Background
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In Senegal, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, agriculture is the main source of income for many poor women in rural areas. In these countries, rice is a staple food and an essential food crop. But despite its strategic importance for food security, and its enormous potential to contribute to economic growth, job creation, and food security, local rice remains uncompetitive, and the majority of rice consumed in these countries is imported from Asia. Indeed, the sector is affected by many challenges. Local production is relatively low and often of inferior quality, as it suffers from producers' limited access to technology, improved seeds, modern production techniques, fertilizers, and mechanization, among others. In addition, poor access to markets, financial and non-financial services (including education and networks), and assets (land and capital) contribute to the sector's poor performance. These barriers are particularly high for women, whose micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face additional gender barriers related to traditional practices or unfavorable divisions of labor that further limit the productivity of the sector.
Formulated by the Islamic Development Bank and funded by the World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), the Empowering West African Women Small and Medium Enterprises in Rice Value Chain (EWASME) Project will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2022 to 2027 to partially address these issues in four West African countries. The EWASME project aims to empower women-led small and medium enterprises in rice value chains in four West African countries: Senegal, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. It focuses on the post-production phases of the value chain to strengthen the post-production capacity of at least 1,000 women-owned and women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and very small enterprises (VSEs) in selected locations in Guinea, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. These enterprises, spread across the 4 countries, will benefit from four categories of activities.1. Technical and business capacity building
2. Improved access to financing
3. Improved access to market
4. Creation of an enabling environment for the development of SMEs and VSEs managed by women.
Under the double supervision of the EWASME Regional Project Coordinator and the UNDP Country Office in Sierra Leone, the Project Analyst will collaborate with relevant staff of the UNDP and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the project is implemented in a timely and appropriate manner in Sierra Leone. S/he will also support the develoment of a monitoring and evaluation framework, conduct data collection, as well as reporting, knowledge management and communication activities of the project at the national level and in Sierra Leone.
Duties and ResponsibilitiesSummary of key functions:
The Project Analyst will be coordinating the EWASME project implementation in Sierra Leone.
In this role, the incumbent will be responsible for the following:
Coordinating and overseeing the EWASME project activities in Sierra Leone; Managing relationships, partnerships, policy, and advocacy efforts; Coordinating monitoring and evaluation activities of the projects/initiatives under his/her portfolio; and Facilitating knowledge management and sharing.2. Managing relationships, partnerships, policy, and advocacy efforts:
Contribute to seeking and identifying additional partnership and funding opportunities, and prepare concept notes, funding proposals, donor briefings and presentations in support of resource mobilization to advance UNDP’s and the project goals; Mobilize, foster, and strengthen strategic partnerships with private sectors, private foundations, and other relevant multilateral and bilateral organizations to advance and support the projects’ objectives; Establishes strong ties to and with national programmes, and relevant sectoral strategies, priorities and plans; Lead the analytical and policy development work of the project team.3. Coordinating monitoring and evaluation activities of the project EWASME in Sierra Leone:
Ensure close financial and procurement oversight and monitoring of all activities of the project in Sierra Leone; Guide development of the monitoring and evaluation systems for EWASME Sierra Leone and put mechanisms in place for proper and timely reporting; Contribute to quarterly review meetings and annual projects reviews by monitoring the progress of project implementation, assessing results and identifying areas of weaknesses to ensure the projects achieve the planned results in accordance with relevant plans; Monitor and manage any strategic risks/issues facing the project in Sierra Leone; Submit new risks/issues to the Regional Project Coordinator for consideration and decision on possible actions if required; update the status of these risks/issues by maintaining the Project Risks/Issues Log; Evaluate all key project deliverables, as well as final product to ensure traceability of requirements, high quality and client acceptance.4. Facilitating knowledge management and sharing regarding EWASME in Sierra Leone:
Use sound judgment in all project communication and ensure that project communication meets needs of different audiences (government, private sector and so forth); Manage stakeholder expectations and participate in communication activities to inform stakeholders of progress and issues; Establish and maintain a friendly internal communication system to ensure smooth communication among and between the project partners; Help build the knowledge base, data, and support analytics to deliver a socioeconomic and operational case to the Government; Contribute to the development and maintenance of the programme knowledge networks and practices and development of knowledge products; and Represent the project with donors, governments and national and international forums.Institutional Arrangement
The Project Analyst will work under the overall supervision of the Regional Project Coordinator and the Sustainability and Local Economic Development Cluster’s Programme Specialist of the UNDP Country Office in Sierra Leone. The incumbent is expected to be part of the Sustainable Growth Cluster and work closely with the Project focal point and other team members in UNDP Regional office, and Country offices of Sierra Leone, Niger, Senegal, and Guinea who are also implementing the project.
CompetenciesBusiness Direction & Strategy: Strategic Thinking
Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDPBusiness Direction & Strategy : Effective Decision Making
Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resourcesBusiness Management: Results-based Management
Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable resultsBusiness Management: Project Management
Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goalsBusiness Management: Partnerships Management
Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policiesBusiness Management: Monitoring
Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and resultsPartnership Management: Strategic Engagement
Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives Required Skills and ExperienceThis vacancy is archived.