Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana Recruitment for Specialist In Climate-smart Agricultural Production And Transformation

Applications are invited from interested and suitably qualified candidates for Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana Recruitment for Specialist In Climate-smart Agricultural Production And Transformation.

The Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana (YHFG) was first envisioned by John Kingsley Krugu, whose own youthful upbringing was beset with numerous challenges. Based on his personal difficult experiences, he thought of a youth organization that will work to support marginalized young people to access education and training that will make them contribute meaningfully to society.

Job Description

At SOCODEVI and YHFG, we believe in the importance of a diverse workplace and commit to the principles of inclusive and equal employment. We specifically encourage women and minorities to apply to this posting.

Organisations 
The Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana is a youth focused Non-Governmental Organization which is also non-partisan and with no religious affiliation. The Foundation was founded in 2002 with head office based in Bolgatanga in the Upper East region of Ghana. The guiding believe is that helping the deprived youth of the north of Ghana to conserve and develop their physical and mental strength through education, entrepreneurial training and improved living conditions is the right way to ensure their viability to society and fight poverty.

SOCODEVI is a network of cooperative entreprises and mutuals that share their technical expertise and knowledge with partners in developing countries to create, protect and distribute wealth. Through the development of the cooperative, mutual or other forms of association, SOCODEVI contributes to the sustainable development of the countries where it operates with the aim of ensuring that populations take charge of themselves.

Project assignment 
The PROCED-SOCODEVI, a five-year project funded by the Government of Canada, aims to support the development of women in parboiled rice production in the Upper East region through the reinforcement capacity of producers, co-operative enterprises and public and private partners.

Location: Bolgatanga

Job Summary 
The person skilled in climate-smart agricultural production and processing is responsible for coordinating capacity building and technical assistance to producers/processors as well as cooperative enterprises in the rice sector in the Upper East region. She or he is also responsible for monitoring and evaluating activities related to its field of action. She or he undertakes to assume all of its tasks and responsibilities by applying SOCODEVI’s Policy on Gender Equality and Environmental Policy.

• Facilitators in climate-smart agriculture production and transformation relate to her or him
• She or he refers to the project coordinator
• She or he works closely with field officers and the Canadian agricultural production and processing, environment and climate change advisory team in Canada.

Responsibilities and Tasks 
Capacity building

• Develop agri-environmental and climate change content of Socodevi field schools or other training activities, and materials to support the adoption of good practices and innovations by producers and processors;
• Train facilitators in Socodevi field schools or other training activities, and oversee appropriate implementation through participatory approaches incorporating gender, environmental and climate change considerations;
• Coach, advise and support the facilitators in production and intelligent transformation facing the climate;
• Facilitate training related to agricultural production and processing that integrates environmental and climate change considerations according to established planning;;
• Build and maintain good relationships with staff of gender equality and organizational development;
• Support cooperative enterprises in the optimization of products and services offered from an environmental perspective and taking into account climatic challenges, in order to feed their strategic planning and improve their environmental management;
• Conduct working sessions with private and public stakeholders to strengthen inclusive economic development of cooperative enterprises and adaptation to climate change.

Technical assistance 

• Conduct customized technical assistance visits to producers, processors and processors who are members of co-operative partner companies, particularly for the rice parboiling process;
• Conduct monitoring visits of good production, harvest and post-harvest practices especially for the rice parboiling process;
• Develop participatory diagnostics of production and processing units, as well as implementation plans for improvement of these activities, particularly for the rice parboiling process;
• Establish investment budgets for processing activities and collection and storage centers for cooperative enterprises and monitor them.

Monitoring and evaluation 

• Participate in the development of the monitoring and evaluation methodology of the project;
• Regularly monitor activities to identify issues and needs with a view to making the necessary adjustments;
• Monitor activities in accordance with the monitoring and evaluation methodology established by the project;
• Perform certain administrative duties inherent in the position, such as writing technical reports, preparing expense reports, etc.

Working conditions 

• Competitive salary;
• Work schedule: Monday to Friday with work during weekends when required;
• Frequent travel in the Upper East Region;
• Periodic meetings in Accra.

Required Skills or Experience

Required Education 
Technical or university diploma in agronomy or any other relevant field

Work Experience 

• Proven experience in adult education (andragogy) and participatory methodologies
• Proven experience in team coordination
• Proven experience in managing agricultural production and processing systems, integrating environmental and climate change considerations
• Experience in the rice sector, particularly for the rice parboiling process
• Proven experience in providing technical assistance to producers, processors and processors
• Work experience with cooperative enterprises
• Work experience sensitive to gender, an asset

Desired Skills and Personal Qualities 

• Good command of English
• Proficiency in local languages and French, an asset
• Adherence to the values of equality and gender equity
• Ability to lead a group
• Ability to communicate
• Ability to design and adapt training tools and capacity building programs
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to use participatory approaches
• Ability to use peasant school field methodology
• Ability to use geolocation (GPS) and mapping programs (ARCGIS)
• Ability to analyze and summarize
• Writing ability
• Ability to adapt to rudimentary working conditions during missions
• Versatility
• Proactivity
• Skills in group animation
• Leadership
• Autonomy
• Rigor
• Creativity
• Active listening
• Negotiating skills
• Conflict Management Skills

Desired Knowledge

Knowledge of 

• using a GPS to perform geolocation
• adult education (andragogy)
• integrated management of perennial crops
• the country’s environmental legislation and major environmental and climate change programs related to the project’s areas of intervention
• results-based management
• Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint Suite
• good agri-environmental practices and climate-smart agriculture
• the rural context
• the cooperative model and the laws governing it

How to Apply

Applications should be submitted to the Executive Director, Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana via email:[email protected]g and [email protected] or by post, Box 656, Bolgatanga. For further inquiries, call 0382095924.

• Deadline: 4th February 2019
• At SOCODEVI and YHFG, we believe in the importance of a diverse workplace and commit to the principles of inclusive and equal employment.

We specifically encourage women and minorities to apply to this posting