JOB DETAILS:
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations on behalf of the German Government.

Implemented by GIZ, the Global Fund to Promote Innovations in Agriculture and Nutrition (i4Ag)” is part of Priority Area “Transformation of the Agriculture and Food Systems”. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), i4Ag promotes gender-sensitive and use-centered innovations. With co-financing from the European Union and the Dutch Government, i4Ag is financing the project Sustainable Agriculture for Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) in Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Zambia, Peru, Cameroon, Vietnam, DRC and Uganda.

Tropical agricultural commodities like palm oil, cocoa and coffee provide the livelihoods for millions of smallholder farmers around the world and have contributed to rural development. However, the rise in their production over the last decades has also been linked to deforestation and forest degradation. As forests are critically important to mitigating climate change, maintaining biodiversity and providing ecosystem services, their sustainable management has become a global priority.

Against this backdrop, the European Commission (EC) has drafted a regulation on deforestation-free products. The European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Commodities and Products (EUDR) requires the coffee sector to be deforestation-free; failure to comply with the regulation, or a lack of traceability, will effectively close the European market by December 2024.
To address these challenges in Uganda, EU and the Dutch government have commissioned GIZ to improve the protection of forest while supporting local communities in accessing markets and increasing their incomes through sustainable coffee production.

GIZ Uganda is recruiting a Rural Development Advisor providing advisory service to coffee value chain stakeholders to ensure compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
Job Title : Rural Development Advisor on Forestry and Agroforestry in the Coffee value chain. EU-SAFE
Reports to: Head of Component
Duty Station: Kampala with frequent travels to rural areas
Contract Duration: 01.012.2024 to 30.09.2026 with the possibility of extension
Ref No: GIZ-EU SAFE/RDA-FA/1124046.

Key Responsibilities
The Rural Development Advisor will be responsible for:
• Support compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) within Uganda's coffee sector.
• Promote sustainable forest management practices, forest conservation and agroforestry systems that align with EUDR requirements.
• Provide advisory services on forest ownership structures, concessions, and conservation incentives.
• Lead related capacity-building and knowledge-sharing efforts with stakeholders
• Support project implementation, monitoring, and evaluation for forest conservation as part of sustainable coffee production.

Specific Tasks
The Rural Development Advisor performs the following tasks:
1. Knowledge and advisory services
• Provide technical expertise and advisory services to coffee producers, cooperatives, forest owners to ensure full compliance with the EUDR.
• Promote agroforestry strategies that align coffee production with deforestation-free and sustainable practices.
• Lead capacity-building initiatives for stakeholders, focusing on sustainable coffee value chains, forest conservation, and collaborative forest management.
• Provide advisory services on the complexities of forest ownership in Uganda, including communal, private, and public ownership structures to identify their roles in supporting EUDR compliance efforts and conservation goals.
• Collaborate with relevant government bodies to strengthen regulatory frameworks and practices.
• Advise on innovative incentive schemes for forest conservation related to coffee production, such as payment for ecosystem services (PES), carbon credits, and agroforestry-related incentives for farmers.
• Advise on integrate economic and social benefits of forest conservation, ensuring livelihoods for local communities are maintained and enhanced.
2. Partnership coordination
• Cooperate and maintain regular contact with relevant parties from local government, civil society, research institutes, private sector and international agencies.
• Participate and contribute to relevant processes, fora, events and meetings on the national and sub-national level.
• Support the planning and implementation of study tours, visiting delegations, exchange visits, missions and other official events as required.
3. Project coordination
• Support to develop an adapted a Theory of Change, overall workplan and annual workplans.
• Support the preparation of terms of reference for service contracts or financing agreements in line with GIZ rules and regulations and supervise contracted third parties.
• Coordinate the implementation of project activities with members of the steering team, partners and contracted third parties.
• Provide monitoring data and contextual knowledge to contribute to reporting and public and internal communication.
• Organize internal and external events and meetings.
Other Duties/Additional Tasks
• Perform other duties and tasks at the request of management.

Qualifications.
• Bachelor’s degree in Forestry, Environmental Science, Agroecology. A master’s degree in a related field is an added advantage.

Professional experience
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in a comparable position.
• At least 5 years’ experience in providing advisory services on forestry, collaborative forest management in agriculture value chains and related fields.
• Knowledge of the international discussion on sustainability in agricultural supply chains and forest preservation.
• Proven experience working in or in close cooperation with smallholder cooperatives and associations.
• Experience working for or in cooperation with the private sector

Other knowledge, additional competences.
• Strong network with institutions working on forest protection.
• Ability to communicate complex topics to be understood by different audiences.
• Knowledge of GIZ instruments, procedures and (procurement) rules is considered an advantage.
• Pro-active attitude, flexibility and intercultural competence.