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Job Summary

Africa Lead II Agricultural Development Young Professionals Internship Program

Africa Lead II—the Feed the Future: Building Capacity for African Agricultural Transformation Program—supports the advancement of agricultural transformation in Africa as proposed by the African Union Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). Simultaneously, Africa Lead II contributes to the Feed the Future (FTF) goals of reduced hunger and poverty by building the capacity of Champions—defined as men and women leaders in agriculture—to develop, lead, and manage the policies, structures and processes needed for the transformation process.

The scope of Africa Lead II is divided into three components, as follows:

•   Component One: Establishing and Improving Effectiveness of Institutional and Organizational Architecture for African-Led Agricultural Transformation.
•   Component Two: Strengthening Capacity to Manage and Implement the Policy Change and Alignment Process.
•   Component Three: Promoting the Effective Participation of Non-State Actors  (NSAs) in the Policy Process and Providing Capacity Strengthening Support when Necessary.

Africa Lead II’s Agriculture Internship Program aims to facilitate more efficient agricultural production, stronger agribusinesses and agricultural development institutions, a more direct link between NARS and farmers, and greater value addition in the agriculture sector across Africa. The broad goal is to support skills transfer and technological know-how that will help African agribusinesses and organizations to innovate, improve their commercial viability and catalyze agricultural transformation, thus contributing to improved food security.

The Africa Lead II Program welcomes applications from candidates interested in pursuing these young professionals development opportunities. Placement terms will be for a period of 12 months with anticipated postings  in  ECOWAS member states :Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Cape Verde.
Housing, monthly stipend, living allowances, round-trip airfare and related travel expenses to worksite  will be covered by the program. These 12 month young professionals development opportunities are not guarantees for full time employment upon successful completion of the placement.

Responsibilities

•   Serve as a primary liaison for general administration and back-stopping for department program portfolio.
•   Help develop scopes of work and budgets and participates in meetings and conference calls with partners and stakeholder.
•   Assist with the development and dissemination of request for proposals for service providers to provide capacity development services.
•   Communicate and coordinate with department staff their service requirement needs.
•   Assist with the development of the projects scopes of works, identifies service providers, and coordinates with the technical and logistics teams regarding the execution, implementation and monitoring of activities.
•   Review reports and deliverables received from service providers and partners, including training organizations, trainers and consultants.
•   Help coordinate the implementation and delivery of capacity development services on and off –site with respective partners.
•   Contribute to writing and preparation of Quarterly and Annual reports.
•   Provide regular updates and reports on

Qualification Required & Experience

•   A minimum of Bachelor’s degree in social science, agricultural science or related field
•   Technical experience  and demonstrate research and writing skills agriculture development and institution capacity building preferred.
•   Solid communication, organizational and writing skills
•   Demonstrated coordination and facilitation experience required
•   Excellent Interpersonal skills
•   Ability to multi-task and manage competing priorities
•   Fluency in French and English is required.

General Minimum Required Qualifications

•   Bachelor’s degree Minimum , plus 2 years of relevant administrative or technical professional experience; or  a Master’s degree preferred with 1 year of relevant administrative or technical professional experience
•   Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
•   BS/BA degree required, advance degree preferred
•   Excellent oral and written communication skills
•   Must be able to travel and be based within Regional Institution in West Africa during the entire duration of the placement (minimum 1 year assignment)

General Preferred Qualifications

•   Experience in West African regional agricultural development A plus
•   International Travel and field related experience in urban and rural African settings desirable
•   Fluency in both French and English required

Location: Accra

How To Apply For The Job

General Application requirements
All candidates must submit the following required documents:

•   Curriculum Vitae
•   1-Page Cover letter highlighting your ability to contribute your skills towards enhancing capacity of a regional organization involved in Food security. Kindly specify your strengths and weaknesses and ability to adapt to new mutli-cultural environment.
•   3 References: kindly provide 2 professional references and 1 personal reference

Please send applications to:

AfricaLEAD_Internships@dai.com

Closing Date: 05 September, 2014

Nationals of ECOWAS countries welcome to apply.