Technical Officer Climate Smart Agriculture

Job Description

Purpose of the role

The Technical Officer Climate Smart Agriculture will be based in Kabwe and will be responsible for the field implementation of climate smart practices in the project focus areas. In direct coordination with the Project Manager the incumbent will design and carry out climate smart interventions and will foster capacity building of stakeholders on climate smart practices along the agricultural value chain. Stakeholders include companies, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), cooperatives, government extension officers, agro-dealers, tree nursery farmers, equipment suppliers and farmers.

Job Description

Overview of the Position

The project team consists of a Project Manager and a Deputy Project Manager based in Lusaka, three Field Coordinators each based in a field office, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and Renewable Energy (RE) officers, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) officer and a Gender Specialist. The field offices are in Katete (additional thematic focus on youth employment and gender), Mazabuka (additional thematic focus on renewable energy), Kabwe (additional thematic focus on Inclusive business: cotton, dairy and horticulture), with some horticultural works extending to Solwezi.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Promote and increase stakeholder capacities in climate smart agriculture (CSA) solutions for smallholder farmers.
• Support the switch by companies, SMEs and others to reorient their products and services to cater for a more climate resilient market for the respective agribusinesses/ value chains.
• Technical assistance on implementation of CSA practices, often in conjunction with energy colleagues
• Conducting trainings on CSA solutions to a wide range of audiences
• Support Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning activities
• Support in administrative day to day operations of the field office.
• Support the design and implementation of activities in line with the annual project plan.

Qualifications

• Bachelors’ degree in agriculture or other relevant field with a minimum of 3 years working experience OR a School Certificate with a minimum of 5 years working experience,
• Proven track record with over 3 years of experience in climate smart agriculture methods in rural areas; these include agroforestry, conservation farming, integrated water resource management,
• Practical experience in one of the following topics: Renewable energy, Youth (self) Employment and Gender,
• Strong communication skills and ability to conduct trainings under extreme conditions
• Private sector experience is an asset,
• ICT / Computer Literacy,
• Fluency in written and oral English, proficiency in multiple local languages is an asset.

About the Organization

The Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) is an international not-for-profit development organization that believes in contributing to poverty alleviation in Zambia through various programs/projects that it implements. There is great opportunity by all people to pursue their own sustainable development and SNV is working with different groups in pursuant of the same. SNV provides services in Agriculture, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, and Renewable Energy. The recipients of these services include governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations and private sector organizations, communities, and individual households.