District Portfolio Manager

Job Description

District Portfolio Manager

Orora Wihaze Activity

District level, Rwanda

 Background:

Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 36 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries.

 Project Description:

The Orora Wihaze activity will sustainably increase the availability of, access to, and consumption of animal-source foods (ASF) through the development of a profitable market. To accomplish this goal, Orora Wihaze seeks to remove production, marketing and consumption constraints affecting dietary diversity of households, especially for women of reproductive age and children of 6-23 months. For households that do not produce or sell ASF, Orora Wihaze will enhance access to safe ASF through the development of the existing market system.

The Orora Wihaze activity will use a private sector-oriented, market facilitation approach to achieve the intended goal. The approach must sustainably increase livestock productivity, improve relationships across actors in the ASF value chains, build the capacity of enterprises in the ASF sector, facilitate access to finance and increase private sector investments in ASF value chains.

Position Summary:

The District Portfolio Manager (DPM) will be located at the District level and will serve as the frontline facilitator of Orora Wihaze activities and will be responsible for supporting livestock production and marketing activities and agribusiness development initiatives across two selected districts. The DPM will establish relationships and coordinate closely with key private sector and public sector stakeholders, finance institutions (e.g. MFIs, SACCOs, and other lending institutions), and other development implementers to facilitate market-led activities. The DPM will be paired with a project District Nutrition Advisor to integrate market-led activities with nutrition-sensitive approaches in alignment with project objectives.  The DPM will liaise closely with the Orora Wihaze head office (based in Kigali) to continuously provide feedback and learning for the project.

 Reporting & Supervision:

The District Portfolio Manager (DPM) will report to the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP).

Primary Responsibilities:

• Facilitate district level interventions to support livestock production and marketing activities, and oversee agribusiness development initiatives;
• Develop key stakeholder relationships with the private sector and Government of Rwanda entities, financial institutions, and other development activities that are operational in the selected districts;
• Identify key SME partners for investment and scaling and develop engagement agreements (EAs) with the project to facilitate potential co-investment;
• Coordinate with local district officials during the implementation of project market systems analyses to identify suitable technical support to entrepreneurs and MSMEs to improve market logistics and increase market information in the ASF value chain;
• Collaborate with key local financial institutions to raise awareness of SME financing opportunities and constraints in the ASF sector, develop innovative finance models to support agribusiness development; and
• Coordinate closely with both the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager and the Market Systems Change Advisor to gather robust, real-time data to inform project learning and adaptation.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• A valid motorcycle driving license (category A) and demonstrated ability to drive a motorcycle
• Bachelor’s degree in animal production, international development, finance, agriculture, economics, food science or related field (with experience in livestock-related agribusiness) of study is desirable;
• Five (5) years or more of progressively responsible work experience in supporting district-level agriculture and agribusiness activities of similar scope and complexity to that of Orora Wihaze;
• Experience working with a wide range of key agriculture sector stakeholders at the district level including private sector agribusinesses, district-level government entities and the donor community, as well as civil society organizations (e.g., farmer organizations and cooperatives, NGOs, CBOs, etc.);
• Experience supporting collaborative, participatory livestock production and market development efforts in communities with similar levels of education, risk tolerance, habits related to ASF consumption in Rwanda;
• Extensive networks of public and private sector stakeholders, as well as relationship management and networking skills;
• Ability to implement project activities with a high degree of autonomy; and
• Oral and written fluency in Kinyarwanda, as well as in-depth knowledge of the local operating environment in Rwanda, is desirable.

Application guidelines

Interested applicants may submit their application through the following link https://lol.avature.net/Careers/JobDetail/Rwanda-District-Portfolio-Manager/1377 not later than October 28, 2019.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls will be accepted.

Land O’Lakes never requests money or payment from candidates for any position type. Please report any such requests to Land O’Lakes.