Job title:  Market Development Officer 

Duration: ASAP until May 2022

Job type: National, full time

Location: Bujumbura, Burundi

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Visit the site http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to improve food and nutritional security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock. It is the only one of 15 CGIAR research centers dedicated entirely to animal agriculture research for the developing world. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, it has regional or country offices and projects in East, South and Southeast Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. www.ilri.org

ILRI will support the Government of Burundi on improvements to the dairy value chain in Burundi as part of the Integrated Agricultural Development Project for the Great Lakes Region (PRDAIGL) project.  In this context, ILRI, via IITA, is soliciting applications from suitable candidates to fill the position of a Market Development Officer

Overview of the position

The successful candidate will bring expertise and a proven track record working on the interface of development, research and business to design and introduce the institutions, policies and support services needed to catalyse the dairy value chain in Burundi through dedicated market development activities, linking producers to markets. This will be achieved both through personally implementing the relevant activities and through cultivating collaborations with strategic partners to support various identified implementation needs.  The marketing and capacity development strategy will encompass the ability to assess and cater to the needs of key stakeholders across the dairy value chain as well as to asses and develop the market systems that are consistent with the needs and context of the target population.

Responsibilities:

• With the support of the program team and key partners, lead the conceptualization and design of a market development strategy based on an assessment of the project  experience, the challenges and opportunities for catalysing the market, capacity development needs along the dairy value chain, and particular characteristics of the target clientele.
• Bring on board new, creative ideas (and partners) for implementation, contributions to relevant policy and regulatory design, and the development and execution of a strategy for further growth and outreach of the dairy VC in Burundi;
• Develop and manage partnerships with private and public sector partners, with a view to adding programmatic and strategic value to the PRDAIGL implementation agenda and help achieve program objectives.
• Design training programs and training materials
• Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress and revise strategy accordingly;
• Publish and disseminate knowledge and insights gains in relevant channels and contribute to the project’s internal and external communication efforts.

Education and Experience:

A suitable combination of education and experience that could likely provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge, skills, and abilities would be:

• Graduation from an accredited university with a master’s degree in Dairy Sciences, Food Science, Animal Science or any other relevant discipline/ field of study.
• At least 5 years of experience in a dairy value chain, livestock market development. The candidate is expected to have hands on experience with respect to milk production, milk processing and marketing and milk products diversification.
• Experience in the region is preferred.
• The specialist must be willing and able to move to the project site as and when needed
• Digital literacy, with ability to work effectively remotely using digital tools. 
• Fluency in English and French

Reporting:

The Market Development officer reports to the ILRI PRDAIGL Dairy VC Coordinator.

How to apply 

click here before 18 September 2020 to apply