Concern for Women and Children Development Foundation (COWACDI)

No. 26 opposite Save the Children Office, Benue Avenue, Old G.R.A Maiduguri, Borno State

07034276614

info@cowacdi.org

www.cowacdi.org

Publication Date:

22th May, 2023.

Agronomy Intern Livelihood Project

Background

Concern for Women and Children Development Foundation (COWACDI) is a woman- led organization born out of passion for the wellbeing of Women and Children in Nigeria. It has a special interest in mitigating the suffering of the vulnerable persons (mostly Women & Children) in times of crisis. Currently the organization has focused its attention on the North East of Nigeria with special emphasis in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states (the BAY states) due to the decade old crises. COWACDI intervenes through community-based approach in addressing Gender-Based Violence prevention and response programmes, child protection, peace-building programmes and empowerment of youth and women. Since its establishment in 2005 has been implementing humanitarian and developmental interventions in Protection, Peace Building, Housing Land & Property (HLP), Non-food Items (NFI), Livelihood. These interventions have directly targeted over 6000 vulnerable children, women, girls and boys as well as people with disabilities. Determined to expand her interventions to reach more vulnerable groups in the conflict area, COWACDI will be implementing livelihood project in collaboration with CAID with funding from WFP. COWACDI operates with full respect for humanitarian law and works with concrete policies and principles of international standard such as humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence and accountability to affected population.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Employment Type:       Full-Time

Job Title:                     Agronomy Intern (Female)

Qualification:                B.Sc./HND in Agriculture

Experience:                   1 Years

Location:                      Mafa LGA, Borno State

Job Field:                     Programmes

Reports to:                   Agronomy Officer

Vacancy:                       1

Contractual Arrangement: Internal/External

Contract Duration: 7 Months

Planned Timelines:

  • Start Date: June, 2023
  • End Date: December, 2023

Job responsibilities

  • Key Responsibilities: Under the direct supervision of the Project Officer Agronomy/Forestry and in collaboration with the extension agents, field agents and community volunteers and CPAs and other team members of the program and of the base, the role will:
  • Facilitate community entry activities.
  • Assist in the implementation of the community project plans and make recommendations to the line manager for approval of community agronomic/forestry project activities.
  • Assist in training of beneficiaries on rain fed seed crop production, dry season crop production and micro garden farming.
  • Facilitate Agronomy/forestry related surveys in communities.
  • Prepare action plans and provide direct support to beneficiaries through visits, in line with the action plans and as required.
  • Facilitate links and referrals relationships between the beneficiaries and community groups and local sources of support.
  •  Ensure all documentation, reports, and records from the community on rain fed/dry season seed crop production and micro-garden farming are maintained per agreed procedure, and information is provided on these community activities as required.
  •  Co-facilitate step-down trainings with beneficiaries and community groups on various topics on rain fed /dry season seed crop production and micro-garden farming as outlined in the implementation plan.
  •  Support beneficiaries and community groups to conduct assessments/project activities to all special women and youths in the communities.
  • Support activities on community disaster risk reduction, famer field schools, asset transfer and revolving fund management, community-based saving, and lending groups opportunities.
  • Assist in data collection on rain fed/dry season seed crop production and micro-garden farming under technical guidance of the M&E officer.
  • Coordinate with community- based LGA BOSADP officers, other NGOs, and private sector actors.
  •  Do any other responsibility that will be assigned to him/her.
  •  Ensure data collection of Agronomy/Forestry activities under technical guidance of the M&E officer.

 Additional Tasks:

  •  Support Project Stakeholders to implement Agronomy/Forestry program activities in the target communities listed above, through:
  • Co-facilitation of community training on various Agronomy/Forestry issues and topics as outlined in the project implementation plan and training modules.
  • Work with LGA-based project teams to model techniques and processes for community engagement.
  •  In subsequent stages of community engagement, provide mentoring and oversight on Agronomy/Forestry activities of the community volunteers and team members.
  •  Maintain documentation and M&E systems at the community level: under the technical guidance of M&E officer, work with community mobilizers, village agents, beneficiaries, and community groups to ensure that all documents for beneficiaries are kept up-to-date, accurate, and secured; and ensure that information is compiled as needed in an accurate and timely basis to assess progress against activities and outcomes for each community.
  •  Support the Project Officer and stakeholders as required in representing the program to government agencies, other implementing partners, and service providers. Help establish referral systems with other service providers at the LGA level, to be utilized by community volunteers, CPAs, and beneficiary and community groups to refer beneficiaries for services not provided by this project.
  •  Facilitate the community volunteers, beneficiary, and community groups to explore opportunities for soliciting additional indigenous support to program beneficiaries from local resources through community and in-kind contributions.
  • Co-facilitate Agronomy/Forestry training activities as required, and in line with the implementation plan.
  •   Work with the Finance, Admin, Logistics, Security, Procurement Officers, project partners, and community volunteers, and Project Officer to ensure that all financial activities conducted in each community are properly documented in line with COWACDI Project requirement and donor procedures.

 Other ad hoc tasks as requested by Project Officer

Analytical skills:

  • Works on complex issues.
  • Problems and issues, risks and benefits may have implications across several projects’ components.
  • Required to develop new ways of doing things to better meet program goals requiring creative or analytical ability.

Educational Qualification & Experience Requirements

  • Must have substantial experience in implementing community-level development projects, using participatory engagement and grassroots mobilization techniques.
  • University Degree/HND in Agriculture or a closely related field with at least 2 years’ experience
  •  Experience working on Agronomy/Forestry value chain actors and their service providers.
  • Sound experience working on Agronomy/Forestry and related projects.
  •  Excellent training and facilitation skills with a wide variety of groups having diverse experiences, backgrounds, skills, and education levels.
  • Experience in handling grants to local groups, ensuring appropriate basic documentation and accountability at the community/field level.
  •  Proficient in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Power point
  •  Excellent verbal communication and listening skills.
  • Language Requirements: Spoken English-Excellent; Written English-Good (ability to type and prepare reports and other documents as needed.)
  •  Must be able to speak at least one local language predominant in that state.

Language required:

Fluency in oral and written English is required. Hausa and Kanuri would be advantage.

Application Closing Date

26th May, 2023.

Method of Application:

Interested and qualified candidates should kindly forward their Cover letter and CV in a single PDF format via an e-mail to recruitment@cowacdi.org stating the position they are applying for as the subject of their mail.

Additional Information

COWACDI is an equal –opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, gender, religion, etc. Kindly ensure that you are able to work in this location when applying. Only qualified female is strongly encouraged to apply

No application after the closing date will be considered.

COWACDI regrets that, due to the large number of applications we receive, we are unable to reply to every applicant. If you are being considered for the role, a recruiter will contact you. If you are not contacted within 2 weeks, you should consider your application not successful on this occasion.

Note: Never pay for any training, certificate, assessment, or testing fee to the recruiter.