Senior Value Chain Officer 26 views

The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) has been working in Afghanistan since 1982, presently managing development Programs concerning Health, Education, Rural Livelihoods, and Community Governance, with a total annual budget of roughly USD 40 million. The total number of staff is slightly over 9,000. During the last 10 years, SCA has undertaken a change process moving from a primarily humanitarian service delivery approach towards more of a developmental role, putting increasing emphasis on capacity development, rights-based programming, and outcome orientation. The mission of SCA is to empower individuals, communities, and local organizations, primarily in rural areas and with a particular focus on women, girls, boys, and vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, so that they may participate fully in society and influence their own development. SCA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants are considered for employment based on their skills, abilities, and experience without regard to age (18-65 years), ethnicity, religion, marital status, gender, or physical disability.

Scope of work:

Under direct supervision of the rural development project manager, the value chain senior officer is responsible is to carry out a Value Chain Analysis to assess the market demand and market trend of the selected products (High value crop production, small business enterprises activities and local entrepreneurs’ product mainly at Wardak Regional Management Office coverage areas. In particular, the Value Chain Analysis should shed light on the status and feasibility of existing and potential markets and determine which hold promise of employment opportunities, product expansion, market viability, value addition opportunities, quality improvement and input availability.

Main Responsibilities:

• The Value Chain Senior Officer will consist of the following key tasks:
• Task 1: Value chain identification and selection.
• Performing a desk review based on the available data and market assessment.
• Verifying constraints and holding consultations with stakeholders to determine specific value chains appropriate for further analysis.
• Undertaking a brief market assessment to identify local, national, and regional trends, market size, supply and demand gaps, imports and exports, distribution networks, etc.
• Task 2: Mapping the value chains.
• Describing the structure and flow of the chain in logical clusters – the various actors of the chain, from pre-production (supply of inputs) to industrial processing and marketing.
• Quantifying the value chain. This involves adding detail to the basic data collected under the task 1 (structure and flow).
• Holding meetings with stakeholders, including various actors from the entire chain, and gathering information for the mapping exercise prior to moving on to analyze the value chain performance.
• Task 3: Analyzing value chain activities and performance.
• Identify key quantitative and qualitative indicators (time, cost, value added and productivity at each stage) for the selected value chains.
• Analyze the value chains’ external factors of competitiveness, including their economic and social environment, as well as their industrial and technological environment.
• Analyze the value chains’ technological capacities, including utilization of inputs, the production system and the products manufactured.
• Task 4: Identifying value chain performance constraints and development opportunities.
• Facilitating the definition of the value chains’ development prospects and objectives by taking into consideration the findings of the mapping exercise and of the overall techno-economic assessment.
• Identifying constraints and ranking them in accordance with their impact on backward and forward linkages.
• Identifying development opportunities in the value chains and their ranking in terms of impact, short-, mid- or long-term feasibility, etc.
• Identifying the value chains which can have particularly positive impact on the livelihoods of the poor, or other vulnerable groups.
• Formulation of scaling up strategy for each value chain, including a list of concrete interventions required, and the related investment gaps.
• Recommendations on the policies and measures geared towards enhancing the competitiveness of each value chain. The aforementioned should also encompass the support services, namely technology, financing, investment, and export promotion, etc. These recommendations should take form of 1-to-2-page documents.
• The clarification of roles and responsibilities for the implementation of the scaling up strategy, as well as recommended policies and measures for improved competitiveness
• Task 5: Reporting:
• Prepare value chain assessment report containing findings, challenges, and recommended solutions for the parts 1-4.
• Any other report required by the donor considering the proposal requirement for the value chain analysis.
• Other related tasks assigned by the line manager.

• Bachelor’s degree in the field of agribusiness, agriculture economy/ Agronomy, economic, and business administration. Master’s degree would be  a plus point.
• At least 3 years of progressive work experience in the similar roles in the field of value chain assessment and analysis.
• Practical experience in conducting value chain market assessment and analysis.
• Have a good supervisory, monitoring, analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Understanding on research and survey methodologies, designing, and implementing Livelihood and food security, value chain study and market assessment is required.
• To have a good supervisor, monitoring, analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Computer skill at operator level, especially with MS Office packages.
• Fluency in English and Pashto, both written and spoken
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Supervisory, team worker, analytical, and troubleshooting skills.
• Experience of planning, reporting, and budgeting
• Ability and willingness to travel to the project sites within Afghanistan and adjust to SCA environment.
• Honest, proactive, and well mannered.
• Familiarity with the Northern region where SCA operates.
• Ready to work, live and travel in an intricate and strenuous environment.
• To be an Afghan citizen

Interested qualified candidates should send a full CV with a cover letter explaining their motivation in applying for the job and highlighting their relevant skills and experience through following link  otherwise your application /CV will not be considered.

https://scahris.odoo.com/jobs/announcements/detail/senior-value-chain-officer-479

Academic certificates or references need not to be submitted at this time. These will be requested at the time of interview.

Only short-listed candidates will be invited for written test and interview.

SCA is committed to ethical standards, a safe and inclusive work environment.  Our work is based on our values: Responsiveness, Equality, Impartiality, Social Justice, and Integrity.

Background and reference checks are part of the recruitment process and will be conducted for the successful candidate.

https://scahris.odoo.com/jobs/announcements/detail/senior-value-chain-officer-479