Re-Advertisement at CARE: Project Manager – Enhancing Crop Yield and Profitability in Kenya through Biological Plant Protection Project
CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in 100 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis. These solutions have a broad range, from disaster response to food and nutrition to education and work for women and girls to healthy mothers and children. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because when they have equal access to resources, they lift their families and communities out of poverty. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for 75 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us, and Fight with CARE.
Job Summary
Reporting to the Program Director, the project manager is responsible for technical oversight for the overall project and budget management, and line management of key project staff by ensuring timely and adequate implementation. Proper planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, partner management and innovations for the project.
Roles and Responsibilities
R1: Support Technical Excellence in Program Implementation Via Direct Support to Consortium Project Teams
- Deliver market and value chain related outputs in collaboration with project teams including scoping studies for biological products, market assessments, market systems development and associated business cases
- Develop, iterate and deliver training materials required for markets and value chain interventions for project team deployment in consultation with the County Government – with a focus on Farmer Field and Business School establishment and management, environmentally sustainable agricultural production, quality farm inputs, enterprise development, gender integration and value chain development.
- Provide advice on access to finance for smallholder farmers and rural enterprises, with regard in particular to the scaling of our interventions, including impact investment, micro credit and bank finance
R2: Internal and External Networking and Support
- Promote project consortium in numerous external, high-profile events to showcase our impact and learnings and develop new partnerships
- Support the consortium in developing relationships with private sector actors for partnerships both in the country and in our counties of operation
- Actively network and participate in industry events to identify potential opportunities for the organization and relevant resources to ensure consortium is aware of industry innovation and best practice.
- Participate in internal and external webinars and events as a panelist to promote consortium’s work and share our successes, learnings and insights.
- Represent CARE in relevant community development planning meetings.
- Establish and maintain a good working relationship with other CARE colleagues and project staff, Partner agencies, County government, CBOs, collaborators, other stakeholders and enhance CARE image.
- Liaise with the National, County government officials, CBOs, collaborators and other stakeholders as appropriate.
- Enhance teamwork and synergy in programming and CARE’s activities.
R3: Project Management and Coordination
- Approve all travel expenses reports (TERs), Project advances and Procurement requests
- Liaise with the Procurement Manager and Field staff to ensure smooth and timeliness in the operations of the project financial and procurement services’ need.
- Prepare quarterly procurement schedules and process according to CARE and donor regulations with the Program Coordinator.
- Monitor project expenses in coordination with the CARE Finance’s tracking systems and monthly
- Contract Budget Statement reports and maintain strict adherence to CARE financial policy.
- Ensure rationalized utility of the program assets
R4: Reporting and Contract Compliance
- Facilitate the collaborative development of a comprehensive M&E Plan, Detailed Project Implementation Plan and Operational Plan together with the program team and implementing partners.
- Support in organizing M&E strengthening workshop for implementing partners and using the results of the workshops to improve on the PMF and overall project delivery.
- Support in the development of action plan for operationalizing the M&E plan for Project.
- Support in mentorship of the partner M&E staff to support the development of the M&E system
- Review M&E reports from partners and in accordance to contracts and develop a system for validation of information provided by partners.
- Organize and oversee field visits and monitoring plans for ongoing monitoring and review of ongoing project activities; with a view to ascertain that activities are ongoing and that results and outputs shared with CARE are genuine and within approved priorities funded, which will be used to make decisions concerning revisions/adjustments to implementing partner’s contracts.
- Develop management project progress update reports.
- Support in the organization of partner review meetings taking into consideration performance review by various actors, in order to inform challenges and progress in program implementation.
- Support in the organization of partner review and sharing sessions for CARE and partners to present project progress updates, lessons learnt and best practices to enhance performance.
R5: Staff Management
- Supervise staff, while ensuring that they fully understand their responsibilities, work as a team and deliver on their tasks in a timely manner.
- Ensure staffs have detailed implementation plans and these are reviewed and updated regularly with feedbacks provided on areas requiring improvements.
- Guide, supervise, coach, manage, mentor, provide leadership and support to the project staff on a day to day basis to meet program tasks and responsibilities, to deliver within contractual obligations.
- Support hiring of competent staff and orient them in a timely manner to implement in line with contractual obligations and CAREs policies and procedures.
- Support staff to develop Individual Operating Plans for purposes of strengthening their performance and the performance of the program.
- Undertake annual staff appraisal in line with JD and IOP requirements on a timely manner.
- In a timely manner notify and consult the supervisor and human resource department and CAREs management on any staff concerns related to their conduct, performance, confirmation, and disciplinary issues while ensuring that policies and procedures are adhered to.
Qualifications
- Must have a bachelor’s degree, and preferably an advanced degree, or equivalent in Agriculture, Rural development/livelihoods, agribusiness or other relevant field.
- Minimum of five years’ experience working in agricultural development, value chains, enterprise, access to finance and/or agribusiness in an East African setting and Kenya in particular
- Consulting, corporate sustainability, start-up and/or financial sector experience preferred.
- Experience in agricultural market & value chain analysis, designing and piloting out-grower schemes or other activities linking small holder farmers to agricultural commodities markets
- Experience in potatoes coffee, maize and sugarcane value chains preferred
- Experience in enterprise development, business analytics and SME financing – with a particular focus on agri-businesses and producer organizations
- Experience in commodity price risk management, and financial modelling for agribusinesses
- Experience building capacity development plans for SMEs and producer organizations
- Experience with certification of farmers and their associations like Fair Trade or organic
- Demonstrated experience providing financial and business analysis that increase the competitiveness and inclusiveness of SME and value chain actors
- Capable of working largely independently. In addition to managing the members of the Country Project Team, s/he is expected to interact extensively with the Program Technical Team
Additional Information
WORKING CONDITIONS
This position will be based in Nairobi with travel to the project sites in 2 counties, Nyandarua and Machakos.
Contacts/Key Relationships
This role is expected to establish and maintain open, professional, and cordial relations with the COs internal and external customers. These include and not limited to:
External: Government agencies, partner organizations, key project stakeholders, service providers
Internal: CARE staff, Project team
Deadline to receive all applications will be on or before 29th November 2021, at 5.00 P.M EAT.
Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Canvassing will lead to automatic disqualification.
CARE does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. Qualified Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply. CARE has a commitment to gender, equity and diversity in our workplace and operations. CARE respects and values diversity and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, age, disability, religion or politics. This is reflected in our recruitment decisions which are made entirely through a transparent, merit-based selection process. All CARE staffs are required to comply with the Code of Conduct, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and Child Protection (CP) policies.
