Agriculture, Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Organization: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Country: Zimbabwe

Field location: Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Office: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in Masvingo

Closing date: Friday, 26 February 2021

Company Description

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in Zimbabwe is recruiting for an incumbent to fill the role of Project Field Officer in Masvingo.

SNV is implementing the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative in Masvingo and Rushinga districts, the projects seek to respond to the challenges faced by food-insecure communities enduring increasingly frequent and intense climate disasters and other shocks. The programme employs an integrated approach that uses a combination of four risk management strategies;

Risk Reduction - Reducing the impacts of weather related shocks and improved natural resource management through asset creation or improved agricultural practices,

Risk transfer - Protecting rural households from major covariate shocks through microinsurance,

Prudent Risk taking - increasing investment, livelihoods diversification and microcredit and

Risk reserves - Promoting savings as a buffer to short term needs and idiosyncratic shocks.

The rationale behind the programme is to build resilience through providing communities with different layers of risk management activities.

SNV is the leading partner in the establishment Village Savings and Loans (VSL) groups, fostering financial behavior change through financial education training, development of smallholder farmers' capacity to access financial and output markets and the promotion of weather index insurance to reduce the impact of weather related shocks

Job Description

Stakeholder and community orientation and sensitisation;

Mobilize target community to fully participate in all aspects of the project;

Provide VSL, FaaB, Marketing and Postharvest handling & storage Training to beneficiaries;

Ensure VSL groups are setup and actively functioning and working;

Work closely with cluster facilitators to implement VSL activities and to continue monitoring and supporting the groups;

Identifies and capacitates VSL groups on Income generating activities;

Provide business development and financial literacy training to VSL clients;

Responsible for monitoring and evaluation of VSL activities in targeted communities;

Tags agricultural economics behavior change business development financial literacy microinsurance monitoring and evaluation natural resource management postharvest risk management social sciences value chain

Ensure tracking of VSL group performance through MIS system;

Facilitate market linkages between farmer groups and commodity buyers;

Develop and coordinate strong relationships with relevant value chain actors (e.g. Traders, input supply companies, processors, producer marketing groups) with guidance from SNV project Advisors and Project Coordinator;

Conducts community capacity building, such as training of committees, Cluster facilitators and market facilitators;

Prepare monitoring and progress reports, which include updates on key activities/achievements using quantitative data as well as qualitative information;

Build strong relationships with community leaders, local authorities and beneficiaries; Represent SNV at District level meetings.

Qualifications

Diploma/Degree in Agriculture, Agricultural economics, Marketing or Social sciences;

Experience in NGO work, and working with private sector is an added advantage;

Applicants must be able to ride a motorcycle and possess a class 3 or 4 driver's license;

Minimum of 2 years' experience in initiating and supporting the formation and effective functioning of VSL groups;

Knowledge and experience in linking farmers to markets;

Adult learning, training, coaching and mentoring skills;

Good communication skills;

Computer literacy - including Microsoft word and excel.

Additional Information

Application Procedure

Duration of contract: 3 months