Job Opportunity – Deputy Program Manager – Youth Entrepreneurship in Agriculture Rwanda (YEA-R)
WHY CHOOSE SNV
Stichting SNV the Netherlands Development Organization is a global development partner working in more than 25 countries in Asia and Africa. In Rwanda, SNV has been working for more than 30 years to improve people’s livelihoods by strengthening the capacities of public and private sector organizations and catalyzing partnerships. It does so by contributing to the national development goals in three sectors: Agri-Food, Energy, and Water. SNV supports development in these sectors by working with the government, civil society, and private sector organizations.
JOB SPECIFICATIONS:
- Contract Type: Full time, National
- Duty Station: Kigali – Rwanda
- Reports to: Program Manager
- Direct Reports: Field Officers and Project Assistant
- Travel: In country
SUMMARY ROLE:
SNV Rwanda seeks an experienced and dynamic Deputy Program Manager for an anticipated program focused on youth entrepreneurship within agriculture value chains. The Youth Entrepreneurship in Agriculture – Rwanda (YEA-R) program aims to increase the resilience and quality of life for young women, men and persons with disabilities through dignified, fulfilling, and equitable work opportunities. As the Deputy Program Manager and reporting to the Program Manager, the incumbent will be responsible for supporting the PM in the day-to-day management of the program to ensure effective implementation, timely delivery of program outcomes, and development of strategies to enhance youth engagement in agripreneurship. Working closely with the PM, he/she will lead program teams in a variety of settings, acting as a support to the PM. In this capacity, s/he will manage both the technical and administrative aspects of the program, ensuring smooth implementation of activities. S/he will prepare and update project plans and status reports and provide updates, as necessary. Additionally, s/he will need to participate in scheduled operational meeting routines with team leads and staff, ensuring proper allocation of resources to ensure activities are completed within the given time and budget. S/he will also participate in project performance review meetings, discussions and various Technical Working Group meetings.
The Deputy Program Manager will also be responsible for driving the overall learning strategy of the program, with a focus on knowledge development, uptake, and dissemination. This role is essential in ensuring that program learning and insights are systematically captured, applied, and shared both internally and externally to enhance program impact and influence broader sectoral practices. The Deputy Program Manager will work closely with program teams, partners, and stakeholders to foster a culture of continuous learning, ensuring that lessons learned inform program adaptations and improvements.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Under the leadership of the PM, the Deputy Project Manager’ s responsibilities will include but are not limited to the following:
Project Management:
- Support the PM to lead, manage, and motivate the program team, partners, and relevant stakeholders.
- Assist the PM to plan and assign deliverables and activities, review their progress and addresses deviations in terms of timelines and quality, based on project planning, deliverables agreed and budget set.
- Serve as the Program Focal Person in the absence of the PM.
- Technical coordination of the project team and partners in the execution of work plans and delivery of project results as per donor obligations and contribute to SNVs agrifood sector goals.
- Support the PM in preparation of program work plans, budgets and reports in accordance to internal SNV and donor guidelines.
- Quality assurance of program team and partner reports in accordance with donor requirements and SNV reporting standards.
- Regularly participate in developing technical progress and financial reports as well as updating the M&E system as per SNV and donor guidelines and disseminate relevant information to stakeholders.
Knowledge Development and Management:
- Lead the design and implementation of the YEA-R learning framework, ensuring alignment with program objectives and donor expectations.
- Identify key learning questions and knowledge gaps to develop a learning agenda that promotes evidence-based decision making and programmatic adjustments.
- Collaborate with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Advisor to integrate learning activities into the program’s M&E framework, ensuring a continuous feedback loop.
- Oversee the collection, synthesis, and documentation of best practices, case studies, success stories and lessons learned from program activities.
- Forster a learning culture within the program by facilitating regular learning sessions, workshops and reflection meetings across program teams, partners and stakeholders.
- Support program teams and partners in applying insights gained from learning activities to improve program implementation, ensuring adaptability and responsiveness to emerging challenges and opportunities.
- Work closely with the PM and communications team to develop high-quality knowledge products contributing to thought leadership on themes such as agripreneurship, financial inclusion, and inclusive agricultural value chain.
JOB REQUIREMENT & QUALIFICATIONS:
- At least 6 years of professional experience in donor funded projects, including project management and knowledge development. A preference for experience in youth development, gender or business development.
- At least 3 years of demonstrated, successful, professional experience in a senior role on a project.
- Experience building M&E systems and ensuring utilization of project learnings in the project lifecycle.
- Technical expert in business development, entrepreneurship with a bias in agricultural market systems and value chains, especially in horticulture and poultry value chains.
- Excellent organizational skills are a must in order to keep up with the various demands and competing priorities of the program.
- An extreme eye for detail is a must in preparing reports as well as organizing meetings with various stakeholders in the program.
- Able to keep track of program priorities, commitments, and follow up with stakeholders.
- A broad knowledge base of project/Programme management and hands-on experience with capacity building and institutional change as well as project leadership and good knowledge of aspects of fresh and processed agro-food sector, horticulture, poultry or flowers, and agricultural supply chains in Rwanda.
- Experience in or exposure to project development and management at sector/systemic level, including horticultural, poultry / agricultural supply chain pilots and capacity building/institutional development.
- Experience in partnership development, particularly at the sector level with Rwandan industry associations, policy makers and regulators. But preferably also with private sector partners / companies in Rwanda and project partners.
- Experience building capacity of smallholder and emerging commercial producers is considered an asset.
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:
- Fluency in English and Kinyarwanda is a prerequisite. Moderate communication skills in French will be an added asset.
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Strong understanding of learning methodologies, including the collection, synthesis and application of program insights.
- Ability to delegate (but not over-delegate) to team members.
- Good networks in the Rwandan horticulture sector is considered an asset.
- The successful candidate has a good professional working relationship with relevant Rwandan government and public sector bodies.
- Fully computer literate, and professional user of MS Office.
- Demonstrated capacity to assure timely, quality, and compliant reporting, in correct professional English, Kinyarwanda in accordance with donor requirements. Additional communication skills in French would be an added value.
- Willingness to travel to project regions in Rwanda.
COMPETENCIES:
Managing Performance: Ability to plan and design practices, processes and procedures that allow for effective management of people, resources and processes to optimize overall organizational performance. Managing for performance includes the ability to delegate and encourage growth and leadership across the team(s) as part of maximizing performance and productivity.
Strategic Thinking: Applies organizational knowledge to identify and maintain focus on key success factors for SNV while recognizing, anticipating and resolving organizational challenges. Ability to develop organization- and industry-specific expertise and apply sound decision-making processes to reach productive resolutions that translates strategy into actionable business plans.
Effective Communication (Oral & Written): Understands effective communication concepts, tools and techniques; ability to effectively transmit, explain complex technical concepts in simple, clear language appropriate to the audience; and receive, and accurately interpret ideas, information, and needs through the application of appropriate communication behaviors
Risk Management: Knowledge of processes, tools and techniques for assessing and controlling the organization’s exposure to risks of various kinds; ability to apply this knowledge appropriately to diverse situations.
Innovation: Develops new, better or significantly different ideas, methods, solutions or initiatives within assigned role that result in improvement of SNV’ s performance and meeting objectives, results and global commitments.
Accountability: Holds self and others accountable for all work activities, research and personal actions and decisions; follows through on commitments and focuses on those activities that have the greatest impact on meeting measurable high-quality results for SNV’ s success. Exercises ethical practices, respectful words and behaviors, and equitable treatment of others in all activities.
HOW TO APPLY:
The application file containing the following documents should be consolidated in one PDF file & submitted to the Country Director via our recruitment portal – via Smart Recruiters at https://smrtr.io/nCwnD, no later than November 14, 2024.
The application file includes:
- Motivation letter.
- Updated CV which has 3 professional references, including current and previous direct supervisors with their full names, phone number and email address.
Shortlisting & Interviews:
Shortlisting and interviews will be done on rolling basis until the position is filled. Only applicants fulfilling the above requirements will be contacted. If you do not hear from us within one month from the submission date of your application, consider your application unsuccessful.
Working at SNV
SNV is a great place to work and prides itself on its comprehensive benefits package. We offer competitive salaries and a dynamic inclusive work environment.
SNV is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law, and requires affirmative action to ensure equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment. This is also to include inquiry about, disclosing, or discussing their compensation or the compensation of other applicants or employees.
SNV offers a challenging work environment, opportunities to lead and innovate, and a commitment to growing your skills in a fulfilling and diverse working environment. Our staff benefit from, and contribute to, an internal and global network of experts.
For more information on SNV, please refer to our website: www.snv.org
Vetting
SNV carries out rigorous background and reference checks concerning possible safeguarding incidents for all candidates applying for International determined positions. As SNV participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, all reference checks include a request to past employers to fill in a questionnaire regarding Misconduct (sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment), the “Statement of Conduct“. This Statement of Conduct adopts the definitions used in the Scheme.
Data Protection assurance
SNV will not retain your Personal Data for longer than is allowed by law or is necessary for the Purposes.
If you are selected and offered employment, the Personal Data you have provided will be used by SNV for the purpose of human resource management and administration. If you are unsuccessful on this occasion to secure employment with SNV, SNV will retain your Personal Data for one (1) year for the purpose of considering you for other suitable positions as and when they arise. If you do not wish to be considered for other suitable positions by SNV, please indicate accordingly in the acknowledgment section.
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