Advocacy Officer , Agriculture Markets Development Trust

The Advocacy Officer works closely with all the Trust’s staff and partners to promote targeted and effective changes to the business environment challenges faced by smallholder farmers and agricultural MSMEs in selected value chains in Tanzania.
The Advocacy Officer works on developing and implementing the Trust’s support strategies to partners, who play a key role in advocating for reforms in the business environment. The Advocacy Officer will therefore be expected to design and deliver key advocacy support strategies, in line with the M4P approach as well as building relationships with key stakeholders such as those that play a major role in decision-making or influencing business environment, and those that monitor the effect of the AMDT on improving the business environment and selected market systems that are pro-poor.

Specifically the Advocacy Officer will have the following key responsibilities:

Work with the AMDT staff and partners to design and deliver the Trust’s advocacy support strategies targeting selected actors, decision-makers, opinion-formers, and other influencers
Work with staff and partners to develop strategic advocacy plans and messaging, drafting of policy briefings, submissions, and other communications and advocacy products that are aimed at enhancing organizations that play this advocacy role
In liaison with AMDT staff and partners, ensure that relevant experiences and insights arising out of the Trust’s work is captured well and shared
Monitor current developments in the business environments and the different initiatives designed to address them in order to provide timely and effective advocacy support to actors
Work with staff and the Trust’s partners to develop and maintain analytical capacity to enable those supported by the Trust to be adequately informed of trends, policies, and other opportunities
Develop strong relationship with key stakeholders in the Business Environment space by: (i) Building and maintaining contacts and relationships with key stakeholder, (ii) Inclusion of the Trust’s or partners’ support messages in policy documents, meetings, events, as appropriate
Facilitate the development of adequate service providers to build the internal capacity of the Trust and Partners to develop appropriate advocacy strategies, plans and skills in order to ensure the delivery of effective and impactful advocacy work
The successful candidate will need to possess the following competences:
Must be a self-directed, highly organized person who can effectively prioritize and follow through on multiple projects, simultaneously, a creative problem solver who takes pride in producing quality work, and is willing to learn new things
Strong communication skills both written and verbal, excellent report writing, ability to convey information in a clear and concise manner, and organizational skills
Interpersonal skills are essential

Key Qualifications

Master’s degree in Policy Research, International Development, Development Studies, Agricultural Economics, Business Administration, or other related discipline

At least 3 years of experience in the advocacy area, particularly work with institutions and network organisations involved in regular exchange of
At least 3 years of experience in work aimed at improving the business environment for MSMEs, preferably in the agriculture sector
At least 3 years of experience of organising policy forums, seminars and other evets aimed at dialogues among stakeholders aimed at decision-making and reforms
A good understanding of current trends in Advocacy and Advocacy Support

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

To be considered for any position, an applicant must submit her/his CV, an application letter, and a Cover Letter, no more than two (2) pages that provides details of the applicant’s specific qualifications for the position to: info@amdt.co.tzby 15.30 hrs, EA time, Friday 20thNovember 2015.

In the subject line of the email, write the title of the position for which you are applying. If you wish to apply for more than position, please submit separate applications for each position. Applications that do not follow these instructions, or that do not meet the stated minimum qualification requirements will not be considered.