Livelihood Officer at Barry Callebaut Group

The position is embedded in Barry Callebaut’s Ghana local sustainability team, with direct reporting to  the FC Pilots / Sustainable livelihoods Manager, under the Sustainability Business  and will be the responsible person for providing technical inputs to effectively coordinate and implement appropriate crop and livestock development interventions through strong coordination with partners ensuring the interventions under The Forever Chocolate Program  in the districts contributes to the overall programme goal, objectives and outcomes, as well as FC overarching vision - "Getting all farmers in BC supply chain out of poverty through responsible agricultural labour practices and environmental stewardship inclined livelihood development and support for these farmers and their communities’’.  
 
The Officer shall be responsible to ensure capacity enhancement of community and partners' staffs on improved or sustainable agriculture and livestock development initiatives. The incumbent should also boost morale of community and project partners' staff to work hard and cultivate spirit of teamwork, consultation, mutual learning, synergy and leveraging of resources in order to deliver quality outputs. S/he will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining congenial working relationships with the government officials, donors, media, local NGO partners and other key stakeholders on the FC livelihood projects in BC operational zones in Ghana. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1: IMPLEMENTATION AND COORDINATION: 
●    Ensure project interventions are timely and effectively implemented in compliance with planning and expected result. 
●    Effectively coordinate with the project field team in identifying communities where agriculture, livestock and irrigation interventions are most needed which could boost up agricultural production and bring about long-term effects on household and community poverty reduction
●    Liaise with MOFA and District Agricultural Directorates  to identify ongoing and new projects that can be leveraged upon to achieve BC Forever objective
●    Identify and promote most suitable vegetables that adapt better to the local environment and have ready markets for the produces  
●    Promote most suitable breeds of livestock and poultry, and  appropriate feed for commercial impact on investment at household and community level
●    Effectively coordinate in implementation of vaccination campaigns, treatment and all other veterinary services. 
●    In conjunction with the project value chain team, advise farmers on how to look for new markets for their products. 
●    Play a key role in identifying issues to be addressed and maintain a positive image and visibility of BC project in the intervention clusters

2: MONITORING AND QUALITY CONTROL: 
●    Regular field visits and monitoring of field activities to ensure timely and quality implementation of the activities at site level. 
●    Ensure that agriculture development strategies and activities are designed and implemented based on sound contextual analysis. 
●    Ensure that project’s operating model is adapted to changing environment to better respond to challenges, leverage opportunities and minimize potential risks. 
●    Ensure project partners and other stakeholders are aware, positive and supportive to the agriculture project through transparent and timely information sharing. 
●    Ensure that farmers' interests are addressed and partners' feedback is reflected. 
●    Ensure project's relevance based on farmers' and stakeholders' feedback. 
●    Ensure that proper monitoring and evaluation systems are in place to enhance accountability and to demonstrate the impact of livelihood interventions. 
●    Establish mechanisms for knowledge sharing and learning within project and with other stakeholders beyond the project

3: DATA COLLECTION, SYNTHESIS AND REPORT WRITING:  
●    Assist in developing work plans working with the FC cluster management team 
●    Prepare and submit quarterly progress reports and annual summary report to the project manager
●    Prepare human interest stories based on outstanding case studies from agriculture development initiatives. 
●    Ensure that lessons learnt are well documented and shared among the team and project partners. 
●    Document, analyze and synthesize findings and produce reports for wider sharing. 

4: COMMUNICATION, NETWORKING AND PARTNERSHIP:
●    Ensure effective communication is maintained among partners to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our interventions. 
●    Build and nurture relationships between community, local stakeholders and partners so that the project can maximize its impact. 
●    Work closely with partners and play effective role in identifying issues to be addressed and resolution of potential conflicts in a timely and agreeable manner. 
●    Establish and maintain congenial working relationships with multi-partners, relevant government line agencies, donors, private sectors and civil society organizations. 
●    Maintain a positive image and visibility of project amongst these groups. 
●    Contribute to local, district, regional and national dialogue on crops and livelihoods poverty reduction strategies and other related issues. 

5: ADMIN, FINANCE, HR AND COMPLIANCE: 
●   Assist FC District Technical Officers in reviewing the program and its strategies.. 
●  Ensure timely assistance on administrative matters of the project activities. 
●  Ensure adequate understanding of the FC program strategies, plans and approaches by all partners' staff and other key stakeholders.
●    Ensure that the agriculture interventions are managed in a manner which is in line with the government policies and procedures, and achieves the project outcomes and demonstrate remarkable change. 
●    Cross sharing of FC program learning to key stakeholders. 
●    Ensure livelihood interventions are conducted in accordance with all statutory requirements.

REQUIRED ACADEMIC & TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:
●   Masters/Bachelors in Agriculture/Animal Science/Veterinary Science or related field with 2years of work experience in relevant field. 

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE / KNOWLEDGE:
●    Experience and knowledge in livelihood value chain development as well as horticultural crops is a key essential need for this role
     
TECHNICAL / FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
●    Demonstrated experience in operational planning in a complex context/setting; strong conceptual, interpersonal, communication negotiation, facilitation and representation skills. 
●    Demonstrated experience in monitoring and evaluation; team building and ability to coach and mentor community and partners' staffs. 
●    Demonstrated use of positive coping strategies in stressful work environments; knowledge and experience with donor compliance and reporting. 
●    Experience in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with donors, government counterparts, private sectors and national and international civil society organizations. 
●    Knowledge on developing logframe based work plan, outcome based monitoring, and good report writing skills. 

INTERPERSONAL / LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES:
●    Self-motivated with time and stress management skills. 
●    Networking skills to effectively correspond with a diverse audience in different setting.  
●  Willing to travel extensively to the project implemented sites and able to accommodate and adjust in difficult     working conditions and tough field situations. 
●    Ability to take responsibility, meet deadlines and make progress with minimum supervision. 
●    Excellent attention to details including proactive, creativity and reliability.  

●    Strong interest to work on issues related to agriculture and livelihood enhancement. 
●    Experience of designing innovative and suitable agriculture interventions.  
●    Proficient in M.S. Office (Excel, Powerpoint and Word) and Knowledge of basic statistical concepts.  
●    Ability to drive  and with a valid Ghanaian driver’s license.