POSITION SUMMARY

The overall projects’ goal is to restore and increase the productivity and profitability of key food and oilseed crops that will enhance market access for rural women and young farmers in Tanzania, mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19, and enhance resilience. Specifically, the recruited candidate for the Senior Research Assistant position will implement field activities to boost the resilience of smallholder farmers through the enhancement of the productivity of cassava, sunflower, and beans in semi-arid and drought-prone areas.

Scope of Work

The Senior Research Assistant will support gender and youth-sensitive demand and market characterization study for target crops in the targeted regions, promote the use of innovative technologies in production and postharvest handling that are gender-sensitive, and support in building capacity to off-takers including but not limited to suppliers of required technologies, and linkage to grain producers. He or She will also Promote good agronomic practices (GAP) including Digital technologies, training of farmers on-farm produce processing, and establishment of marketing networks.

Duties and responsibilities

·       Support in management and oversight of the production, and marketing activities.

·       Participate in the development and testing of sustainable market linkages and business models that enhance market access of smallholder farmers in collaboration with market value chain actors and other stakeholders

·       Support in designing, implementing, and monitoring of on-farm demonstration plots

·       Assist in coordinating with the district staff to provide extensive knowledge to farmers

·       Assist in organizing and conducting training for farmers and community extension staff

·       Support in data collection, entry, analysis, and synthesis.

·       Contribute to result communication to value chain key actors

·       Support in coordinating activities with project partners as may be necessary

·       Coordinating with the nutrition and market teams to ensure cooperation

·       Support in routine planning and reporting meetings

·       Preparation of regular reports for field activities

·       Any other duties as may be assigned by supervisor

Requirements

·       Bachelor degree in agriculture general, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness or related field.

·       At least three (3) years of experience of facilitating marketing activities with partners

·       Past working experience in common bean, sunflower, and cassava is an added advantage.

·       Computer proficiency including MS Office (Word/ PowerPoint, advanced excel skills, and SPSS)

·       Experience in data entry, data management, quality assurance, and timely reporting

·       Knowledge of data collection tools including structured questionnaires.

·       Ability to work within a team under minimum supervision and deliver results.

·       Excellent interpersonal with advanced written and verbal communication skills in the English language.

·       Ability to work in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural environment

·       Ability to liaise with other project implementing multi-disciplinary teams

·       Ability to do multiple tasks under pressure and meet deadlines

·       Must be able to work independently with minimum supervision, but also participate as a team member in the accomplishment of duties.

·       Ability to coordinate, prioritize and organize workload; take initiative and work under pressure.

·       Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment

·       Commitment to Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT’s mission and core values