NGO Jobs in Nairobi, Kenya - RTI International

RTI International is an independent organization dedicated to conducting innovative, multidisciplinary research that improves the human condition. With a worldwide staff of more than 4,000 people, RTI offers innovative research and development and a full spectrum of multidisciplinary services. Universities
in North Carolina founded RTI in 1958 as a centerpiece of the Research Triangle Park.
RTI has partnered with USAID on a 5-year cooperative agreement project, Kenya Crops & Dairy Market Systems (KCDMS) Activity, to help increase agricultural production and reduce poverty and malnutrition in Kenya.
The project is part of the Feed the Future program, America’s initiative to combat global hunger and poverty. The project will spur competitive, resilient market systems in Kenya’s horticulture and dairy sectors.
RTI is currently seeking to fill vacancies for the KCDMS project.
In this regard, we are currently seeking applications for the following positions:
Sr. Agricultural Policy and Institutional Capacity Building Specialist – Nairobi based
1 Position
The Sr. Agricultural Policy & Institutional Capacity Building Specialist is responsible for leading Priority Area 3, Policy Environment for Market Systems Development. S/he will facilitate public-private dialogue forums, engaging public sector stakeholders, including county governments to improve national and county level policy formulation related to target value chains.
This position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, with frequent travel to Western, Nyanza and Eastern Kenya.
The Sr. Agricultural Policy & Institutional Capacity Building Specialist will lead and coordinate the implementation of the project activities and provide technical expertise.
S/he maintains relationships with key sector partners, donors, consultants, host country counterparts and stakeholders; collaborates with colleagues across RTI on technical, administrative, and strategic planning initiatives; ensures successful implementation of project.
Ensures best practices and lessons learned are captured and disseminated across project; may serve as a representative of the project to clients, stakeholders, and partners, providing key inputs for technical or management decisions and is responsible for managing program deliverables including planning and coordination of all activities.
Key Responsibilities:
·         Support initial value chain assessment and strategy development, including serving as the primary liaison for RTI home office governance short-term technical experts.
·         Develop and maintain relationships with national and county level public and private sector stakeholders in agriculture sectors.
·         Lead the project’s strategy for working through county governments and improving policy formulation processes.
·         Facilitate public-private dialogue between county governments and private agribusinesses.
·         Develop, adapt, and oversee implementation of governance self-assessment and participatory tools.
·         Build capacity of county governments to make productive investments in agriculture and utilize data to drive decision-making; provide ongoing support to government counterparts to implement action plans and evaluate investments; organize cross-county learning and exposure visits.
·         Train local partners as service providers for the public sector.
·         Lead interventions to improve accountability of public sector agricultural service delivery
·         Design and lead capacity building interventions for national-level private sector associations to analyze and advocate for enabling policies.
·         Oversee grant management in the KCDMS project, with special focus on project Priority Area 3
·         Manage a team of approximately 3 staff based in regional hubs (Kisumu, and Wote).
·         Contribute to grants management with attention to Policy matters.
·         Contribute to monitoring and evaluation, learning, and reporting and provide technical oversight and support all data tracking by the in M&E staff of the sub-grantees with attention to policy matters.
·         Contribute to Social Inclusion activities in line with policy matters.
Qualifications:
·         Master’s degree in public administration, economics, business, agricultural or rural development and at least 9 years of experience in agricultural policy or market systems projects;
·         Experience in economic growth, agricultural development, or governance programs is required.
·         Demonstrated understanding of private sector agribusiness and investment; Knowledge of market facilitation approach (or M4P) is preferred.
·         Demonstrated knowledge of Kenyan agricultural policy environment, including county-integrated development plans, food safety standards, traceability systems, seed and fertilizer policies, and animal feed policies.
·         Demonstrated success building relationships with Kenyan government and private sector stakeholders.
·         Knowledge of global best practices for local governance and accountability.
·         Experience with organizational capacity assessments and institutional capacity strengthening.
·         Experience in Kenya is required.
·         Experience with USAID grant-making is an added advantage.
·         Ability to build consensus and demonstrated ability to recruit and develop high performing teams; demonstrated ability to manage international and national staff.
·         Experience and demonstrated capacity to build and sustain partnerships to achieve development results.

Nutrition & Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) Specialist – Nairobi based
(1 Position)
The Nutrition/BCC Specialist will support Priority Area 2, Diverse production and improved agricultural productivity providing technical assistance for the development of Agri-nutrition implementation strategies and interventions.
The Specialist will oversee implementation of the programme by the partners, provide supportive supervision, evaluate program effectiveness, identify obstacles and institute corrective measures, if needed while maintaining productive relationships with relevant stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities:
·         Lead the development of the activity’s strategy for applying a nutrition-sensitive agriculture approach throughout all project interventions.
·         Lead, design and oversee implementation of SBCC strategies to promote production, consumption, and sale of local nutritious foods.
·         Collaborate with project partners on research and learning related to behavioural barriers to nutrition practices; continuously design and adapt interventions to overcome identified barriers.
·         Partner with private sector firms and associations to co-develop marketing strategies for nutrient-rich agricultural products.
·         Train project partners (such as sub-grantees, field staff, public extension agents, etc.) on the promotion of homestead food production, particularly of vegetables, to increase the year-round availability, access and consumption of nutrient-rich foods.
·         Collaborate with other USAID (and non-USAID) projects supporting Agri/nutrition activities; share learnings; ensure consistent messaging; leverage existing materials and curriculums.
·         Design and oversee interventions to promote hygienic food handling and preparation at the homestead and community levels.
·         Collaborate with other technical staff on the promotion of practices and technologies to reduce aflatoxin and other contaminants in target commodities as food safety measure.
·         Contribute to grants management with particular attention to Nutrition and behavior change communication.

·         Contribute to monitoring and evaluation, learning, and reporting and provide technical oversight and support all data tracking by the in M&E staff of the sub-grantees with attention to nutrition and behavior change communication,
·         Contribute to Social Inclusion activities in line with nutrition and behavior change communication.
·         Ensure project activities meet USAID (SUAP) and NEMA environmental compliance requirements
·         Collaborate with staff and partners across all priority areas to ensure cross-fertilization of ideas and coordination of activities.
·         Identify and document technical best practices and lessons learned and compile biweekly/monthly reports on project activities accomplished during those periods.
·         Report directly to the Director for Productivity Component 2 on all aspects that pertains to the achievement of results.
·         Any other duties as assigned by your supervisor.
Qualifications:
·         Bachelor’s degree; Master’s-level degree in nutrition, public health, or related field preferred.
·         Minimum 8 years’ experience in nutrition or health programs in Kenya; Experience in nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs preferred.
·         Demonstrated technical expertise in nutrition sensitive agriculture; Understanding of agriculture-to-nutrition pathways.
·         Experience overseeing behaviour change campaigns.
·         Knowledge of food safety practices.
·         Familiarity with dairy and horticulture sectors in Kenya preferred.
·         Reputation for professional excellence (as evidenced by references and achievements).
·         Strong written communication and effective cross-cultural interpersonal skills.
·         Language Ability: Oral and written fluency in English required.

Communication Specialist – Nairobi Based
(1 Position)
The Communication Specialist will oversee the internal and external USAID-KCDMS communication functions.
S/He will develop, and facilitate the implementation of KCDMS’ integrated communications strategy using a two-pronged approach including;
·         Development Communications- design messages and Behavior-Change Communication strategies for multiple market systems stakeholders to promote increased technology adoption and innovations, good agricultural practice, improved nutrition as well as social inclusion.
·         Corporate Communications-focusing on enhancing USAID-KCDMS’ increased visibility and credibility among key stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities:
·         PR Communications (KCDMS’s increased visibility and credibility among key stakeholders)
·         Communicate KCDMS performance by processing, packaging and disseminating a wide range of Information, Education and Communications (IEC) materials including county profiles, commodity brochures and reports among relevant stakeholders.
·         Technical Documentation and Reporting: work in collaboration with component leads to edit, brand, and finalize KCDMS technical reports including but not limited to Bi-weeklies, Value chain analysis studies, quarterly and annual reports, and work plans.
·         Knowledge management: Facilitate the development of USAID-KCDMS Information, Education and Communications (IEC) materials and effective dissemination of the same through the most appropriate channels.
·         Maintain the USAID branding and Marking plan: guide teams internally and externally on the required USAID branding on a need by need basis while ensuring that the branding requirements are met.
·         Maintaining the USAID-KCDMS photo database/video library: Continuously highlight the activity’s interventions through photography and video documentation.
·         Documentation of success stories: Production of Snapshots for quarterly reports and success stories for wider dissemination to stakeholders.
·         Events management: Support the teams to plan and execute both the internally initiated and industry driven events and guide on branding requirements.
·         Grantee communications support: Provide communications support to onboarding grantees on a need by need basis to help achieve the activity objectives.
·         Development of strategic promotional materials: work with the component leads, grantees and consultants/service providers towards the production of messages and tools targeted at diverse audiences and channels on a need by need basis.
·         Media and publicity support: be a liaison for USAID-KCDMS media engagements.
·         Digital communications: Provide support for social media visibility on approved platforms through consistent content generation.
·         Contribute to the monitoring and evaluation, learning, and reporting process of the activity.
Qualifications:
·         Bachelor’s degree in Communications, PR, Mass Media, Information Science or any other relevant course coupled with training Developmental communication,
·         At least 4 years of relevant experience in the development space
·         Experience in working with USAID-funded projects is an added advantage.
·         Experience in designing and implementing communication strategies.
·         Experience in media relations/management.
·         Experience in designing, developing, branding, editing and disseminating communication materials to various stakeholders.
·         Experience in managing digital communication platforms.
How to Apply
To apply, please email your cover letter and CV to hrapplications@nb.rti.org by 29th January 2019.
Applicants must include the, POSITION TITLE and the project name ie (KCDMS Project) in the subject line of the email.
Please do not attach copies of certificates.
We regret that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Please note: RTI International does not use agents or require any form of payment in the recruitment process.
We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V