Senior Value Chain Specialist, HAPPY

Program Overview: 

Harnessing Agriculture Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) aims to drive shared prosperity in Ghana by creating, sustaining, or improving dignified jobs and increasing agricultural productivity across the poultry, rice, soy, and tomato value chains. The HAPPY Program will bridge the productivity gaps in these four value chains by building resilient youth-led and women-led food systems. The program will harness the power of young women and men to enhance the sourcing and business models of off-takers, pursue innovative entrepreneurial ventures, support the adoption of improved practices and inputs, and influence the enabling environment by making their voices heard. The result will be a more prosperous and inclusive agricultural sector that propels growth across the country.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

Under the overall guidance of the Senior Value Chain Manager, provide technical oversight and technical assistance to a portfolio of activities across the HAPPY Program. Assess and analyze the poultry, rice, soybean, and tomato value chains to identify opportunities for improvement, cost efficiencies, and productivity enhancements. Develop and implement targeted value chain and market strategies to stimulate demand and optimize market performance in collaboration with project partners. Provide technical support and capacity-building assistance to processors, off-takers, agri-SMEs and micro-businesses to enhance their operations, product quality, and efficiency. Required to deliver on the Core Business Technical Assistance (CBTA) to agribusiness clients of varying sizes and Inclusive Business Plans (IBP) for processors, agri-SMEs and micro-businesses, to enhance their operations, product quality, and efficiency. Support with reports preparation. Build and maintain strong relationships with partners, private sector entities, and stakeholders to facilitate cooperation and knowledge exchange. Promote and facilitate the adoption of improved agricultural practices and inputs within the value chains. Work with the MEL Manager in monitoring and evaluation activities, surveys and reporting to track progress and impact of targeted value chains and market strategies, as well as develop success stories and lessons learned.

Basic Qualifications

A Bachelor’s degree with at least 5 years of experience or a Master’s degree in agriculture, business, or a related field or another relevant discipline with at least 3 years experience Proven experience in value chain development, market strategy, and project management. Strong knowledge of the poultry, rice, soybean, and tomato value chains in Ghana. Demonstrated success in leadership roles developing and managing development organizations, programs or initiatives requiring a combination of strong analytical, writing, social and management skills

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience working in private sector development in Ghana Experience working or collaborating with agriculture private sector companies Strong project management skills.

Required Languages: Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills, including fluency in English (equivalent to R4/S4)

Travel: Up to 30% travel to field offices and project sites

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically in a team-based environment with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity.  Must be able to work across teams to influence behavior and build capacity.  Experience in adult learning techniques, excellent in-person and virtual facilitation skills Detail orientation, including strong organizational, analytical, and quantitative skills Ability to anticipate demand, manage multiple tasks/projects, and meet tight deadlines Excellent computer skills in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other administrative applications Strong private sector market orientation, entrepreneurial and innovative thinker

Supervisory Responsibilities:

None

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.