Lead, Agricultural Development at Raising The Village

JobTitle: Lead, Agricultural Development

Department/Group:Cross-departmental

Reporting To: Country Manager

Years of Experience: 8+ Years

Location: Nyabihu District

Travel Required: 70%

Job description

About Raising The Village:

We are Raising The Village (RTV) – an international development organization and a registered charity – on a mission to end ultra-poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. Raising The Village is a fast-growing organization on an accelerated growth path. We have 120+ national staff in Uganda,14 in Rwanda and a team of 8 people in North America working together to lift communities out of ultra-poverty in last-mile villages. We operate at the intersection of direct implementation and advanced data analytics to inform progress, decision-making, and impact. Our programs are focused on removing scarcity barriers, increasing and diversifying incomes, and ensuring sustained outcomes through 24-month partnership with last-mile villages and local governments. We work in the thematic areas of agriculture; here is the agriculture page on the website: https://raisingthevillage.org/impact-drivers- agriculture/, WASH, Financial Inclusion through a gender transformative and community-driven development approach.

To date we have supported more than 1,000,000 people through our innovative holistic approach and are on track to expand to reaching one million people annually in the region by 2027.

We have achieved this tremendous growth with the support of our incredible partners from all around the globe who believe in our model and impact. Find out more about our programs and impact at: www.raisingthevillage.org.

Job Summary

As part of RTV's leadership team, the goal of Lead, Agricultural Development is to ensure that RTV’s programs in last-mile subsistence farming communities achieve its ultimate objective of increasing household incomes and earnings - through agricultural interventions that improve agricultural value and incomes, and create sustainable economic opportunities. You are someone who has strong technical expertise in smallholder and subsistence farming context leadership.

As the Lead, Agricultural Development, you will be responsible and accountable for all agriculture related program components, provide leadership and strategic direction to the agriculture teams across districts and regions, implement new innovations aligned with our mandate and strategic plans, and ensure that the Implementation department embraces new technologies and innovations.

This would require a combination of office time, field visits, and networking with partners. During field visits, the primary focus will be on giving field teams guidance, building their capacity, taking note of different ground realities, ensuring that teams implement according to the organization’s methodology and taking corrective measures. This includes knowledge creation and mobilization, ensuring adoption, and being accountable for agricultural outcomes will be important parts of the role.

In a cross-collaborative setting, the Lead, Agricultural Development will ensure effective program planning and design, and successful implementation and supervision of Agriculture extension interventions including cropping and livestock in Raising The Village’s partner communities, as part of our core methodology. This will involve working with our Planning, Evaluation, and Learning (PEAL) team to identify and assess the key needs of Agriculture extension, supporting the Procurement team in the development and management of contracts in accordance with project

budgets and timelines, and collaborating with program staff, local authorities and communities to support Agriculture extension interventions. The incumbent in this role will have strong managerial skills, understanding of composting, organic pesticides, soil and crop management. During implementation of the project's activities, the incumbent will be required to provide feedback to relevant partners and the local authorities with an aim of improving overall quality of Agriculture interventions.

MainResponsibilities

AgricultureProgramImplementation

• Provide strategic direction and leadership to the agriculture officers, Agriculturerepresentatives and all staff members about Agriculture extension 
• Transfer technical information, research findings and modern agriculture practices tothe teams in order to improve productivity and profitability of the farming 
• Supervise Agriculture extension interventions in strict adherence to the set regulationsand standard.
• Givestructure and ensure systems strengthening for the agriculture department
• Ensureknowledge creation and dissemination in the agriculture department
• Conduct periodic Refresher training for the Implementation team on different agriculture

Program Design andinnovation

• Support PEALteam to design and plan activities on Agriculture 
• Provide new insights on agricultural program innovations especially in the context ofclimate smart 
• Review project designs and ensure agricultural components are realistic and feasible tothe respective communities based on availability, soil, water, etc. and provide feedback where 
• Signoff all agricultural interventions in project designs and approve all crop varieties
• Initiatenew Agriculture innovations in line with our programmatic objectives

Procurement and Contract Management

• Provide technical support in evaluating bids in accordance with RTV policies andprocedures, project technical requirements, budgets, timelines, and any other critical 
• Give the procurement team support in preparation of all contracts to be awarded tovendors of goods and services related to the Agriculture Extension component of the 
• Support in reviewing technical reports from the various contractors and providerecommendations to the Country Manager as to whether the delivered inputs meet the required standards and 
• Guide Agriculture officers/Assistants to carry out seed verification, review their seedverification reports and sign off seed procurement in view of these 
• Participatein evaluation exercises for vendors and give technical guidance

Coordination and Collaboration

• Co-ordinate and network with the relevant Local Governments, Agriculture researchinstitutions, seed producing/multiplication companies, Ministry of Agriculture, Rwanda Agricultural Board as well as build relationships with other agencies, NGOs and CBOs working in the Project areas and providing technical support and assistance to Agriculture Extension 
• CoordinateLocal government extension workers at sector level to review and harmonize on different community training manuals

MonitoringandReporting

• Provide regular reports on Agriculture Extension Interventions and program progressagainst work plan and program 
• Maintain an up-to-date activity tracking tool of all Agriculture extension related

TeamManagementandLeadership

• Supervisethe Agriculture officers/Assistants
• Teamcapacity building and mentorship for Implementation team
• Participatein leadership meetings, strategic planning processes, and work
• cross-departmentally to create and mobilize agricultural knowledge to relevant stakeholders.

Qualification,SkillsandExperiences

• University Degreein Agriculture science in both crop and animal 
• AdditionalQualification in Project Planning and Management is 
• At least eight years of experience with a non-profit, non-governmental organization,local governments or Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and 
• Excellent experience with Microsoft Excel, including use of formulas and pivot tablesand strong skills with Microsoft 
• ExcellentEnglish communication 
• Abilityto exercise sound judgment and make decisions 
• Flexible,able to cope with stressful situations and 
• Willingness totravel to remote areas in Uganda.

• Demonstrateexcellent interpersonal skills and the ability to be a strong team 
• Presentprofessional conduct and exercise professional 
• Highlevels of honesty and 
• Respectfulof RTV’s code of 
• Able to manage personal schedule to not interfere with professional work, especiallywhen preparing for long 
• Successfulteam leadership experience for at least 8 

Raising The Village is an equal-opportunity equal opportunity employer committed to diversity andinclusion.We highly encourage women candidates to apply 

Applicants can use this link to apply no later than 2nd October 2024