Job Title: Project Manager 1 – Green Business

Department: Programming – (M4LLR and Restore Africa)

Report to: PM – II Market Systems Development Unit Lead

Job Location: Kampala/Uganda

Vacancies: One (1)

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.

CRS has been working in Uganda since 1965 and has a vibrant portfolio of projects, serving over a million vulnerable Ugandans and refugees each year through the Country Program 2030 Strategy. CRS programs in Uganda currently support five strategic priority areas, including Health and Social Services Systems Strengthening, Resilient Food Systems, Emergency Preparedness and Management, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, and Local Leadership. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with local organizations, including international and local NGOs, Ugandan government departments and ministries, the Catholic Church, and community-based organizations for maximum impact and sustainability.

About the Project

Under the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation strategic priority area, CRS aims to ‘drive uptake and scaling of nature-based solutions and novel financing mechanisms to support national and community level efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change’. CRS currently has two projects which fall explicitly under this strategic priority area, and is in discussions with other donors to start additional and related programs:

• Restore Africa, which aims to restore 560,000 hectares of land with 352,500 smallholder farmers across 31 districts (Climate Asset Management funded)
• Accelerating and Scaling Climate Smart Jobs within Restore Africa – Market Linkages for Livelihoods and Land Restoration (M4LLR – FCDO funded) in 17 districts, focusing on 60,000 small-holder farmers and 40,000 hectares also engaged in Restore Africa

These projects aim to assist smallholder farmers, with an average landholding of 2 hectares (minimum 0.5 hectares, maximum 10 hectares) to diversify production within their agroforestry systems, including through payments for carbon sequestration through integration of trees into their plots. Current project interventions and anticipated interventions are in 10 Agro-Ecological zones, as per MAIIF’s 2020 data on AEZ. The projects also aim to incentivize smallholder farmers to be able to invest in activities which restore health to their soil and increase productivity over time, as well as meet their own food security and economic needs

Job Summary:

The Project Manager will lead all aspects related to oversight of livelihoods activities on Restore Africa, to ensure that smallholder engaged on the carbon component of the project are also able to see appropriate livelihood gains (productivity, incomes, market linkages) to support permanence of trees, at the same time as ensuring food security. S/he will provide technical support to the consortium in identification, selection, and development of profitable green enterprises. S/he will support the team in understanding all aspects of one or multiple value chain(s), including existing supply and demand structures/linkages, enabling environment (regulations, financial support, innovations, inputs etc.) and underlying costs/economies. S/he will conduct market analysis of selected agroforestry products with a goal of making markets work for the poor. Identify pro-poor opportunities for growth where barriers exist and if unlocked will help promote the flow of knowledge and resources along value chains to small enterprises and farmers. S/he will oversee the Smallholder Resilience Climate Fund, which aims to derisk private sector investment into initiatives which both improve productivity, income and food security improvements for smallholder farmers and support land restoration. Experience in business development strategies, networking, identifying, and capitalizing on business opportunities will be an asset.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the implementation of technical, coordinating, monitoring, and reporting of green business activities throughout the project cycle – start-up, implementation, and close-out – in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
• Lead ToT trainings, coaching, monitoring, and coordination in all project activities related to green business development.
• Lead the strengthening of partnerships relevant to green enterprise development, value chains, applying appropriate partnership concepts, tools, and approaches.
• Identify and examine constraints and opportunities within the selected value chains
• Identify the underlying policy, institutional, and infrastructural issues that affect the competitiveness and exclusion of selected value chains
• Identify institutions and organizations working on selected value chains that can contribute to pro-poor value chain development.
• Identify alliance staff capacity needs, technical assistance needs of partner organizations and contribute to capacity strengthening and required interventions to support quality program implementation.
• Assist with preparation of market trends analysis reports and disseminate results.
• Develop and maintain relationships with financial institutions and support them in developing bespoke financial products for farmers
• Take the lead in advising farmers on enterprise and business selection, provide insight into product development and competitive positioning of green businesses.
• Work with M&E to conduct market research to identify new business and market opportunities.
• Take the lead in supporting farmers develop business plans for their farms.

Basic qualifications:

• Master’s degree in business administration, agri-business, or a relevant technical area.
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in technical or management positions in the field of agri-business, preferably for a donor funded, time-bound project.
• Proven understanding of green businesses.
• Experience in value chain projects or programs.
• Experience in Market Systems Development, marketing strategies and expansion.
• Additional experience may substitute for some education.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with stakeholders at various levels and strengthening community partnerships.
• Ability to contribute to the development of technical proposals, a plus.
• Experience analyzing data and contributing to evaluation reports.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with local stakeholders.
• Ability to contribute to written reports.
• Attention to details, accuracy, and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.
• Very strong writer with expert command of English grammar and AP style.
• Demonstrated experience with competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to CRS.
• Knowledge of CRS programs, justice agenda and Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus.
• Conferencing Applications, information management systems.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Good strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture.
• Good relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally.
• Good negotiation skills.
• Very good communications and presentation skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions & service-oriented and results-oriented.

Required Languages: English fluency, including excellent oral and written skills, required.

Travel requirement: Must be willing and able to travel up to 40%.

Key Working Relationships

• Supervisory: Senior Livelihood Officers.
• Internal: Head of Programming; Head of Operations; Finance Manager; Country Representative; Restore Africa staff and Program Managers.
• External: Other agency business development staff, Partner proposal development technical staff, donors (as appropriate).

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.