Program Manager at TechnoServe

Description

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

  • Stakeholder Management and Representation
  • Cultivates and maintains relationships with key stakeholders including donor, government, industry bodies and other development actors
  • Builds trust and confidence in TechnoServe as a key player in food and nutrition system
  • Program Strategy, Quality and Impact
  • Develops, presents, and implements the strategic vision, annual goals, and objectives for the program in line with the overall strategy and objectives
  • Strategically selects areas of work, partnerships, and methodologies that most effectively contribute to growth of the AINFP Zambia portfolio
  • Takes ownership and accountability for improved quality, impact and effectiveness
  • External and Internal Communication
  • Ensures clear and effective communication of the program to all relevant parties
  • Builds reputation of the program through sharing of evidence-based impact and participation in key stakeholder events
  • Maintains good working relationship with all relevant TechnoServe departments and other programs
  • Program Management and Coordination
  • Overall responsible for high quality delivery of the program in Zambia
  • Coordinates with Capacity Building Team, M&E Manager, Budget & Finance Analyst, A2F Manager and other country leads to ensure learning across the team
  • Ensures compliance with TechnoServe and USAID regulations

Competencies:

Strategic and Innovative Thinker

  • Identifies opportunities and builds strategic relationships with other organizations to help achieve business goals.
  • Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn and actively applies new knowledge and skill.
  • Analyses both successes and failures for clues to improvement.
  • Innovative to try new ideas to find solutions
  • Analytical, able to diagnose problems, identify the key issues, and think strategically to evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical, and acceptable solution. Works persistently to overcome obstacles
  • Asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, sees change as an opportunity.

Leadership

  • Able to take ownership of decisions but show sound judgment in escalating issues where necessary.
  • Works cooperatively and flexibly with other members of the team to achieve a common goal. Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.
  • Effectively plans, schedules, and prioritizes activities; effectively manages resources (people, material, information, budget, and time) to accomplish plans.
  • Provides leadership and mentorship to the staff and clients to build their leadership and management capacities.

Effective Communicator

  • Listens openly and effectively and ensures accurate understanding; able to adjust communication to the needs of the audience and work at multiple levels; facilitates the open exchange of ideas and information in individual and group situations.
  • Transparent in dealings with others, admits mistakes, and is trusted. Inspires confidence in the team of honest intentions and fairness.
  • Report writing; monitoring and data management

Program Management

  • Understands and manages human, financial, and operational resource issues to improve overall organizational performance. Committed to compliance with organizational policies.
  • Able to analyze and express themselves clearly in business writing.
  • Sound understanding of market systems and inclusive business models, including a strong client focus. Able to understand the client’s concerns and priorities to provide appropriate business advisory solutions.
  • Strong ability and commitment to team working and collaboration; staff management/coaching

Basic Qualifications:

These are the requirements that any qualified candidate must meet. Typically includes

  • A Master’s degree in business, economics, agriculture or other relevant discipline with a minimum of 7 years of professional experience in a relevant field, including the development of agricultural value chains, private sector and/or entrepreneurship
  • Good knowledge and understanding of the business and/or technical challenges of agro-processing in Zambia/Africa

Preferred Experience:

Experience that would make a candidate more desirable.

  • Management consultancy, business advisory services or experience managing local consultants/BDS providers
  • Managing multiple and complex stakeholder relationships
  • Strategic planning and innovation
  • Food Processing
  • Either private sector experience in agribusiness or management of a donor-funded private sector development program
  • Familiarity with USAID private sector engagement or Feed the Future

Required Languages

  • Fluency to speak, read and write in English is essential

Travel

  • Willingness and ability to travel within Zambia and occasionally in the region

Supervisory Responsibilities:

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