The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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 Senior Program Officer – Ethiopia will be responsible for the following areas:

1. Ensuring that TASC builds strong relationships with the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI)
2. Leading the execution of an annual workplan designed in collaboration between TASC and ATI in support of the ATI’s strategic objectives
3. Leading the development of learnings from TASCs engagement with ATI and facilitating the learning to other African countries interested in the model
4. Directly supporting the translation of learning from Ethiopia to the ATA development process currently underway in Togo.

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

With its growing body of work, TASC seeks a Senior Program Officer to lead the engagement with the ATI in Ethiopia and support the sharing of learnings with other countries starting with Togo. Key accountabilities are:

• Engage with senior leadership at the Ethiopian ATI to implement a detailed workplan of how TASC can best support the ATI’s current organizational strategy;
• Ensure relationships between TASC and ATI and other Ethiopian government institutions are based on trust, good communication, and results-orientation.
• Develop strong partnerships within the WFP Ethiopia country office and WFP HQ teams to identify and leverage the resources to execute the TASC workplan in Ethiopia:
• Develop collaborations with FAO, IFAD and other development organizations, as necessary, in order to most effectively support the Ethiopian ATI;
• Lead the development of learnings from the TASC engagement in Ethiopia in documenting the evolution of the organization from an Agency to an Institute;
• Facilitate knowledge sharing opportunities between the Ethiopian ATI and the government of Togo;
• Provide support to the design team establishing the Togo ATA by leveraging the learnings from Ethiopia;
• 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 in support of the TASC program.
• Other duties as assigned to support TASC activities.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Education: University degree in Economics, International development, Social sciences or other relevant area

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

Experience: Seven years or more of senior level analytical experience in a relevant field of work, with a background and interest in agricultural development. A strong understanding of the Nodal Agency (ATA) model with experience working at either in the Ethiopian ATA or a similar organization. Extensive experience in leading the development of complex analytical studies and engaging a diverse stakeholders to develop consensus driven implementation plans which lead to impact.

Knowledge & Skills

• Broad knowledge of agriculture and development practices with a particular area of leading institutional and organizational innovations.
• Ability to analyze complex issues and provide succinct recommendations.
• Strong project management and team building skills which enable the facilitation of cross team collaborations.
• Excellent financial management skills and commercial acumen, with the ability to leverage external partnerships to optimize resources for WFP.
• 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.
• Detailed understanding of business principals and processes and the ability to quickly assimilate UN / WFP specific processes and systems.