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Job Title:    Agronomy Assistant

Organization:  Mercy
Corps

Duty Station:  Uganda

 

About US:

Mercy Corps has been
present in Uganda since 2006, focusing its interventions on economic and agricultural
development, maternal child health and nutrition, governance, conflict
management and humanitarian response. In 2017, Mercy Corps had an impact on
almost 1 million beneficiaries in Uganda through our work focusing on building
resilience and enabling economic growth, improving opportunities to attain
better health and nutrition, and improving governance and conflict management.
Common themes include community engagement, inclusive development, gender, and
working in partnership with local government, the private sector and civil
society actors.

 

Job Summary:  The
Assistant Agronomist will work to support the achievement of transformation of
attitudes and behavior to improve the economic future and quality of life of
Apolo program beneficiaries. The ability of the Assistant Agronomist to
practically in the field with great AVA supervision drive the implementation of
effective agricultural extension and advisory services for adoption of improved
farming practices and technologies will be the position’s primary success
factors. The third success factor will be the degree to which the incumbent
successfully incorporates gender into program activities, not just by meeting
gender beneficiary targets, but also innovatively consider the specific needs
of women farmers and their constraints to farming (time, land ownership, money,
decision making to mention a few.)

 

He or she will be responsible for sphere heading Famer Field School
trainings and monitoring with continuous reporting of the status of the schools
to the Agronomist together with good collaboration with the different lower
district agriculture bodies like the Sub County Agriculture Officers.

 

The Assistant Agronomist will directly be in the frontline and
responsible for successful practical field implementation and rolling-out of
good farming practices which may include crop rotation/intercropping, seedbed
preparation, planting, weed, pest and disease control measures, post harvest
handling and storages, soil water conservation, perma-gardening and crop/livestock
integration through field based training. The Assistant Agronomist through the
AVAs will encourage farmers to adopt improved methods of conservation farming
using a variety of methods to reach farmers. The best method though, is through
personal contact with farmers on their farms; other methods such as: organizing
study groups for farmers, establishment and management of crop demonstration
plots, farmer field days and exchange visits will be used in reaching out
farmers to promote adoption. The Assistant Agronomist will achieve this in
liaison with AVAs, lead or model farmers, MCGs, VSLAs, Youth groups, Farmer
groups, Enterprise Groups, Local government and Sub-county production
department, agro-input dealers, and other Apolou program filed staffs staff.
The agricultural extension and advisory services will also include community
based Orange Flesh Sweet Potato and Iron beans and he or she will take lead
with his or her technical personnel to lead the farmers on ground.

 

The main target is to promote crop diversification for proper and
successful utilization of quality agro-inputs (improved seeds, equipment and
tools, fertilizers, crop protection chemicals) to increase production and
productivity of the priority crops towards improved food security and
livelihoods of the program beneficiaries while addressing malnutrition
challenges in northern and Southern Karamoja. In addition, the work involves
considerable monitoring and assessing agricultural conditions and results.

 

 Key Duties and Responsibilities:  

·       
Participate
in developing messages, structures and systems to continually improve Apolou`s
Agricultural Private sector led Extension Services to improve the productivity
of poor farmers and help them turn that productivity into improved food security
and livelihoods. Focus is on crop production, vegetable gardening and
post-harvest handling.

·       
Directly
supervise the AVAs to take lead in Apolou Agricultural Extension Work and
supervise AVA field activities to ensure effective use of resources and successful
targeting of services to the most vulnerable beneficiaries’ farmers in northern
and Southern Karamoja.

·       
Actively
participate in community mobilization and sensitization for adoption of best
Famer field school agronomic practices.

·       
Identify
training needs, production constraints and devise solutions to address the
problems at hand and inform the Agronomy Team Lead.

·       
Conduct
training of Apolou AVAs on selected topics in the extension curriculum and
Famer Field School and ensure training is in accordance with the guidelines.

·       
Collect,
compile, verify, enter and keep data on Apolo program beneficiaries to inform
programming, this will involve collecting all Agricultural Village Agent`s
monthly reports from the field.

·       
Work
hand in hand with the local agrodelaers and other input and output dealers link
farmers to access genuine agro-input implements from agro-input dealers,
retailers, agents or stockiest.

·       
Coordinate
and work closely with district production department/sub county authorities to
ensure that they are informed about the program activities through curtsey
visits to the Sub county headquarters of program operation and at the
production department at the district.

·       
Prepare
timely monthly progress reports by providing data to support evidence of tasks
accomplished by all AVAs and other work plan activities accomplished and submit
to Agronomy Team Lead.

·       
Represent
the Agronomy Team Lead and the agronomy extension sector in any Apolou
agricultural extension and advisory services in northern and Southern Karamoja.

·       
Carryout
ground field verification of AVAs reports to capture the face and rate of
farmer adoption to new technologies and better farming practices.

·       
Participate
in monthly sector review meetings.

·       
Give
technical support and ground supervision of AVAs to ensure implementation of
quality demonstration plots, farmer field days, farmer exchange visits, and
perma-gardening and seed nurseries bed that may be supported by Apolo program.

·       
Support
the AVAs in program participant selection to ensure there is a gender lens
applied during the selection

·       
Participate
in the program reviews, assessments, monitoring activities, learning and
evaluations.

·       
Support
the Agronomy Team Lead with overall implementation of agriculture activities;
develop future follow-on activity and any task as required.

·       
Program
Implementation

·       
Sensitize
community leadership on different Apolou thematic areas i.e. Governance, MCHN,
WASH, Gender, SBCC, Adolescents and Livelihoods.

·       
Conduct
participant identification exercises for the different activities in the
community.

·       
Mobilize
participants for planned activities in respective locations for technical teams
to work with.

·       
Organize
and supervise community trainings in line with the approved work plan and
budget based on Multi Sectoral approach.

·       
Lead
and/or support community respective community members to lead community
dialogues based of the different technical areas.

·       
Coordinate
with all sectors in Apolou to ensure complementary approaches, monitor
implementation of project activities and document learnings and success
stories.

·       
Collaborate
with fellow facilitation Assistants to ensure team success, including but not
limited to logistics coordination, temporary support during leave, etc., as
advised by facilitation Officers.

·       
Other
duties as assigned

Gender and Youth Integration

·       
Ensure
that program activities apply gender equity and youth empowerment principles,
and meet the varying needs of men, boys, women and girls and other vulnerable
groups.

·       
Monitoring
and Evaluation

·       
Collect,
Compile, verify, enter and Keep data on Apolou program beneficiaries to inform
programing, this will involve collecting all Agriculture Village Agent monthly
reports from the field.

·       
Carry
out ground field verification if AVA reports to capture the face and rate of
farmer adoption to new technologies and better farming practices

·       
Verify
the existing groups served by the sector and working closely with MEL team to
update the data base.

Influence and Representation

·       
Represent
Agronomy extension team lead and the agronomy sector in any Apolou Agriculture
extension and advisory services in northern and Southern Karamoja

·       
Work
closely with the DLG extension staff and at the Sub county level to harmonies
the Apolou objectives and the DLG plan

 

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

·       
The applicant
for the Mercy Corps Agronomy Assistant job must hold a B.Sc. in PURELY Agronomy
is desirable and preferred.

·       
A
candidate with a Diploma in General Agriculture and a minimum of 3 years’ field
experience in agricultural extension services, agricultural programming, Famer
Field school, farmer training and community mobilization, project planning,
activities with women, and similar relevant activities can apply.

·       
Candidate
must be a self-starter, motivated and able to work independently and take
initiative.

·       
The
successful candidate will also have excellent English language, verbal and
written communication skills; proficiency in Ng’akarimojong or Lepthur is also
preferable.

·       
Candidate
must be willing to and able to travel extensively throughout northern Karamoja
districts or program sites. Computer skill i.e. MS Office, MS excel and valid
motorcycle riding permit is an added advantage.

·       
Success
Factors

·       
The
ability of the Assistant Agronomy Team Lead to practically drive the
implementation of effective Famer Field School and agricultural extension
services and the adoption of improved conservation agriculture practices.

·       
Degree
to which that person successfully incorporates gender into program activities,
not just by meeting gender beneficiary targets, but also be innovatively
considering the specific needs of women farmers and their constraints to
farming (time, land ownership money, etc.)

·       
Degree
to which person drives the AVA and participants` social behavior towards
improved agronomic practices.

 

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer; Qualified female candidates
are strongly encouraged to apply.

 

How to Apply:

All candidates
should apply online at the link below.

 

Click
Here

 

Deadline: 14^th December 2020

 

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