ICT for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) Advisor at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Modernizing Agriculture Activity: (Deadline 21 February 2023)

ICT for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) Advisor at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Modernizing Agriculture Activity: (Deadline 21 February 2023)

USAID/Rwanda Modernizing Agriculture Activity

ICT for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) Advisor

CNFA

CNFA is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to stimulating economic growth in the agricultural sector by nurturing entrepreneurship, private enterprise, and market linkages. CNFA specializes in fostering private sector investments in training, new technologies and marketing as a means to increase the overall competitiveness of agricultural value chains and rural development, to increase people’s incomes, to develop skills in the rural workforce, and to facilitate exports.

Program Description USAID/Rwanda Modernizing Agriculture Activity

The purpose of the Modernizing Agriculture Activity is to support increased agriculture productivity and income, access to finance and markets, and access and consumption of nutritious food products in Rwanda, while increasing the resilience of the agriculture and food systems to the changing climate. To achieve this goal, the Activity will sustainably increase agricultural productivity, increase access to finance for farmers and agribusinesses, improve producers’ market outcomes, and strengthen the enabling environment to foster market-driven outcomes in agriculture.

Position Description

Reporting to the Director of Agriculture Productivity, the ICT4Ag Advisor is responsible for promoting and strengthening the availability and use of appropriate, customized and impactful ICT solutions in agriculture in Rwanda through the collaboration with project partners and stakeholders. The ICT4Ag Advisor will work extensively with the private sector and public institutions to enhance institutional and grassroots capacity in the use of ICT in agriculture for an increased efficiency of agricultural value chains. The ICT4Ag Advisor is based in Kigali.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties of the ICT4Ag Advisor include, but are not limited to:

• Provide technical advice and support in the development and implementation of ICT4Ag strategies to increase the use of ICT solutions in agriculture and strengthen the ICT4Ag ecosystem
• Conduct the above in collaboration with partners including public institutions, the Government of Rwanda, educational institutions, and the private sector (including but not limited to technology companies, agribusinesses, and financial institutions) to ensure buy-in and sustainability
• Facilitating and promoting strategic partnership opportunities with private institutions in strengthening the implementation of ICT solutions in agriculture sector;
• Lead the project interventions in mainstreaming ICT in agriculture value chain to foster innovation and increase customized ICT solutions that address Rwanda’s agriculture challenges through affordable and tailored ICT solutions
• Organize and coordinate capacity-building programs for ICT in agriculture entrepreneurs to improve their businesses and their capacity to provide services to farmers and value chain players while also facilitating their access to additional resources.
• Organize capacity building and outreach activities to ICT for agriculture users (i.e., farmers, agrodealers, food processors, financial institutions, etc.), to increase the adoption of ICT solutions in their activities.
• Contribute to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework (including reporting), in close collaboration with Agriculture productivity Director and the MEL Director;
• Coordinate with relevant technical leads in the field and the Kigali-based technical and administrative management units to ensure smooth implementation of ICT4Ag activities;
• Coordinate with the ModAg grants and Catalytic Service Provider (CSP) team to ensure ICT4Ag-related grants and CSP contracts align with ICT4Ag mainstreaming strategies
• Collaborate with the Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor to ensure all activities under the Advisor’s scope are inclusive of women, youth, and other marginalized groups
• Undertake other assignments or tasks at the request of the Agriculture productivity Director, the DCOP and/or the Chief of Party.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Agriculture or related field, Communications, Value Chain Development, International Development or a related field;
• At least 3-5 years of progressively responsible work in the design and/or implementation of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), including agriculture extension services, agricultural services, or other similar digital development initiatives related to agriculture;
• Proven experience and understanding of application of ICT in agriculture at all levels of value chain i.e., input management, production, postharvest management, marketing, transportation, etc.
• Applied understanding and knowledge of local ICT4Ag practices and use cases
• Experience in leading capacity building activities for smallholder farmers, farmers cooperatives, and private sector in agriculture;
• Demonstrated experience working with complex donor-funded project(s) related to agricultural productivity, value chain development, private sector investment management and/or access to finance preferred;
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with wide range of stakeholders both verbally and in writing,
• Effective at collaboration; willingness to innovate and ability to think systematically;
• Proven experience in managing multiple and competing tasks while maintaining quality of deliverables within deadlines;
• Advanced oral and written communication skills in English and Kinyarwanda required, French considered an asset.

Application Instructions

All interested and qualified candidates can send their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates and references) documents to: ModAg@cnfarwanda.org not later than 21st February 2023 at 6:00 PM.  Please quote the job title in the subject.  Only candidates selected for interview will be notified.