSI Foundation, Plot 1119, Ggaba Road, P.O. Box 6785 Kampala – Uganda. Tel: +256-414-501604/393-50160. http://uganda.avsi.org/.

Note:
Agasha Group Limited/Agribusiness Platform has been authorised to distribute the Job description. To get the original pdf job document, email: agribusinessplatform@gmail.com.