Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) Director – Irrigation and Drainage Jobs in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) Director – Irrigation and Drainage Jobs in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Job Id: 197916

Category: Agriculture, Economics, Management Location: Addis Ababa
Career Level: Managerial Level (Manager, Supervisor, Director)
Employment Type: Full time
Salary: Competitive

Job Description

Position Announcement

Ethiopia Agriculture Transformation Agency

Position: Director – Irrigation and Drainage

Term of Employment: One year possibility of extension

Duty Station: Addis Ababa

Required Number: 1

Salary & Benefit: Competitive

Application Deadline: Feb 18, 2019

Background

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a strategy and delivery oriented government agency created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector.

The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

The agency focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoALR), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects.

Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.

Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results.

At ATA, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.

We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.

We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

Position summary:

The Director of Irrigation and Drainage Program will primarily be responsible for identifying and implementing high priority transformational issues that will address systemic and structural challenges to transforming water resources development for irrigation in Ethiopia.

The Director will be responsible for overseeing the Integrated Shallow Groundwater Irrigation Development Project, overseeing the work of the Irrigation and Drainage Knowledge Center as well as coordinating support to the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative as this pertains to water resources development and promotion of irrigated agriculture and production of high value horticultural crops.

Essential Duties:

Serve as the leader of the Irrigation and Drainage Program, assuming overall responsibility for the overall direction and management of the program and projects under it and mobilizing needed financial, human or organizational resources for program execution

Serve as a thought leader in the area of water resources development for irrigation in Ethiopia, participating substantively in conferences (both international and domestic) and supporting planning of Transformation Agenda Deliverables for the Irrigation and Drainage sub-sector. Help

the creation and delivery of strategies and programs to achieve ATA’s overall goal and mission for agricultural transformation in Ethiopia

Provide high quality, results-focused stakeholder management, and build a genuinely collaborative engagement with key Federal, Regional, Private Sector, Non-Profit and Bilateral partners in the delivery of priority sector objectives

Working with key irrigation development stakeholders across both public and non-public sectors, lead the development and implementation of diagnostic activities, strategies, policies, and solution design by the ATA.

Provide guidance, high caliber technical support and oversee implementation of the Integrated Shallow Groundwater Irrigation Development Project and related pilot initiatives

Manage talent development of existing staff, hire new staff as necessary and manage team dynamics of the Irrigation and Drainage Program team to ensure a high-performance team

Ensure that the ATA’s Irrigation and Drainage program team provides sufficient support in the planning of irrigated related activities within the ACC Initiative

Provide technical and operational support in the execution of the ACC Initiative, with a focus on sustainable water resources development for irrigated agriculture

Prepare and manage the Program’s budget; obtain approvals from senior level ATA management and monitor budget utilization against allocation

Contribute to the development of an institutionalized knowledge base for the ATA
Regularly report to the Senior Director of Production and productivity and to the CEO on progress, challenges and constraints of the program team activities.

Undertake any additional assignments as requested by the Senior Director of Crops and NRM or the CEO.

Job Requirements

PhD or Master’s degree in Irrigation Engineering, Irrigation Development, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Economics, Horticulture crops and development of irrigation, agriculture, Economics, Management or other relevant fields

At least 10 years of experience in priority Water Resources and/or Irrigated Agriculture, of which at least 5 years in a leadership or managerial role

Experience in leading programs/integrated projects in particular on horticultural crops, irrigation and agronomic management

Deep understanding of Ethiopia’s agricultural system, with a broad perspective on how the entire system operates and how public, private and informal actors operate within the system

Experience in prioritizing and sequencing both programmatic and operational activities

Experience in creating partnerships at the national level and (preferably) at international level

Demonstrable track record of success with program design, performance management, learning systems and monitoring & evaluation
Practical experience on ACC initiative, high value crop prioritization and implementation

Practical experience in piloting and scaling up relevant solutions at the local level

Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, start-up environment, with an emphasis on high-performance, teamwork, accountability and results

Ability to build relationships with all kinds of people and working in a multi-cultural environment

Highly facilitative and collaborative leadership style

Excellent adaptive problem-solver in challenging environment

Excellent analytical and leadership skills

Excellent oral and written communication skills

Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service
Fluency in English and Amharic is essential.

Fluency in at least one additional Ethiopian language is a plus

How to Apply

Application Instructions

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to send (i) a cover letter, (ii) CV (maximum 2 pages), and (iii) a completed ATA Application Form at http://apply.ata.gov.et

Also, please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application form.

Women are highly encouraged to apply.

NB. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) Director – Irrigation and Drainage Jobs in Addis Ababa Ethiopia