About Agriterra

Agriterra is a cooperative development organisation founded and governed by farmers’ organisations from The Netherlands, to strengthen the capacity of farmers’ organisations in the global South. Our mission is to strengthen organised farmers in developing and emerging countries, given the importance of effectively organised farmers to improve the resilience of rural households and make the structural transformation of economies inclusive of rural communities. Through collective action, farmers can set the agenda for their own development ambitions and increase their voice and bargaining power to improve their food security, their economic development and their ability to cope with shocks. As an advisory organisation, Agriterra builds the capacities of farmers’ organisations in their quest to become self-sustaining rural centers of service delivery, in the fields of advocacy, production, finance, marketing and value addition.

About the job

Agriterra is looking to recruit a Senior Cooperative Advisor in the role of Deputy team lead for the new Farmers’ Organisations for Rural Transformation (FORT) project in Uganda. The FORT project strives for the transformation of rural areas in five regions of Uganda, whereby a variety of organised farmers and their households are expected to increase their resilience to shocks through the strengthening of their farmers’ organisations (FOs). These FOs will have a variety of sizes, ranging from informal groups to primary cooperatives, Area Cooperative Enterprises and the Apex organisation. In addition to producers’ organisations, FORT intends to strengthen the functioning of rural SACCOs to better serve the needs of rural households while reinforcing their savings and credit portfolios and the foundations of governance and financial management. FORT will be implemented by a consortium of Agriterra (lead), Wageningen University CDI (WUR) and the Uganda Cooperative Alliance. The project has a timespan of five years and an objective to reach 200,000 farmer households through approximately 120 formal FOs and 180 informal FOs.

Agriterra considers the FORT approach as the result of multiple years of incrementally innovating its vision of cooperative development, whereby the concepts of Leaving no one behind, sustainable land use and household resilience have taken a more prominent place. By integrating a farming systems approach in its cooperative development approach, Agriterra has deepened and widened its impact on rural communities, while consistently taking the farmers’ organisation as the entry point. FORT has been designed as a model project for rural development, where the national apex organisation is envisioned to take up the role of cooperative development service provider after the project’s ending, given its permanent character in the national cooperative landscape. New concepts, such as categorization and graduation, and milestone-based cooperative development will be put into practice in FORT, as well as our refined approaches towards salaried and peer-to- peer cooperative extension services, performance monitoring of SACCOs by rural leaders and the installation of rural agroecological product production centers.

In FORT, cooperatives are considered farmer-led enterprises that can develop a variety of farmer-led businesses which should be economically viable responses to genuine needs of farmer households in their communities. Through services provision, cooperatives should strengthen the economic position and resilience of members and non-members, with business models that convince non-members to join. Farmers should be able to access production services, financial services and marketing and value-adding services in their vicinity and farmers’ organisations should be capacitated to develop and sustain these services with business plans that have the potential to be upscaled, to enable cooperatives to maximize their potential based on the concepts of collective action and economies of scale. To ensure that the selected farmers’ organisations are structurally owned, controlled and used by their members, in an inclusive and representative manner, the capacity building will include advisory services, trainings and peer-to-peer exchanges to strengthen their governance framework, including the internal agency, institutional foundations and external agency of these farmer-led institutions.

The Deputy project lead will report directly to Agriterra’s FORT project lead and will be based in a secondary Ugandan city, likely to be Jinja. He/She will lead his regional office team and function as the deputy to the overall Consortium manager. The position is part of Agriterra’s function house with as job title Senior Cooperative Advisor, implying that the Deputy project lead will oversee a portfolio of Farmers’ Organisations and field officers, while ensuring these organisations professionalize and advance in their performance. The Deputy project lead will lead and facilitate program and partner management processes and coordinate with the consortium partners, as well as subcontracted partners, beneficiaries and other stakeholders to design and deliver robust, high-impact programming and strategies that will culminate in the effective inclusion of 200,000 SHF, ensuring they are reached, supported and transformed. The Deputy team lead will work closely with the in-country technical team and apply FORT program tools and approaches in and across the 6 pathways. The Deputy team lead will have a servant attitude, willing and able to facilitate the team in performing their tasks. He/she masters Agriterra’s internal management information systems, prepares Terms of References for assignments, ensures client projects and contracts are prepared accurately and in a timely manner, and takes end responsibility for the reporting on activities and client projects while connecting results to the overall project results framework. He/she will be responsible for the capacity development and up-skilling of the program team to successfully and seamlessly implement all aspects of the program components while ensuring timely and accurate reporting. He/she will ensure that the project will be executed within scope, budget, and timeline, while maintaining the high-quality standards expected by Agriterra and its donor.

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Leadership: from a deputy position, lead, manage, coach, guide and motivate the project team, partners, and relevant stakeholders. Plan and assign tasks to the project team, monitor progress, and ensure quality and timeliness of deliverables.
• Cooperative advisory services: from a deputy position, lead the design, planning, implementation, and monitoring of the project; oversee the establishment and monitoring of the project portfolio (of approximately 120 formal and 180 informal FOs) and ensure efficient, harmonized operations. Lead the design, planning, implementation and monitoring of the project portfolio in the Busoga region, while providing advisory services to the selected cooperatives and providing leadership to the field and office staff from the Jinja office as part of the project as a whole.
• Representation: represent the project in project consortia meetings and forums.
• Planning and reporting: develop and implement comprehensive project plans in accordance with Agriterra’s standards and donor requirements; regularly report on project progresses, financial performance, and adherence to the targets.
• Workplan development and monitoring: translate project objectives into actionable tasks and oversee their execution; prepare ToRs and client projects and contracts, harvest results and align client project and assignment objectives with the overall projects’ results framework. Critically review project drafts, validate key result areas, and enhance project strategies.
• Compliance and budget control: ensure full compliance with internal and donor regulations for administrative, finance, and HR components of projects; manage project budgets, including coding, booking, and reporting expenditures.
• Business development: build and maintain effective relationships with donors, partners, and other stakeholders; identify and act on opportunities for project upscaling and innovation.
• Monitoring and Evaluation: collect, consolidate, and review project data and KPIs in accordance with Agriterra’s PMEL guidelines; provide insights and recommendations for improving project outcomes.

What do you offer?

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Development studies, Entrepreneurship, Agri-business, Business administration, Agricultural economics, or a related field.

Experience

• Minimum 7 years of experience in rural development
• Experience in managing and implementing international donor-funded development projects
• Minimum 7 years of experience in business development, market development, and private sector engagement.
• Proven leadership experience in coordinating project teams.
• Solid background in project management, preferably in foreign aid-funded projects.

Skills

• Excellent communication skills, both in writing and speaking.
• Proficient in project management software and MS Office.
• Strong organisational and networking skills.

Competencies

• Strategic thinker, with a charismatic ability to inspire and motivate teams.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, capable of identifying and capitalizing on opportunities.
• Decisive and balanced approach to managing projects and teams.
• What do we offer?
  • International, collegial, ambitious, and impact-oriented work environment.
  • Developmental opportunities (yearly educational fund).
  • Salary Scale 12 starting from UGX 8,789,565 (based on background and experience).
  • Ambitious work environment with a focus on achieving results.