Kenya: Senior Livestock Technical Advisor

Senior Livestock Technical Advisor

Background:

Land O'Lakes International Development is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-folk, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.

Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 36 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries.

Our Practice Area Management team provides technical leadership to our overall strategy, and the design and implementation of projects. This group of dynamic, forward-thinking people are at the heart of everything we do.

Project Description:

The senior livestock technical advisor will provide technical leadership and support to the assessment and design of dairy and livestock market system development projects. The position will play a key role in pursuit of strategic new business opportunities aligned with ID’s new dairy/livestock and New Business Development strategies and ID’s overall strategic goal. This includes opportunities with USAID, USDA and potentially other funders/implementing partners.

The initial focus of this consultancy is assessment and design of new livestock/dairy projects through 2017. There is potential for the consulting position to transition into a full-time dairy/livestock technical expert position. This role would include:

· Driving the dairy/livestock strategy;

· Providing technical support to field projects in implementation;

· Supporting related strategic partnerships;

· Collaborating on design and implementation of shared value corporate partnerships; and

· Overall thought leadership in dairy/livestock.

The long-term position would be contingent on performance and new funding secured.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Research/assessment of the dairy/livestock market systems in priority countries;

• Prioritization and analysis of key economic opportunities for inclusive growth including

• Financial modeling of on and off-farm livestock-based business opportunities

• Economic opportunities and barriers to women and youth engagement in on and off farm business opportunities

• Estimation of economic losses due to spoilage/waste/animal mortality

• Evaluation of meat, milk, egg and live animal supply chains

• Systems for quality-based payment programs

• Identification of change agents and lead firms followed by development of partnerships; with these local/national/international public and private market actors;

• Design of technical approaches and specific interventions to support inclusive market; development that benefits smallholder producers as well as other actors in the system, particularly climate smart approaches;

• Identification of innovative, evidence-based approaches to dairy/livestock market; development, and potential scaling up strategies; and

• Proposal writing in areas of technical expertise;

Management of in-country consultants that may be recruited for additional technical support in new program development and existing program support.

The initial consultancy might also include some limited support in areas including:

• Technical backstopping of current programs. This may include:

• Review of and input to technical manuals;

• Participation in quarterly meetings with project staff;

• Provide in-country technical assistance and/or develop SOW for external technical assistance; and

• Remote and occasional in-country capacity building and training.

Reporting & Supervision:

Reports to the Director, Technical Services & Strategic Partnerships based in Washington, DC.

Position Location: Washington D.C or Nairobi, Kenya, preferred.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in agriculture/animal science/animal health, agribusiness, agriculture economics, or relevant field;

• A minimum of seven years of experience in technical assessment, design and implementation of USAID, USDA and other agricultural development projects in Africa;

• Prior experience leading livestock/dairy market assessments, prioritization of interventions and project design for large-scale projects;

• Strong understanding of private sector-led approaches to livestock/dairy market system development, preferably in Africa

• Detailed understanding of role of livestock/dairy in household resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities;

• Experience in building livestock or dairy service delivery systems, (genetics, veterinary, preventive animal health, and private sector services businesses) around livestock or dairy production and processing;

• Demonstrated experience in networking with donors, government officials and the private sector;

• Demonstrated experience in proposal development and writing;

• Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills and the ability to develop collaborative relationships;

• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills; and

• Must be fluent in English.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• Prior living and working experience in Africa;

• Senior experience in milk/meat post-harvest and processing interventions;

• Experience in making livestock or dairy markets and market systems sustainable at scale;

• Experience making livestock development approaches more gender inclusive a plus;

• Experience in fragile environments preferred

• French a plus

• Good sense of humor a plus

https://lol.avature.net/Careers/JobDetail/Senior-Livestock-Technical-Advisor/1077