Agronomy AssistantFinpact Consulting

• The Agronomy Assistant will assist in the organization’s, implementation, and monitoring of on-farm Livelihood programs daily in keeping with FINDEF's procedures and standards.
  
• (S)He shall be responsible for assisting in the management and implementation of FINDEF’s Livelihoods and resilience-building program component in the North-West for targeted host community members, and other affected populations.
• Under the direct supervision of the Agronomy Officer, the Agronomy Assistant is required to support/assist in the implementation of agriculture activities of the project through livelihood interventions, business management, technical training, and capacity building to improve skills or production in new/pre-existing livelihood assets.

Main Responsibilities

• Assist in organizing farmers into producer associations for collective marketing, input supply, training, and advocacy for a conducive production environment and Government support.
• Assist in facilitating farmer/association participation in multistakeholder platforms for value chain development
• Help farmers understand and address the climate-related production risks throughout the selected value chains, identifying where emerging market opportunities exist, taking into account community needs, and developing production plans that are integrated throughout the value chain
• Strengthen the ability of the farmers to adapt to climate change within the selected value chains to moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, or cope with consequences
• Promote climate risk management strategies to avoid unacceptable consequences. In the context of climate change, adaptation and mitigation are the two broad categories of action that might be taken to avoid unacceptable consequences
• Improve crop productivity using locally adapted technologies, heat tolerant and disease tolerant seed varieties, biodiversity, and increase the sinks of greenhouse emissions
• Reduce crop losses through improved post-harvest handling, storage, and processing
• Train the extension workers and community volunteers to expand the agriculture advisory services and explore the use of appropriate communication systems
• Establish farmer field schools and demonstration plots for farmer participatory training, learning, and research.
• Building trust between the production and marketing associations and traders/ buyers (promote information flow between the associations and buyers and input suppliers, help associations make sense of the market information, produce visual aids to promote information flow on product quality)
• Create alternate ways for the associations to sell products and contact buyers. Develop relationships between buyers and associations, mentoring the producers on negotiation and building their confidence to engage in commercial contracts
• Promote smart subsidies to link poor producers to markets using asset transfers, cost share, etc
• Work with traditional committees to ensure the identification and selection of the most vulnerable beneficiaries for cash/assets for work and organize and supervise the identification and selection registration of beneficiaries for the on-farm Livelihood activities.
• Facilitate community mobilization towards farmers’ field schools and smallholder gardening.
• Support in the implementation of capacity-building training including field training and workshops for the target beneficiaries on vegetable production, seed conservation, farm management, and storage.
• Supervise and compile information to ensure that the surveillance of the farming situation in the area of implementation of the program is achieving the expected result when required.
• Implement field activities for targeted communities about agricultural activities and strengthen nutrition-sensitive agriculture with support from relevant State, LGA, and community stakeholders at the LGA level.
• Supervise and organize all assessments for the projects or new projects especially monthly price and market assessments.
• Analyze the humanitarian situation, considering protection problems/Do no Harm Principle.
• Propose an action plan to ensure that beneficiaries and local populations both understand the project goals and actively participate in their implementation.
• Act as a liaison with the local population and authorities to identify the needs, grievances, and major events that could have potential consequences for FINDER activity.
• Perform any other related duties or responsibilities that may be assigned by the supervisor.

Profile of the Candidate (Education, Training, Competences, Skills)

• University Degree in any of the following disciplines: Agricultural Science, Agricultural Economics, or a related field.
• 2 - 4 years of experience in connection with project management in the food security and/or livelihood sector, preferably in a non-governmental organization of humanitarian and international character.
• Previous experience in the food distribution supervisory field is preferable.
• Ability to write reports.
• Experience with survey methodologies, nutrition assessment, and relevant data analysis
• Previous experience working with an NGO or a Development organization.

Essential Skills & Experience:

• Be professional, motivated, flexible, and culturally sensitive
• Experience in In-kind food distribution activities from planning to execution, monitoring, and reporting.
• Have excellent communication, writing, and analytical skills.
• Be excellent in communication skills and proficient in report writing
• Be resident and familiar with the terrain in Northeast Nigeria.
• Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs (Access, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word).
• Knowledge and experience in using database-specific software.
• Excellent communication, writing, and analytical skills.
• Experience designing and leading capacity building and training for national teams

Preferred:

• Knowledge of the local language (Hausa and Kanuri).
• Willing and able to be based and travel regularly within remote areas, where services are limited.
• Strong level of autonomy to provide independent follow-through on processing issues and concerns
• Excellent planning, organizational, and time management skills.