Senior Policy and Institutional Development Specialist at Land O’Lakes Venture37: (Deadline 21 June 2022)

Senior Policy and Institutional Development Specialist at Land O’Lakes Venture37: (Deadline 21 June 2022)

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Senior Policy and Institutional Development Specialist

Rwanda Orora Wihaze

Location: Kigali, Rwanda                                                                           

Closing date: 21st June 2022

Background:

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-fork, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.

Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 36 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries.

Project Description:

The Feed The Future Rwanda Orora Wihaze (Raise Animals for Self-Sufficiency) Activity is a USD $13.8M five-year (October 2019 – September 2024) Market System Development project that works with local partners and private sector actors in Rwanda to strengthen the animal sourced foods (ASF) market system. Implemented under a USAID contract, the project works across 8 districts of Rwanda including Burera, Gakenke, Nyamagabe, Nyamasheke, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Kayonza and Ngoma Districts. The goal of Orora Wihaze is to sustainably increase the availability of, access to, and consumption of ASF through the development of a profitable market. This will be achieved by a selection of interventions under two broad objectives i) Private Sector-Led ASF Value Chains Strengthened; ii) Increase Demand for ASF Consumption for Women and Children. To accomplish this goal, Orora Wihaze seeks to remove production, marketing and consumption constraints affecting dietary diversity of households, especially for women of reproductive age and children of 6-23 months. For households that do not produce or sell ASF, Orora Wihaze will enhance access to safe ASF through development of the existing market system.

The Orora Wihaze activity will use a private sector oriented, market facilitation approach to achieve the intended goal. The approach must sustainably increase livestock productivity, improve relationships across actors in the ASF value chains, build capacity of enterprises in the ASF sector, facilitate access to finance and increase private sector investments in ASF value chains.

Position Summary:

The Senior Policy/Institutional Development Specialist (SPIDS) will provide close and strategic technical support to the project Chief of Party. The Senior Policy/Institutional Development Specialist will support the overall project goal by designing and overseeing activities that facilitate the production of trade and investment into development of ASF products in Rwanda while promoting win-win partnerships between key public and private sector stakeholders within the ASF market system. The Senior Policy/Institutional Development Specialist is responsible for working closely with the GOR and private sector advocacy leaders to coordinate policy research and policy advocacy to foster investment, improve the enabling environment, and reduce bottlenecks within the ASF market system. The Senior Policy and Institutional Development Specialist will also closely coordinate cross-sectoral and inter-governmental coalitions to co-create innovative nutrition messaging that supports increased consumption of ASF, especially for women and children. Through Orora Wihaze’s portfolio approach to implementation, the selected candidate will provide leadership over ASF production activities and collaborates with other intervention leads as a member of the Project Technical and Management teams.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Coordinate with key GOR stakeholders including: MINAGRI, RAB, Rwanda Development Board, MINICOM, and other relevant GOR agencies.
• Facilitate key public-private partnerships (PPP) in the ASF sector that build on current and future Orora Wihaze co-investment grants, USAID and GOR initiatives.
• Develop partnerships with ASF sector market actors to develop their capacity to gather evidence and advocate for policy and regulatory change based on industry needs;
• Facilitate co-creation of activity design documents (ADDs) with prospective project partners and grant applicants particularly for activities focused on development of ASF production.
• Develop related scopes of work for technical assistance related to improving market systems for animal source foods production
• Collaborate with GOR and advocacy institutions to help influence policy decisions that are supportive of inclusive and innovative financing schemes in the ASF market system; and
• Coordinate with the Orora Wihaze Nutrition Specialist to embed nutritional messaging into national GOR-led strategies and support project District Portfolio Managers and Nutrition Advisors to scale nutrition messaging nationwide.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, Economics, Quantitative Social Science or other relevant degree.
• Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in proposal writing/co-creation.
• Experience working with host country public agencies and ministries as well as with private sector advocacy organizations.
• Demonstrated experience in policy reform process facilitation, public-private dialogue and institution coalition building in rural economies is desirable.
• Experience and familiarity with agricultural development and policy issues, especially in the livestock sector in the African context, agriculture sector strategies and investment plans; and
• Oral and written fluency in English and Kinyarwanda, as well as in depth knowledge of the local operating environment in Rwanda.

Preferred skills and experience

• Knowledge of Market Systems Development facilitation approaches.
• Experience in project design and implementation management.
• Excellent ability to develop compelling case presentations in different formats.
• Familiarity with USAID and especially grants development and management.
• Experience engaging in partnerships with Micro, Small, and Medium Size Business in Rwanda.

Apply through the link below. 

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