Programme Policy Officer (Market Access) – SC 8

Duties

• Under the direct supervision of the Programme Coordinator and Activity Manager the Market Access Officer will be responsible for the following tasks:
• Conduct a scoping study under market access activities to assess the bottlenecks of the implementation and come up with concrete action plans/strategies to accelerate the implementation of the activities and to define the best pathways to achieve the programme set goals. These plans will allow the development of an exit strategy of the EU-MDG1c programme
• Coordinate the implementation of Market Access activities of the EU-MDG1c project, including the component of strengthening market information systems and the feasibility study of the commodity exchange in Mozambique, taking into consideration the gender awareness and sensitization. It includes training the partners and when required the smallholder farmer target groups (Farmers’ Organisations) on market data collection and analysis; as well as on the use of this information as leverage on business and price negotiations
• Supervise the implementation of Memorandums of Understanding signed with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food security, for the modernization and increase coverage of the existing Market Information Systems (INFOCOM –MIC and SIMA-MASA)
• Participate and contribute in the joint programme coordination meetings with the related directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce and the UN agencies: FAO, UNWOMEN, UNIDO and IFAD, and other stakeholders
• Manage market information grant funds for result component (RC12), which include to prepare budget plans and revisions, monitor expenditures and consumption reports on WFP corporate system “WINGS”, the EU-MDG1c quarterly reports and financial reports
• Facilitate the procurement of the goods and services ordered for the Market Access programmes such as construction of community storage facilities, purchase and distribution of cleaning/threshing/sorting, warehouse and quality assurance equipment
• Strengthen the understanding of quality marketed products and using lessons learned from P4P and PAA experiences, conduct on job training and mentoring to reduce the high costs of the cleaning/sorting exercises in the other FOs engaged in the P4P/Joint Programme
• Provide extensive support to the Programme coordinator with reporting requirements of the EU funded MDG1c programme. While also giving technical input and guidance to the implementation of the Country Strategic Plan (CSP), resource mobilization, proposal writing and informing WFP programmes in Maputo and in the field
• Carry out frequent field missions to targeted districts: assess programme outputs, small/medium traders and small-scale farmers’ organizations and conduct training sessions and recommend best practices for value chain improvements
• Provide continuous support to INFOCOM, SIMA, and SDAES assuring that the activities are timely done and their work plan is achieved on time
• Manage the implementation of Post-Harvest Loss Reduction Project, coordinating with Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ministry of Education and Human Development, and Market Access Assistants based in the field. It includes organization of coordinating meetings with Tete and Nampula province stakeholders, trainings, access and use of hermetic bags by smallholder farmers, establish market linkages with agro-processors, traders and school feeding Programme
• Support the CO in project proposal writing
• Perform other related duties as required

Requisites

• Advanced degree (masters is desirable) in one or more of the following disciplines: agriculture, agribusiness, economics, international affairs, business administration, social sciences, development studies or a field relevant to international development assistance
• At least five years of postgraduate professional experience in market analysis, market research, market information, market economics or related fields
• Demonstrated experience in similar duties
• Excellent communication, coordination and facilitations skills
• Strong analytical and report writing skills
• Familiarity with business processes and finance
• Exposure to the agricultural marketing environment in Mozambique
• Fluency in Portuguese and English is essential. Other UN languages are an added value

Notes

• Only short listed applicants will be contacted