Project Coordinator Job in Kenya

Job Description

Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identify, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.
The Accelerated Value Chain Development Project is a two year USD 400,000 project funded by USAID Kenya in which Heifer International Kenya is one of the local implementing partner responsible for the identification, mobilization and capacity building of producer organizations, developing farmer groups and members capacity and skills in animal husbandry, milk production, livestock feeds and business and financial management and providing support for linkages with the private sector for provision of artificial insemination services, financial services and extension services.

Function
The Project Coordinator, under the management of the Director of Programs, will be overall responsible for the management and coordination of the Accelerated Value Chain Development Project which is implemented in partnership with ILRI. The primary responsibility of this position is for the successful implementation of Accelerated Value Chain Development Project, but he will also be responsible for developing linkages and coordinating livestock production and extension functions for POs in 4 counties in Western Kenya in partnership with the County extension departments that will support service provision to over 6,000 farmers.
Essential Character Traits
Analytical, pragmatic, self-motivated, attentive to details, creative, collaborative, responsive and team player
Responsibilities And Deliverables 
Train Extension staff (40%)
·         Establish in collaboration with the county extension government and private, an effective extension infrastructure to train farmers on Cornerstones, personal leadership, group dynamics, savings and loaning and improved animal management with focus on efficient feeding, animal health and breeding services.
Deliverables
·         Develop a training plan and roll out in 4 AVCD Project implementation counties.
·         Establish in partnership with the county government and private extension an effective animal health service delivery model to small holder farmers.
·         Train 6 Producer Organization (PO) extension staff, 30 Dairy farm assistants (DFA) in all the technical dairy production modules.
·         Train 30 Community Facilitators (CF) who will further mobilize, register farmers 6,000 in both original and pass on groups, train them on cornerstones, personal leadership, group dynamics, savings and loaning activities.
·         Work with a total of 6,000 beneficiaries trained on social capital using Heifer Project International Manual and improved animal management and technologies adoption i.e breeding and efficient feeding technologies using a training content adopted in partnership with ILRI.
·         7 hubs with functional GCC, extension and business subcommittees that plans, coordinates and monitors the delivery of extension system.
 Project Planning, Management, Budgeting and Reporting (20%)
·         Carry out planning, budgeting, reporting and assume overall responsibility for the management of the staff, resources and office in the project implementation area that covers at least 4 counties in Western Kenya specifically Kisumu, Homabay, Migori and Siaya counties.
Deliverables
·         Development of weekly, monthly, quarterly and Annual work plans approved by the Programs Director.
·         Development of quarterly and annual budgets reviewing them and monitoring project and ensuring that spending and implementation are on track.
·         Monthly meeting with the supervisor, PME staff and the project accountant to analyze the project progress and spending and propose corrective measures.
·         Produce accurate and timely biweekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reports capturing project outcomes achieved.
·         Harmonized project database to ensure a standard data capture per beneficiary.
·         Build team work among the project staffs and carrying out their performance evaluation.
 Establish and operationalize the Project Management Structures (10%).
·         The Project Management Structures include: PMC, GCCs, GMCs, OG, POGs and MTs, they will be meeting to discharge their duties on both extension and business. These management structures will ensure effective project management and sustainability.
 Deliverables
·         Establishment and operationalization of 1 Project Management Committee that’s an umbrella for all the 7 hubs.
·         Ensuring that they meet every quarter to discuss extension and business activities for the hubs.
·         Establishment of 7 Group Coordinating Committees at the hubs and monitoring their activities on monthly basis.
·         Working with PFTs to establish at least 70 Group Management Committees and ensuring that they carry out their duties effectively
Collaboration and partnership for successful project exit strategy implementation for the hubs (10%)
·         Establish and maintain close collaboration and partnership with National and County Governments, USAID, ILRI and all the development partners.
·         Conduct exit strategy report.
Deliverables
·         Establish and maintain a close collaboration with the county government and other NGOs that will support the sustainability of the project interventions.
·         Incorporate both the government and private sector in offering extension support to the farmers.
·         Link the hubs/producer organizations with the Business Development Service Providers.
·         Conduct quarterly/PMC workshops.
 Monitoring and Evaluation (10%)
·         Establish a Monitoring and Evaluation framework and lead the field data collection processes for the mid- term reviews and final evaluations and any impact assessment studies with support from the Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.
Deliverables
·         Ensure collection of quality data on registrations, training and outcome monitoring using data collection tools developed by both HPI and ILRI.
·         Ensure that all the data is entered in both ILRI (CISPRO) and HPI database.
·         Conduct 1 project impact assessment/final internal evaluation.
 Improving visibility of HPI (5%)
·         To strengthen program effectiveness work across Heifer’s global organization, to meet the requirements of an increasingly competitive environment.
Deliverables
·         Establish strong relationships between Heifer projects and all the relevant partners in the project communities.
·         Organizing, planning and facilitating functions such as field days, exhibitions, case studies,
·         Participating and facilitating in stakeholders and development meetings and workshops.
·         Demonstrate professionalism in the execution of duties.
·         Be a team player in the course of executing duties for the fulfillment of Heifer mission.
Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor (5%)
·         This will be dependent on the specific duties assigned.
Qualifications
·         Master’s Degree or equivalent in the fields of Agriculture Economics, Agribusiness, Agriculture, MBA, Enterprise Development or other related field, plus five (5) years in a mix of economic growth/trade, value chain competitiveness, investment promotion, or agriculture development.
·         Minimum of three (3) years’ management level work experience is essential.
·         Significant experience in building public/private partnerships, preferably in the dairy sector.
 Preferred Requirements
·         Demonstrated experience in setting robust and sustainable extension systems and or business development for producer organizations. This requirement is in line with the need to have in built ‘exit strategies’ within the project as a measure of ensuring that there are self-sustaining businesses by project end.
·         Significant experience in supporting producer organization to increase dairy production, productivity and best business practices.
·         Demonstrate experience in managing project staff and creating performing teams and managing donor funded projects to ensure projects are achieving their objectives.
 Required Experience
 Most Critical Proficiencies
·         Demonstrate ability to assess the financial status of projects by reviewing periodic financial reports and take actions to address any gaps.
·         Demonstrate the ability to continuously track the projects progress in achievement of its targets and on a continuously basis improve the delivery process based on the learning.
·         Clear understanding of the dairy value chain and Heifer’s Value based model.
·         Demonstrated knowledge of the latest developments in advancing good/best practices in livestock production and value chain development.
·         Demonstrated creativity, ability to think systematically, willingness and ability to incorporate innovative solutions to improve livestock production and productivity.
·         Demonstrated ability to design and implement strategies aimed at providing institutional capacity building’ to key partner institutions with a view to build a more efficient, competitive, and sustainable dairy industry. This requirement is in line with the need to have in-built ‘exit strategies’ within the project as a measure of ensuring that there are self-sustaining businesses by project end.
·         Ability to manage training programs targeted at farmers in animal husbandry, business development, feed and health.
·         Innovative, analytical, and solutions oriented.
·         Strong farmer mobilization skills.
·         Demonstrated ability to design and implement strategies aimed at providing institutional capacity building’ to key partner institutions with a view to build a more efficient, competitive, and sustainable dairy industry.
·         Excellent organizational skills.
·         Knowledge of and experience with developing private/public partnerships at the county level.
·         Strong communication skills both in English, Swahili, and other local languages of the cluster area.
·         Strong computer literacy, preferably with Microsoft Office Suite.
 Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands
·         Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to relate to individuals diplomatically and tactfully.
·         Ability to integrate financial services within a value chain with the view to foster trust and build strong relationship between chain actors and financial service providers.
·         Must be courteous, honest and of high integrity, especially in high-pressure situations.
·         Proven interpersonal and communication skills with ability to relate to individuals and groups diplomatically and tactfully.
·         Self-starter and self-motivator with the ability to work in a multicultural setting.
·         Must be a team player and have the ability to execute and manage multiple tasks with minimal supervision.
·         Ability to work with sensitive information and maintain confidentiality.