Advisor, Nodal Agency Country Engagement and Learning

Programme & Policy

Overview

Lead country engagement, design nodal agencies, and document learning.

You have:

• Master’s Degree or higher in relevant field
• Fluency in English required (written and verbal); French skills (verbal) advantageous
• Fifteen or more years of senior level experience in a relevant field of work with a background in agricultural development in Africa
• Strong understanding of the nodal agency model with experience working at a senior level either in the Ethiopian ATA or a similar organization
• Extensive experience leading multicultural teams, developing and maintaining strong partnerships, and enabling teams to learn and improve performance

JOB PROFILE:

Position: Advisor, Nodal Agency Country Engagement and Learning

Unit/Division : Agri-food Transformation Agency Support Center (TASC)/World Food Programme (WFP)

Location: Remote, with significant travel in Africa

Contract Duration : 11 months, Consultancy

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:

Agriculture and food systems are vital to food security, livelihoods, and development. The sector has proven to be more effective for poverty alleviation and job creation than others, and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems can underpin economic development for many African countries. One innovative approach to spur transformational change is in the use of a Nodal Agency—successively leveraged by many Asian countries and beyond.

The nodal agency model was successfully leveraged by many Asian countries in the 1960s to 1990s to drive transformational growth and rapidly expand their economies. More recently, the nodal agency model was used successfully by the Government of Ethiopia when it established the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) in 2010.

The nodal agency model leverages key characteristics to achieve impact:

• Operates from a “center of government” position with strong links to senior government officials including the Head of State.
• A high level of authority, independence, and responsibility that allow it to innovate, use evidence to inform decision making, work across public and private sectors, exert influence over actors, and ultimately manage and ensure effectiveness.
• High organizational performance that enables efficient systems to be implemented, focuses on results, and ensures learning takes place within and across institutions and programs to adapt to changing contexts and take advantage of opportunities.

TASC supports scoping, design, and development of nodal agencies when governments in Africa identify this model as an approach to transform their agriculture sector. The number of governments engaging with TASC to work on the nodal agency approach is increasing:

1. Ethiopia: With over 10 years of continuous evolutions in implementing the nodal agency approach, the Agricultural Transformation Institute (formerly the Ethiopian ATA) serves as a key resource of learning for other countries.
2. Sudan: TASC has completed scoping and preliminary design activities of the Sudan Agriculture and Livestock Transformation Agency (ATA) and awaiting further engagement to support establishing and implementing the organization.
3. Togo: TASC has completed scoping and preliminary design of the Togo Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA); a Design Team will be assembled in Q3 2022 and undertake full design of the Togo ATA’s focus area with expectation of the organization’s launch in January 2023.
4. Additional countries. TASC is in discussions with partners to potentially add several additional countries to its nodal agency portfolio in the next 18 months.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Advisor, Nodal Agency Country Engagement and Learning, will be responsible for the following areas:

1. Ensuring that TASC builds strong relationships with countries that express a genuine interest in implementing the nodal agency model
2. Leading design activities in specific countries including initial scoping and subsequent design of the nodal agency focus areas
3. Documenting learnings across TASC’s initiatives: 1) the development of nodal agencies from inception to operations, 2) the provision of advisory services to nodal agencies when they are operational, and 3) the building of a knowledge base that documents learnings and makes them available to countries and institutions

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):

With its growing body of work, TASC seeks an Advisor to lead country engagement, nodal agency design, and learning across the organization. Key accountabilities are:

• Support TASC Managing Director in initial visits to specific countries to determine the level of interest and feasibility of the enabling environment for implementing a nodal agency model.
• Assemble and lead a small country-based team to produce scoping deliverables: 1) building relationships with government institutions, 2) gaining agreement from the government to engage TASC in design of the nodal agency, 3) identifying preliminary focus areas of the nodal agency and potential roles and responsibilities of the various government institutions, 4) developing a preliminary design phase budget, and 5) initiate and advise on activities that lead to draft legislation for establishing the nodal agency.
• Assemble and lead a medium-sized country team to produce design phase deliverables: 1) agreed-upon focus areas for the nodal agency, and 2) a clear set of initiatives and workplans in the focus areas that can then be operationalized in Year 1 of the nodal agency.
• Ensure relationships between TASC and government institutions are based on trust, good communication, and results-based.
• Capture information from each TASC country engagement that summarizes approach, lessons, and areas of improvement along the nodal agency support pathway of inception, nodal agency scope/design, and provision of advisory support.
• Manage development of the TASC website to ensure information is available to interested parties.
• Present information about the nodal agency model and in-country experience at workshops, conferences, and meetings.
• Develop concept notes, proposals, and engage with development partners.
• Other duties as assigned to support TASC activities.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Education: Master’s Degree or higher in relevant field.

Language****: Fluency in English required (written and verbal); French skills (verbal) advantageous.

Experience****: Fifteen or more years of senior level experience in a relevant field of work, with a background in agricultural development in Africa. A strong understanding of the nodal agency model with experience working at a senior level either in the Ethiopian ATA or a similar organization. Extensive experience leading multicultural teams, developing and maintaining strong partnerships, and enabling teams to learn and improve performance.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Broad knowledge of agriculture and development practices with a particular focus on leading institutional and organizational performance.
• Leading projects and teams in Sub-Saharan Africa where contextual sensitivity and a dynamic environment underlie success
• Ability to lead, coach, and motivate large and diverse teams and drive improving performance
• A track record of dealing with and influencing at the highest levels within and beyond the organization
• Ability to assimilate and analyze complex issues to develop strategies and policies
• Track record of creating successful concept notes and proposals for major development partners; clear understanding of the approach to securing funding
• Detailed understanding of business principles and processes to quickly assimilate UN / WFP specific processes and systems.
• Ability to identify key documents, synthesis and create summary documents, and distill learnings for archiving and making available to larger audiences.

Closing date 20 July 2022

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: wfp.org