Area Program Manager – Apply Today

Project Description

The purpose of the Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture activity is to increase access to healthy diets, particularly for women and children, by improving competitiveness, inclusiveness, and resilience of the Ethiopian food and agriculture system. The project scope targets private sector partnerships engaged in a market systems approach to strengthening the Ethiopian food system. The project collaborates with the Ministry of Agriculture and many other agencies and US Department of State programs to leverage resources and achieve impact at scale.

Position Description

The Area Program Manager– Dire Dawa will be responsible for leading and managing the implementation and coordination of all the Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture (ETA) technical activities at the Dire Dawa regional office while providing oversight for day-to-day project operations. RTI has established a regional office in Dire Dawa that will be overseen by the Area Program Manager, who will maintain local relationships with stakeholders and grantees and make locally focused programmatic decisions.

Responsibilities

• Overall coordination of the ETA activities in the designated woreda that falls under the Dire Dawa office.
• Supervise and support technical and operational staff in the field, including coordination in the preparation process of work plans and activity implementation, monitoring of activities and results, collection and analysis of data, and preparing and reviewing reports.
• Oversee and closely monitor all grantees' technical activities and the specific scope of work in the individual grant agreement, including key interventions in commodities and food market systems, milestone deliverables, and reporting.
• Develop and maintain relationships with private-sector actors within the area, engaging them as grantees, learning partners, and stakeholders.
• Oversee and closely monitor all direct technical activities including sub-contract services, field days, demonstration sites, and stakeholder workshops.
• Coordinate and work closely with regional government officials and public sector agencies at all levels to maintain smooth relations and support for the implementation of the ETA work plan.
• Engage with U.S. State Department programs, officials, and Implementing Partners, and other Development Partners, within the region to maintain smooth relations, achieve synergy, and coordinate joint activities where appropriate, including participation in learning and field events.
• Support and coordinate with ETA technical teams in Addis Ababa and other regions, in crops, livestock, nutrition, food processing, food security, market services, environmental compliance, monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL), and private sector engagement.
• Ensure technical quality of core activities to achieve scale and timely impact across sectors and local food market systems.
• Oversee and closely monitor all operational functions connected with procurement, logistics, IT, administration, and seek support from the national operations team when needed.
• Monitor program performance, tracking progress against goals, and implementing corrective actions as needed.
• Optimize existing regional resource allocation assigned by project management, including personnel, budget, and other assets, to maximize program efficiency and effectiveness.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks that could impact program delivery and inform the leadership as needed.
• Ensure that regional support needs are clearly identified to the head office.
• Other tasks assigned by line manager and leadership.

Qualification

• Bachelor's Degree and 8 years of experience, Master's degree and 6 years of experience, PhD and 1 year of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Prior experience working on donor-funded projects, particularly US Government projects is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience and technical knowledge in project management, including elements of nutrition, gender, youth, and market systems development.
• Demonstrated familiarity with current trends in private sector engagement and inclusive market systems in Ethiopia.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Good knowledge of essential computer software.
• Verbal and written fluency in English, Amharic, and local language is a plus.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment and with diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to travel and work throughout Ethiopia in difficult terrain/conditions at times.

Skills Required:

• Agricultural / Studies
• Sales / Marketing / Business / Management
• Social / Science / Project / Management / Development