Agriculture Technician

Position title: Agriculture technician (AT)

Level/Grade: 5

upervisors/Reports to: Program coordinator, co-supervised by Agriculture and Livestock officer

Vacancy For Agriculture Technician 
Community Development Center
Bidur, 3 Nuwakot
Sabal Program 

Community Development Center, Nepal (CDC, Nepal) is a non-governmental, Non-Profit organization established in 2065 B.S and registered in District Administration Office Nuwakot and affiliated with social welfare council. The organization is actively working in the area of local governance, community development, community empowerment, capacity development, food security & resilience, Disaster risk reduction and Climate change adaptation, poverty elevation. CDC, Nepal is community based organizations working actively in grassroots for sustainable livelihood outcomes through community empowerment, GESI and rights based approach. The organization has been providing services to marginalized, vulnerable and earthquake affected people for accessing local level resources. 

Functional Title: Agriculture Technician 

Project: Sustainable action for food security and Resilience (Sabal)

Work station: Based in district head quarter with frequent field visits 

Supervisor: Agriculture and Livestock Officer 

JOB SUMMARY

Agriculture (AT) will be the responsible person for effectively coordinate and implement appropriate agriculture and livestock development interventions through strong coordination with stakeholders ensuring the SABAL Program  under USAID Community Resilience Program (CRP) in the districts contributes to the overall program goal, objectives and outcomes.

The AT is expected to provide technical and strategic guidance and support to the target beneficiaries for agriculture and livestock development initiatives so as to achieve project's output and make a significant contribution to increase agricultural and livestock production, reducing poverty and social injustice notably - improving household livelihood security, generating household income and employment, and building community resilience to environmental shocks and stresses of targeted vulnerable populations in Nepal.

The Agriculture technician shall be responsible to ensure capacity enhancement of community people on improved or sustainable agriculture and livestock development initiatives. The incumbent should also boost morale of community and SABAL mobilizers to work hard and cultivate spirit of team work, consultation, mutual learning, synergy and leveraging of resources in order to deliver quality outputs. S/he will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining congenial working relationships with the government officials, donors, media, local NGO partners and other key stakeholders.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

1.PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Plan and effectively implement the field level agriculture and livestock activities based on seasonal calendar.
• Effectively coordinate with the project team in identifying communities where agriculture, livestock and irrigation interventions are most needed which could boost up agricultural production and bring about long-term effects.
• Assess the availability of government agriculture extension services and identify possible agriculture and livestock interventions that could be undertaken by the project.
• Identify and promote most suitable varieties and species of crops and vegetables that adapt better to the local environment.
• Provide technical assistance to the community on how to improve sustainable agriculture practices and increase crop and livestock production.
• Promote most suitable breeds of livestock and poultry, and fodder species that adapt better to the local environment.
• Effectively coordinate in implementation of vaccination campaigns, treatment and all other veterinary services.
• In conjunction with the project value chain team, advise farmers on how to look for new markets for their products. 

2. MONITORING AND QUALITY CONTROL

• Regular field visit, monitoring of field activities
• Ensure that farmers' interests are addressed and feedback is reflected.
• Make regular field visit to collect and data verification and support to follow M&E system at field level. 
• Ensure that agriculture development strategies and activities are designed and implemented based on sound contextual analysis.
• Assist in monitoring the activities of SABAL Mobilizers and other team members.
• Participate in intensive monitoring visit along with SABAL district and cluster team 

3. DATA COLLECTION, SYNTHESIS AND REPORT WRITING

• Timely monitoring and reporting to concerned authorities on SABAL reporting formats.
• Collect report from SABAL mobilizers and prepare monthly report, half-yearly and annual report and dispatch to concerned authorities.
• Ensure all visit and training reports within a week of accomplishment.
• Ensure that lessons learnt are well documented and shared among the team and project partner
• Document, analyze and synthesize findings and produce reports for wider sharing.
• Prepare human interest stories based on outstanding case studies from agriculture development initiatives. 

4. COMMUNICATION, NETWORKING AND COORDINATION

• Participate in VDC level & others line agencies meeting and share project's mandate.
• Assess possibilities of resource sharing with GOs/ INGO's in district level
• Coordinate the work of the project with other partners and report on progress.
• Establish and maintain congenial working relationships with multi-partners, relevant government line agencies, donors, private sectors and civil society organizations. 

5. ADMIN, FINANCE, HR AND COMPLIANCE 

• Assist Program coordinators in reviewing the program and its strategies.
• Ensure timely assistance on administrative matters of the project activities.
• Ensure that the agriculture interventions are managed in a manner which is in line with the government policies and procedures, and achieves the project outcomes and demonstrate remarkable change.
• Cross sharing of SABAL learning on regular basis.
• Ensure livelihood interventions are conducted in accordance with all statutory requirements.
• To obey the code of conduct made by organization and other concerned policies.
• Ensure use of tools and template at the district as well as community level. 

Qualification/Experience

• I.SC Ag. with 2 years of work experience or junior technical assistant (Agriculture/livestock) with 5 years of work experience in the relevant field. 
• Technical Skills
• Demonstrated experience in operational planning in a complex context/setting; strong conceptual, inter-personal, communication negotiation, facilitation and representation skills.
• Demonstrated experience in monitoring and evaluation; team building and ability to coach and mentor community and SABAL mobilizers.
• Demonstrated use of positive coping strategies in stressful work environments; knowledge and experience with donor compliance and reporting.
• Experience in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with donors, government counterparts, private sectors and national and international civil society organizations.
• Knowledge on developing log-frame based work plan, outcome based monitoring, and good report writing skills. 

Competencies and Personal Specifications:

• Strong interest to work on issues related to agriculture and livelihood enhancement.
• Experience of designing innovative and suitable agriculture interventions. 
• Understanding of relevant legislation, policies and procedures. 
• Self-motivated with time and stress management skills.
• Fluency in both (written and oral) English and Nepali.
• Networking skills to effectively correspond with a diverse audience in different setting. 
• Willing to travel extensively to the project implemented sites and able to accommodate and adjust in difficult working conditions and tough field situations.
• Ability to take responsibility, meet deadlines and make progress with minimum supervision.
• Excellent attention to details including proactive, creativity and reliability. 
• Proficient in M.S. Office (Excel, Power Point and Word) and Knowledge of basic statistical concepts. 
• Familiarity with USAID compliance, rules and regulations will add value.

TO APPLY:

Interested and competent candidate should forward an Application/Cover letter with updated CV with 3 references on Community Development Center, Bidur 3, Nuwakot or via email cdc.nepal2014@gmail.com by 05 March 2017.