Winrock International
Job Description
The Market Transitions to Enable New Growth Opportunities (MTENGO) project is a five year, USDA-funded project implemented by Winrock International in the Northern and Central regions of Malawi. MTENGO uses a farmer-first approach grounded in market incentives to increase resource-efficient, reliable production from Malawian agriculture in the face of climate unpredictability. MTENGO’s approach will enable farmers to:
- Diversify and achieve stable returns from their farming portfolio through climate smart farming by responding to market demands with diversified production;
- Increase access to water for productive purposes through improved water management practices;
- Make ecosystem services work for farmers by improving farmer access to, and collective management of, water, soil, and forest products; and
- Increase access to markets and finance so farmers can make climate smart investments.
The Technical Director will be responsible for the technical design, implementation, and partnership strategy for the project. S/he will lead a team to develop strategies to promote the adoption of climate smart agricultural practices and technologies, under the leadership of the Chief of Party.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Provide technical leadership in the project design, implementation, and partnership strategy for the project’s market systems, resilience, and capacity building interventions.
- Facilitate joint activity design and planning, coordinated implementation, and learning activities.
- Manage the implementation team including field staff at the regional, district and field levels, the Ecosystems Services Lead, the Financial Services Lead, and the Gender and Social inclusion (GESI) Advisor.
- Develop strategies and approaches to reach women, youth, and historically excluded communities within project interventions.
- Identify and manage partnerships with private sector, government, research institutions, and complementary donor programs that contribute both sustainable and inclusive benefits to agricultural stakeholders.
- Implement diagnostics and assessments for evaluating market opportunities and constraints, identifying wastes in current agricultural practices, identifying partners, and designing mutually beneficial project partnerships.
- Identify and manage partnerships that contribute both to sustainable growth of private sector partners and to anticipated project results through adoption of climate smart agricultural practices and technologies.
- Liaise closely with financial institutions, end-markets, and service providers to increase farming communities’ access to markets;
- Work closely with the MEL team to ensure streamlined data collection and analysis.
- Understand and manage expected project results, including evaluation of ongoing activities as part of a collaborating, learning, and adapting approach.
- Contribute to knowledge management and sharing activities within project, with USDA, other implementing partners, and the government.
- Ensure that grants are supporting project goals.
- Work closely with the field team and project staff to develop annual workplans aligned with annual and life of project targets.
- Review inputs for and draft sections of annual work plans and semi-annual reports.
- Supervise the technical work of local and expatriate consultants and subcontractors fielded under the program (as assigned).
Qualifications And Background:
Education:
- Bachelor’s Degree in agriculture, economics, international development, business administration or related field required. Master’s degree preferred.
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years of professional experience managing and implementing agriculture, climate adaptation and resilience interventions for international development projects, preferably with USG funded projects in Malawi.
- Experience managing technical teams for agriculture sector development, climate smart agriculture, water management, ecosystem services, and economic resilience, including training, capacity building, mentorship, and day-to-day management.
- Experience collaborating with private sector actors in the agricultural sector.
- Experience in climate adaptation, agriculture technology, food security, agricultural research, and/or market analysis.
- Familiarity with proven climate smart technologies and most impactful practices, as well as innovative new tools and approaches.
- Knowledge of the Lean agriculture approach preferred.
- Knowledge of the Malawi agriculture sector.
- Strong training design, training delivery, and facilitation skills.
- Strong personnel management skills.
- Excellent written and oral communication skill in English required
About the Organization
About Winrock International
Winrock is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and value diversity and inclusiveness. Winrock recruits, employs, trains, promotes, and compensates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law.
At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity, and transformation.
Winrock knows that its success comes from the hard work and steadfast dedication of its diverse workforce. Winrock remains committed to maintaining diversity, inclusion, and equity across the entire organization.