Organization

Since 1974, IFDC contributes to increasing and sustaining food security and agricultural productivity in over 100 developing countries through the development and transfer of effective and environmentally sound crop nutrient technology and agribusiness expertise.

Role of the Project

IFDC enables smallholder farmers in developing countries to increase agricultural productivity, generate economic growth and practice environmental stewardship by enhancing their ability to manage mineral and organic fertilizers responsibly and participate profitability in input and output markets. IFDC is recruiting a integrated soil fertility managemetn (IFSM) advisor candidate for an existing USAID Ghana project which aims at increasing the availability and use of agriculture technologies to increase agricultural productivity in Northern Ghana. Key intervention areas include, among others: (1) creating a competitive Ghanaian seed sector; (2) development and roll-out of integrated soil fertility management technologies; (3) research capacity development and outreach, and (4) establishment of technology dialogue and innovation platform. Cross cutting issues such as gender mainstreaming, child labor and environmental issues play a pivotal role throughout project implementation. Public private partnership development and the application of a competitive small grants fund should help provide a boost to the roll-out and scaling of proven technologies that can be made commercially and sustainably available for adoption to targeted end-users.

The Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) Adivsor position will be for an initial 2-year contract, with the possibility to extend based on performance.   This will be a full-time position based out of Tamale and will be required to work throughout the three northern regions.

Qualification Required & Experience

•   A citizen from Ghana or other (West) African country preferred;
•   Minimum of a Master (MSc.) degree agriculture related fields, such as crop or soil sciences, agronomy, other degrees of agricultural orientation, and/or development or business orientation with hands-on agricultural experience and knowledge;
•   A minimum of seven years of professional work experience in agricultural projects in Ghana and/or in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specific technical soil fertility management experience should include several of the following – soil nutriet management, conservation agriculture, minimum tillage, cropping systems and rotation, chemical fertilizer, including tailored blends, and soil amendments;
•   Experience in private sector development (fertilizer supply chain) and facilitation of public private partnerships;
•   Ability to design and facilitate multi-stakeholder processes and institutional as well as technical innovation processes (quality assurance, use of grades & standards, packaging & labeling, and inspection & testing).
•   Affinity with capacity strengthening and facilitation of trainings;
•   High level communication and writing skills and sensitivity towards cultural differences;
•   Excellent English language skills (written and verbal).

Position Summary

The advisor will facilitate and coordinate partners to take the following key approaches to improving soil fertility management:

•   The introduction, demonstration, and adoption of conservation agricultural practices by partners' farmer customers/beneficiaries;
•   The private sector supply of new technologies to targeted crop markets;
•   Working with partnering organizations, including research institutions, to identify adoptable and scalable agricultural technologies and farming practices that will improve farmers' abilities manage their soils' fertility.

The advisor will need to work and apply coordination efforts with the project team members and partners to identify the above approaches and as well as partners with whom the project will be able to facilitate these activities.  It will be the advisor’s role to ensure the technical content and abilities of the project's partners that work on improving ISFM in northern Ghana under the pretext of the project will conform to the project standards.  Furthermore, his/her responsibilities will require the coordination of on-farm farmer-led demonstrations of new production technologies and practices throughout the project region that lead to demand creation for eventual scaling of technology dissimination, application and adoption.

Specific Duties

In addition to the three primary pillars of responsibilities above, the ISFM advisor will:

•   Coordinate the activities of all project partners on components involving integrated soil fertility management.
•   Serve as principal advisor to project partners for the design and implementation of soil fertility management practices being used and promoted.
•   Understand partners’ approaches to introducing conservation agricultural practices and/or ISFM-related technologies to farmers and identify areas how the project can work together to improve and/or expand adoption of these practices and technologies.
•   Work with team members to provide technical advice on relevant ISFM activities.
•   Work with team members and partners to develop technical content of training materials, informational brochures, etc. on new ISFM technologies and/or practices introduced via the project.
•   Work with team members and partners to identify conservation practice techniques to be introduced, researching and developing strategies on which are adoptable and scalable in northern Ghana for the targeted crops of maize, rice, and soy.

Supervision

The ISFM Coordinator position will report directly to the Chief of Party.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the person assigned to this anticipated position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job.

Duty Location

The ISFM Coordinator will be based in Tamale and should be available to travel within the country when necessary, especially throughout the northern three regions.

Location: Tamale

How To Apply For The Job

Please read these carefully. Failure to comply will adversely affect your application.

Interested applicants are kindly requested to send their applications English or in French in the form of a one-page letter and current CV describing their experience, language skills and other qualifications by email to:-

lbello@ifdc.org   or   fdipama@ifdc

Closing Date: 25 December, 2014