Enhanced Homestead Food Production Country Coordinator, Mwanza, Tanzania

Helen Keller International

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Enhanced Homestead Food Production Country Coordinator - Tanzania

(Mwanza, Tanzania)

Established in 1915 with Helen Keller as a founding trustee, Helen Keller International (HKI) works to save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Headquartered in New York City, HKI currently conducts programs in 21 countries in Africa and Asia as well as in the United States. HKI is known for sustainability, reliability, efficiency and the highest level of technical expertise in fighting and treating blindness and malnutrition. To accomplish its work, HKI builds the capacity of local governmental, civil society and private sector systems and infrastructure, and promotes the development of sustained, large-scale programs that deliver effective preventative and curative services for nutrition, eye health and neglected tropical diseases. The hallmark of the organization's work is its proven effectiveness in developing, testing and scaling-up health interventions, and integrating them within government and community structures.

HKI Tanzania conducts programs in Vitamin A supplementation, Orange Flesh Sweet Potato, Trachoma control, Food fortification , Enhanced Homestead Food Production, nationwide and/or at regional and district level, in collaboration with Tanzanian government, local NGO's and other national and international development partners. The office has 40 employees, 26 in the Dar office and 14 in two sub-offices in Mwanza and Mwtara.

Background and Scope of the Position:

HKI's Enhanced Homestead Food Production (EHFP) program has helped communities to establish technically-improved local food production systems by creating gardens yielding micronutrient-rich fruits and vegetables year-round, complemented with poultry and small livestock production and nutrition behavior change communication. HKI has received funding to expand this program to four countries in Africa and is seeking an experienced program coordinator to lead this program in Tanzania whose goal is to strengthen the capacity of the agricultural extension services and establish and build community capacity for demonstration farms in state-of-the-art homestead food production, small animal husbandry activities and behavior change communication (BCC) for essential nutrition actions (ENA). The position is based in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Key responsibilities include:

• Program Planning and Management: Provides overall program management of the EHFP Program in country. Responsible for the development of project work plans and coordinates in country partner activities. Recruits key staff. Ensures compliance with donor requirements and HKI policies, procedures, and processes. Works closely with EHFP Program Coordinator based in Dakar to ensure consistency with all EHFP country programs.

• Technical support: Will be HKI's principal technical leadership in Tanzania in homestead food production through his/her own knowledge and network of technical experts in fields related to the various aspects of homestead food production. Build capacity of HKI staff and partner organizations in homestead food production. Help develop behavior change communication tools related to EHFP and EHFP training modules. Ensuring program quality through project management and supervision.

• Partner Coordination: Regularly maintain communication and activity coordination with key government and civil society partners. Represent HKI on EHFP program among donor, government, and other partners.

• Program Monitoring: Responsible for accurate and timely reporting of project results, and the development and implementation of appropriate monitoring and evaluation tools. Identify and address EHFP technical and programming gaps. Supervise EHFP field staff in country.

• Grant Compliance and Budget Control: Ensures donor funds are managed in accordance with HKI and donor policies and good financial standards. Ensures accurate and timely preparation and execution of different sub-grants. Tracks budget expenditures over time to ensure budget compliance and contributes to financial reports for the project.

• Dissemination of Information: Supports the documentation, publishing, and presentation of key programmatic results and lessons learned related to EHFP. Shares information with other projects in country.

Qualifications:

• At least a Bachelor's Degree (master's preferred) in Agriculture, Agronomy, Horticulture, International Development, Nutrition or related field. At least 5 years' experience implementing agriculture or food security programming, including home gardening.
• Experience supporting data collection, analysis and report and article writing.
• Strong technical skills in agriculture, food security, and nutrition programs, particularly in Tanzania.
• Strong skills and experience in managing project implementation with multiple partners.
• Strong planning and organization skills
• Experiences in managing people, including conducting performance evaluations.
• Experience in capacity building of government extension workers, farmers, local CSO's and NGO's and women's groups.
• Experience managing CIDA and US government funded projects preferred.
• Ability to undertake regular field travel to project sites.
• Communication and language skills:
• Strong interpersonal skills in dealing with external contacts, as well as internal colleagues.

To Apply

Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to hkihr@hki.org noting the job title in the subject line.

 

Closing date: July 20, 2013.