Profile

• Under the supervision of the Project Leader of the ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) project and under functional supervision of the ECOWAS Commission Director for Agriculture and Trade, the Embedded Senior Regional Technical Advisor supports the ECOWAS DARD in key strategic and operational tasks related to agricultural trade such as conceptualization, planning and implementing and backstopping of major activities.
• Further the position serves as Liaison between ECOWAS and the EAT project in order to assure a sound strategic and operational cooperation and a well-functioning partnership relation.
• The Embedded Senior Regional Technical Advisor is involved in policy coordination, technical and institutional support, advice, project management and support of other tasks of the DARD. The position involves frequent travels in the ECOWAS region and within countries and with donor programs/ projects, national line ministries, business association or chambers, international organizations.
• As an Embedded Senior Regional Technical Advisor, you will have the following responsibilities and tasks:

ECOWAS DARD policy coordination and implementation

• Focal point for EAT project within DARD
• Focal point to coordinate with other relevant ECOWAS Directorates (Trade, Customs Free Movement of Persons, Gender Center etc.)
• Participation in GIZ EAT and ECOWAS DARD management meetings
• Support director DARD in missions, workshops, conferences and in communicating with Member States, stakeholders, other projects in the field of agricultural trade policies
• Support the Director DARD in strategic, operational and financial planning, annual and monthly reporting and knowledge management incl. communication
• Support the DARD in implementation of joint EAT activities of the annual work plan in in line with the project objectives.
• Ensure sound and efficient planning, organization and implementation of planned ECOWAS DARD activities and events in the field of agricultural trade by using digital project management tools, in close coordination with the relevant colleagues from the administrative and financial units and under the technical supervision of the Project Leader.
• Backstop, follow-up and adapt activities stipulated in contracts and support technical staff or partners in technical and financial questions in collaboration with the Financial Manager and Administrative and Financial Assistants
• Collaborate with the Monitoring and Communication Expert to assure the implementation of the internal and external communication strategy and assure communication / networking with advisors at ECOWAS Commission, implementing partners and within the team.
• Support the Director DARD to set up an efficient communication and collaboration system for policy coordination and follow up of activities, assure data management, documentation, reporting and management tasks.

Policy and technical advice and inputs, communication, facilitation and knowledge management

• Give updates to Director DARD and GIZ EAT on major developments and events related to agricultural trade in the ECOWAS region. This includes policy, technical and institutional analysis related to the ECOWAS Members States, screening and summarizing news and events in collaboration with 2 GIZ Technical Advisors and the GIZ Communication Expert
• Give advice and provide key inputs to the Director DARD in collaboration with 2 Technical Advisors and the Monitoring and Communication Expert for technical and policy documents related to agricultural trade
• Initiative contracts and Draft Terms of Reference (ToR) for implementing partners and service providers in collaboration with the GIZ Financial Manager and the ECOWAS contracting and financial departments
• Facilitate and moderate during conferences and workshops, as well as team meetings
• Support the Director DARD in knowledge management and learning through evaluation of activities carried out, identification of lessons learned and best practices.
• Prepare and deliver presentations for both GIZ internal and external events and/or activities, as required by making use of a team of 2 GIZ Technical Advisors.
• Contribute inputs to prepare periodic progress for the BMZ as well as other analytical reports, as required.
• Perform other project-related duties and functions as may be directed.
• Required qualifications, Competences and Experience

Qualifications

• BSc degree in agronomy, economy, geography, political sciences (with special qualifications in economics or agronomy) or other related field of study

Professional experience

• At least seven years’ experience working in the areas of agricultural value chains, trade or market development with the private and public sector in West Africa.
• At least five years of professional experience with the project management, policy and technical advice, cooperation and communication with public and private partners institutions.
• Previous work in the West African region in the related field of agriculture value chains and trade, and especially with regional institutions such as ECOWAS Commission, regional business chambers and associations is an advantage.

Other knowledge, additional competences

• A deep understanding of the work and mandate of the ECOWAS commission on agricultural and trade policies, implementation of ECOWAS trade instruments in the member states and knowledge of the regional context in trade promotion and facilitation for agricultural value chains  
• Ability to work in a highly political context from regional to national and local levels by understanding the different mandates and interests of institutions and actors.
• Capability to analyze and summarize complex situations, find pragmatic solutions for complex technical and policy related challenges in agricultural trade promotion and facilitation
• Identify policy and business network in the region that are capable to contribute to the objective of the project
• Excellent diplomacy and persuasion skills with a high sense of integrity and transparency
• Good knowledge and understanding of results-based planning, reporting/ documentation, and communication
• A high sense of adaptation and innovation to support key strategic and operational processes.
• Impeccable writing, reporting and presentation skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills
• A strong interest in questions of organizational development and capacity development.
• Spoken and written language skills in English (level C2) and French (level C1) are required for this position.
• Proficient use of MS Office and MS Teams
• Ability to effectively and efficiently work in distributed/remote teams