Agriculture Sector Expert – Delivery Support Unit at Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI)

Agriculture Sector Expert – Delivery Support Unit at Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI). Please make sure you read the job requirements before applying for this position.

Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) is an international development company. For more than 45 years, we have worked on the frontlines of international development, tackling fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability. Currently, DAI is delivering results that matter in some 80 countries.

Our development solutions turn ideas into impact by bringing together fresh combinations of expertise and innovation across multiple disciplines. Our clients include international development agencies, international lending institutions, private corporations and philanthropies, and national governments.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Agriculture Sector Expert – Delivery Support Unit

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Reports To / Supervisor: Head of Delivery Support Unit
Contract Duration: February – March 2024
Type of Contract: Naira Based Contract
Time Frame: To work for a probationary period of 30 – 50 days (February to March 2024) with possibilityof a 1-year extension.

Background

• The Borno State Government (BoSG) has developed a 25-Year Borno State Development Framework (BoSDF).
• There is substantial ambition to follow through on the aims of the BoSDF and in November 2020, the BoSG finalised and presented a 10-year strategic implementation plan that provides a roadmap to achieving these objectives, – the “2020- 2030 Strategy for Transformation of Borno State”.
• This strategy centres around 9 overarching policy pillars, each with various Strategic Transformation Initiatives (STIs) which cut across multiple government authorities within the state.
• The Government of the United Kingdom, in partnership with PERL-ARC, seek to support the Borno State Government to implement its development priorities as outlined in the BoSDF through the creation of a Delivery Support Unit (DSU) to provide prioritization, data collection and management, monitoring, coordination and capacity building functions.
• The DSU’s overarching objectives are to track delivery of the State Government’s priorities to ensure that state-level plans translate into real-world benefits to citizens, and to support the Pillar Executing Agencies in identifying and unblocking delivery challenges. The DSU will also provide high-quality briefings on progress towards achieving the priorities, and advice on issues that need resolving.

Its key functions are to:

• Support prioritisation across Borno State Government to ensure the state’s resources are deployed effectively and appropriately to the area’s most likely to achieve impact.
• Provide strong and objective analytical work, supported by clear data from delivery unit and data management teams, identifying when specific policy deliverables are “off track”, providing informed options and adjustive/corrective measures.
• Provide continuous capacity and capability support to the key ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) tasked with delivering the STIs and cross-cutting priority policy pillars.
• Ensure strong coordination across the Executive, as well as between government and international partner frameworks, to support the Borno State Government in achieving the priority policy pillars.
• Support strong accountability and management mechanisms between the Office of the Borno State Governor and
• Honourable Commissioners delivering the STIs, to achieve key objectives for each priority policy pillar.

Duties and Responsibilities

At this stage, there are four Priority Policy Pillars the DSU will focus on:

• Human Capital Development (STI 4 – Access to Education)
• Leadership in Agriculture
• Healthy citizenry
• Sustainable Environment.

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the Delivery Support Unit, the Agriculture Sector Expert will undertake the following key functions:

• Supporting the Borno State Government and relevant executing Agriculture sector MDAs in tracking the delivery of policy priorities (and underlying STIs), by reviewing, analysing, and ground-truthing the evidence presented by implementing MDAs.
• This would include drawing upon the analysis and outputs from Policy Analysts, who would also work in the Delivery Support Unit.
• Providing ongoing assistance to the Special Advisor and MDAs on the implementation of key policies and programmes, working with relevant officials to ensure that delivery is underpinned by robust plans and metrics, appropriate governance, and a strong evidence base, cultivating positive working relationships with stakeholders across Borno State Government.
• Informing senior government officials and Heads of MDAs on the progress of the STIs, including discussing the real-world impact of the policies, through providing high-quality written and oral briefings and advice for regular coordination meetings with senior BoSG officials on delivery issues and how they should be addressed.
• At a minimum, these would include quarterly and monthly reviews/stocktakes with the Governor, selected Commissioners, and relevant MDA officials. They would focus on updating the progress of STI implementation through a delivery dashboard, highlighting issues, and suggesting evidence-based recommendations for discussion and swift decision-making.
• Designing and leading regular (periodicity to be defined but usually between 5-10 weeks) & deep dive projects and shorter analyses that produce evidence-based recommendations for action.
• Supporting the Special Advisor and Strategic Execution Teams directly with expert advice to understand the implementation challenges. This will likely include working sensitively with senior officials in the MDAs to understand the story or history of policy delivery, negotiating DSU interventions, and supporting wider strategy and planning development.
• Liaising effectively as the key interlocutor with other MDAs in BoSG whose remits are to support the effective delivery of the STIs, including the Data Management Centre.
• Supporting or advising on initiatives to strengthen state level capacities for effective implementation of the priority policies, such as for monitoring, evaluation, and learning, or knowledge management, across the BoSG.

Impact of Results

• The role will directly contribute towards the implementation of the Borno State Development Plan.

Skills and Qualifications
Education:

• A minimum of First Degree in Agriculture, or related fields.

Experience:
Essential:

• At least ten (10) years of relevant and demonstrable professional experience, either in government, private sector, or academia, in the field of Agriculture.
• Strong experience in building, managing, and influencing complex multi-stakeholder relationships and dynamics, coordinating interagency initiatives, and working with multiple and diverse levels of partners.
• Experience in working with a team of ambitious and high performing individuals towards a vision.
• Experience in conducting quality-driven research and policy-level analysis.
• Experience in preparing high quality policy briefs and guidance notes for use by senior policy makers.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work under pressure, to tight deadlines, and in demanding and/or austere conditions.

Desirable:

• Experience of frontline delivery in various policy areas, particularly in agriculture projects, and/or similar private or academia experience.
• Experience working in Borno state, with familiarity of its languages, culture, and context (political, economic social, environmental).

Competencies:
Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain a range of complex stakeholder relationships, including with senior government officials to drive progress in the face of a range of competing views and priorities.
• Tact, sensitivity, and an ability to manage complex, highly sensitive matters discreetly and effectively.
• Ability to think conceptually and flexibly, capacity to adapt, innovate, and propose multiple options;
• Highly developed communication, networking, and negotiation skills, to inspire, lead and develop a high performing and ambitious team.
• Ability to liaise and work effectively in a team of national and international staff in a dynamic, highly political and environment.
• Highly developed and demonstrable problem-solving and analytical skills that can be deployed flexibly across a wide range of business.
• Demonstrate integrity by modelling the Borno State Government’s values and ethical standards.
• Display cultural, gender, religious, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability to incorporate gender into all aspects of work including planning, managing, operations, database development, reporting and M&E.
• Treat all people fairly.

Functional Competencies:

• Willingness to mentor civil servants in their tools, techniques, approaches, and experiences, as part of wider initiative to support capability building of the Borno State Government.
• Experience in overseeing programme implementation and monitoring and identifying evidence-based remedial measures to address delivery challenges.
• Superlative stakeholder engagement, demonstrated through humility and the use of diplomatic language, in a manner that builds relationships and esteem of key partners.
• Understanding of activities (and their impact) of agriculture sector-related programmes led by national and international humanitarian and development partners in Borno State.
• Ability to “see the bigger picture”, most notably by having a complete and holistic understanding of how various activities interact to achieve a high-level objective(s).
• Demonstrated understanding of agriculture service delivery and gaps across Borno State, both in urban and rural areas.
• Demonstrated understanding of availability and quality of Agriculture-related data in Borno State, to:
• Support analysis and create evidence-informed recommendations around service delivery improvement.
• Promote approaches to systematise and improve the overall quality of dataset, providing suggestions on how to fill gaps where identified.
• Experience in managing collection and storage of data, to support tracking of policies and create holistic understanding of real-world impact of agriculture policies across Borno State.
• Experience in conducting agriculture -related research, particularly on projects led by the Borno State Government, communities, or donor agencies, to inform future projects.

Language requirements:

• Essential: Fluency in English, written and spoken.
• Desirable: Fluency in Borno languages.

Assessment Type:

• Shortlisted candidates should expect to undertake an interview based on their experiences, and an assessment to examine their competencies and technical skills.

Remuneration

Competitive – Firm Details Available on Request.

Application Closing Date

28th January, 2024.

Method of Application

Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

Note

• DAI Nigeria will only contact candidates that are successful at this pre-qualification stage.
• We recruit by merit and based on fair and open competition. We embrace diversity and promote equal opportunities.
• Women are strongly encouraged to apply.