CARE USA is seeking an experienced Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for Sustainable Agriculture to support primarily our women-focused agriculture program, Pathways. The incumbent will be responsible for providing technical and programmatic support to Pathways and contribute to CARE USA agriculture strategy more broadly, specifically related to climate smart agriculture with a specific focus on addressing constraints and opportunities of the CARE impact groups, specifically women and youth. S/he will assist in the development of appropriate guidance and approaches to programming and ensure the systematic sharing of lessons across Pathways countries as well as CARE’s global Agriculture portfolio and with external partners. By working closely with the Director of the Economic Development Unit, the incumbent will contribute to the implementation of CARE’s Sustainable Agriculture strategy which is tightly linked with CARE’s Market Engagement Strategy. Both strategies contribute to advance CARE’s work in Food & Livelihood Justice. S/he will help build partnerships and relationships with organizations working in sustainable agriculture issues.
Principal Responsibilities:
- Contribute to the analysis of underlying causes of poverty and support the launching of Pathways programs with particular emphasis on sustainable intensification and gender sensitive agriculture for the relevant impact groups, particularly women and youth.
- Help CARE staff and partners to understand the actual and potential roles of sustainable agriculture for the country office impact groups and long term agriculture and food security programs.
- Integrate sustainable agriculture approaches with CARE’s economic development and market engagement strategy in agriculture-related programs.
- Ensure sustainability criteria are well integrated into market-led and agriculture value chain development initiatives and both are gender sensitive.
- Work closely with CARE’s Climate Change Team to incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation elements into Pathways programs.
- Work closely with resource development, country offices, Pathways team and CARE International members to increase funding for Pathways countries from foundations, corporations, and other donors.
- Facilitate and support a strong learning and knowledge sharing community around sustainable agriculture practices in CARE
- Serve as a key spokesperson on issues related to agricultural production policy and programming in women’s equitable engagement and sustainability in agriculture.
- Represent CARE’s work in Sustainable Agriculture under the Pathways Program in relevant internal and external forums.
Additional Responsibilities:
- Understand the analysis of underlying causes of poverty, vulnerability and marginalization, with attention to social equity, livelihoods security, and the enabling environment
- Help CARE staff and partners to understand the importance of sustainable intensification of agriculture for specific impact groups
- Contribute to broader CARE USA food security and economic development strategies.
Required Skills:
- Bachelor’s degree in agronomy, soil science or other agriculture-related field or equivalent combination of education and related experience.
- Demonstrable ability to shape technical advice and to design sustainable agric interventions in ways that ensure it is appropriate and feasible for specific impact groups
- At least 5 years of professional experience in tropical agriculture, involving significant field work in developing countries, and including experience in gender, program planning, project development and management, and monitoring and evaluation.
- Demonstrable ability to shape technical advice in order to ensure sustainable agriculture is addressing underlying causes of poverty and marginalization of relevant impact groups
- Proven effectiveness in provision of high quality technical assistance to a wide range of sustainable Agriculture programs.
- Track record of collaboration with research and other technical institutions and in the development of partnerships with local and international civil society and government organizations.
- Ability to work well in a team which is diverse and geographically separated.
- Demonstrated track record in program design/proposal writing, project management, and monitoring and evaluation.
- Ability to collaborate closely with colleagues from other disciplines, train and mentor staff and partners, and work effectively in a multi-cultural environment
- Fluency in English and excellent written and oral communications and presentation skills.
- In depth knowledge of participatory training methodologies and extension training.
Desired Skills:
- MSc or Ph.D. or other advanced degrees in agriculture or other relevant fields of study.
- Specific experience in sustainable agriculture, conservation agriculture and extension systems.
- Fluency in English and French is highly desired along with excellent written and oral communications and presentation skills.
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