Background information about the job or company (e.g., role context, company overview)

DRC Uganda is currently looking for a highly qualified and motivated individual to join our dynamic team as Climate and Food security Specialist. This role is contingent upon the successful securing of funding for the project. The overall purpose of the role: The Climate & Food Security Specialist will support in developing, implementing, and evaluating climate adaptation strategies under DRC's Food Systems and Economic Self-Reliance project in West Nile. He/she will ensure providing proactive measures of smooth implementation of the project ensuring high-quality and timely delivery of interventions under the project. Enhance food and nutrition security and economic self-reliance among refugees and host communities through climate-resilient, inclusive and market-oriented food systems. The position holder will work closely with the Project Manager, Climate & Food Security Team Leader and MEAL team. They will work on raising climate change awareness, advocating for resilience practices, and engaging the project team and stakeholders to foster a holistic approach to climate resilience.

Responsibilities or duties

Technical Leadership and Programme Quality

• Provide overall technical leadership and quality assurance across the project's food systems, food and nutrition security and economic self-reliance interventions.
• Oversee implementation of climate-smart and regenerative agriculture interventions, including block/cluster farming, Resilience Design, provision of agricultural inputs,good agronomic practices, soil and water conservation, post-harvest management and farmer learning.
• Ensure effective implementation of nutrition-sensitive approaches, including kitchen gardening/ permaculture, diversified household food production and nutrition education, particularly for refugee households with limited access to productive land.
• Provide technical oversight to market systems interventions, including value-chain development, aggregation and collective marketing, value addition, market information and linkages between farmer groups, off-takers and other market actors.
• Guide implementation of financial inclusion approaches, including access to financial services and strengthening farmer groups towards associations, cooperatives and SACCOs
• Oversee natural resource and ecosystem management interventions, including Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), agroforestry, restoration of degraded landscapes, water for production, soil and water conservation and household tree-growing approaches.
• Ensure technical quality and sustainability of alternative livelihood interventions, including beekeeping, fish farming, small-scale solar irrigation, tree nursery enterprises, clean-energy solutions and fodder systems, as applicable.
• Ensure gender equality and women's empowerment are integrated across project interventions, including women's participation in leadership and decision-making and equitable access to land, productive resources and economic opportunities.
• Ensure youth, persons with disabilities, refugees and host communities are appropriately included across project interventions in line with agreed targeting and inclusion approaches.
• Ensure project interventions build on and strengthen existing project farmer groups, delivery systems, extension structures, local-government relationships and tested technical approaches rather than establishing parallel systems.
• Facilitate access to appropriate technical expertise from DRC specialists, District Local Governments and other relevant actors and ensure identified gaps are addressed.
• Ensure required technical training programs for project employees are implemented.
• Prepare quality progress reports in line with agreed outcomes/activities in Annual work plans.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

• Work closely with MEAL staff to operationalise the project MEAL-framework and ensure systematic monitoring of outputs, outcomes, indicators and project quality.
• Ensure timely and accurate collection, analysis and use of project data to monitor progress and inform programme and management decisions.
• Ensure appropriate accountability and feedback mechanisms are accessible to refugee and host-community participants and that feedback is analysed and used to improve project delivery.
• Promote documentation of project results, success stories, lessons learned, innovations and good practices for learning, communication and potential replication or scale-up.
• Monitor implementation of project activities and support implementation of M&E process.

Coordination, Partnerships and Representation

• Initiate and maintain effective engagement with key stakeholders at District Local Government and Lower Local Government levels and follow-up on recommendations (Collaboration) in his or jurisdiction.
• Coordinate closely with district technical departments and extension structures to strengthen technical quality, alignment with local priorities, government ownership and sustainability.
• Represent DRC and the project in relevant donor engagements, coordination forums, technical working groups, government meetings and other external platforms as delegated.
• Strengthen engagement with farmer groups, refugee and host-community structures, women and youth groups and other community institutions to promote meaningful participation, ownership and sustainability.
• Facilitate strategic engagement with private-sector actors, including agro-input suppliers, off-takers, millers, financial institutions and other service providers, to strengthen market access and commercially viable livelihood opportunities.
• Coordinate with other humanitarian and development actors to promote complementarity, leverage existing investments and avoid duplication.
• Lead and participate in joint field monitoring, technical supervision, learning visits and review missions with government, donor and other relevant stakeholders.
• Maintain strong linkages with other relevant DRC programmes/projects to ensure complementarity, shared learning and efficient use of established systems and structures.
• Coordinate the implementation of all project activities and ensure all the outcome targets are met.

Qualifications or requirements (e.g., education, skills)

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Food Security, Natural Resource Management or related field.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex projects, including planning, budgeting, implementation oversight, team management, monitoring and donor reporting.
• Strong understanding of climate-resilient agriculture, food systems and market-oriented livelihoods programming, with the ability to provide technical oversight and ensure programme quality.
• Experience managing and coordinating multidisciplinary teams and working across different technical and operational functions.
• Strong understanding of project cycle management, financial management and results-based management, with demonstrated ability to manage budgets, workplans, risks and project performance.
• Experience working with government, private-sector actors, community structures and other programme stakeholders, preferably in refugee-hosting or displacement-affected settings.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate gender, inclusion, accountability and safeguarding into programme implementation.
• Strong leadership, analytical, communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver results.
• Full professional proficiency in (written & spoken) English.

Desirable

• Master’s degree in agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Food Security, Rural Development or a related field is an added advantage.
• Professional training or certification in project/programme management, climate-smart agriculture, market systems development or related areas is an added advantage.
• Knowledge of languages spoken in the project locations.

Experience needed

To be successful in this role, you must have at least minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in food security, agriculture, livelihoods, resilience or related programming, including at least 2 years in project management and/or technical leadership roles.

• Provide overall technical leadership and quality assurance across the project's food systems, food and nutrition security and economic self-reliance interventions.
• Oversee implementation of climate-smart and regenerative agriculture interventions, including block/cluster farming, Resilience Design, provision of agricultural inputs,good agronomic practices, soil and water conservation, post-harvest management and farmer learning.
• Ensure effective implementation of nutrition-sensitive approaches, including kitchen gardening/ permaculture, diversified household food production and nutrition education, particularly for refugee households with limited access to productive land.
• Provide technical oversight to market systems interventions, including value-chain development, aggregation and collective marketing, value addition, market information and linkages between farmer groups, off-takers and other market actors.
• Guide implementation of financial inclusion approaches, including access to financial services and strengthening farmer groups towards associations, cooperatives and SACCOs
• Oversee natural resource and ecosystem management interventions, including Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), agroforestry, restoration of degraded landscapes, water for production, soil and water conservation and household tree-growing approaches.
• Ensure technical quality and sustainability of alternative livelihood interventions, including beekeeping, fish farming, small-scale solar irrigation, tree nursery enterprises, clean-energy solutions and fodder systems, as applicable.
• Ensure gender equality and women's empowerment are integrated across project interventions, including women's participation in leadership and decision-making and equitable access to land, productive resources and economic opportunities.
• Ensure youth, persons with disabilities, refugees and host communities are appropriately included across project interventions in line with agreed targeting and inclusion approaches.
• Ensure project interventions build on and strengthen existing project farmer groups, delivery systems, extension structures, local-government relationships and tested technical approaches rather than establishing parallel systems.
• Facilitate access to appropriate technical expertise from DRC specialists, District Local Governments and other relevant actors and ensure identified gaps are addressed.
• Ensure required technical training programs for project employees are implemented.
• Prepare quality progress reports in line with agreed outcomes/activities in Annual work plans.
• Work closely with MEAL staff to operationalise the project MEAL-framework and ensure systematic monitoring of outputs, outcomes, indicators and project quality.
• Ensure timely and accurate collection, analysis and use of project data to monitor progress and inform programme and management decisions.
• Ensure appropriate accountability and feedback mechanisms are accessible to refugee and host-community participants and that feedback is analysed and used to improve project delivery.
• Promote documentation of project results, success stories, lessons learned, innovations and good practices for learning, communication and potential replication or scale-up.
• Monitor implementation of project activities and support implementation of M&E process.
• Initiate and maintain effective engagement with key stakeholders at District Local Government and Lower Local Government levels and follow-up on recommendations (Collaboration) in his or jurisdiction.
• Coordinate closely with district technical departments and extension structures to strengthen technical quality, alignment with local priorities, government ownership and sustainability.
• Represent DRC and the project in relevant donor engagements, coordination forums, technical working groups, government meetings and other external platforms as delegated.
• Strengthen engagement with farmer groups, refugee and host-community structures, women and youth groups and other community institutions to promote meaningful participation, ownership and sustainability.
• Facilitate strategic engagement with private-sector actors, including agro-input suppliers, off-takers, millers, financial institutions and other service providers, to strengthen market access and commercially viable livelihood opportunities.
• Coordinate with other humanitarian and development actors to promote complementarity, leverage existing investments and avoid duplication.
• Lead and participate in joint field monitoring, technical supervision, learning visits and review missions with government, donor and other relevant stakeholders.
• Maintain strong linkages with other relevant DRC programmes/projects to ensure complementarity, shared learning and efficient use of established systems and structures.
• Coordinate the implementation of all project activities and ensure all the outcome targets are met.

• Strong leadership, analytical, communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver results.
• Full professional proficiency in (written & spoken) English.
• Knowledge of languages spoken in the project locations.

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Food Security, Natural Resource Management or related field.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex projects, including planning, budgeting, implementation oversight, team management, monitoring and donor reporting.
• Strong understanding of climate-resilient agriculture, food systems and market-oriented livelihoods programming, with the ability to provide technical oversight and ensure programme quality.
• Experience managing and coordinating multidisciplinary teams and working across different technical and operational functions.
• Strong understanding of project cycle management, financial management and results-based management, with demonstrated ability to manage budgets, workplans, risks and project performance.
• Experience working with government, private-sector actors, community structures and other programme stakeholders, preferably in refugee-hosting or displacement-affected settings.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate gender, inclusion, accountability and safeguarding into programme implementation.
• Master’s degree in agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Food Security, Rural Development or a related field is an added advantage.
• Professional training or certification in project/programme management, climate-smart agriculture, market systems development or related areas is an added advantage.