Project management and technical quality assurance:

• Primary delivery responsibility for achieving outcomes 1, 2 and 3, leading design and execution of value chain interventions and activities in response to the project objectives and adapting to the evolving needs.
• Coordinate and quality control the development and review of annual work plans, budgets, and progress reporting for all value chain work, ensuring synergies between different workstreams across the project as well as coherence with the work plans of implementing partners.
• Provide strategic oversight to value chain interventions, ensuring the project’s knowledge-base and strategy is appropriate and benchmarked against best practice.
• Ensure cost-effectiveness, proper control and management of financial resources for value chain activities.
• Ensure the quality of project deliverables and provide technical input to meet the required standards.
• Develop mitigation plans to reduce risks and take timely, corrective actions to remedy any deviation from the work plans.

• Team management:

• Provide team leadership and line manage project interns and field officers, including effective performance management and ensuring the provision of support as required to ensure a highly engaged team.
• Build and maintain effective ‘one team’ matrix ways of working (planning, delivery, learning, etc.) across value chains and geographies, and support the effective engagement of cross-cutting roles and advisors responsible for skills development, private sector engagement, MEL and communications.
• Deputise for the Project Manager during absence.

Stakeholder relationship management:

• Lead project interface with senior technical levels of Zambia government (at central and local government levels for  youth development, Small and Medium Enterprises, Community Development, Agriculture sectors), and provide strategic advisory to the Project Manager on political economy and policy coherence.
• Collaborate effectively with TEVET institutions, and private sector companies to foster partnerships, facilitate project activities and ensure sustainability. Act as a liaison between the project and these stakeholders to ensure effective communication and collaboration.
• Manage the contractual partnership with two Local Service Provider leading on village and household-level activities across outcomes 1, 2 and 3.
• Develop and maintain an effective network and relationships with key public and private stakeholders for project delivery especially in relation to outcomes 1 and 2.
• Present results and represent the project as required in national, regional, and international forums.

Monitoring, learning and knowledge management:

Together  with PM responsible for monitoring performance against outcomes 1, 2 and 3, monitoring progress against activities, outputs, and outcomes for value chain work.

Conduct routine physical monitoring visits to assess the quality of activity implementation and results.

Oversee periodic (quarterly and annual) project reflection processes to ensure adaptation to delivery approaches in line with project outcomes and key learning questions are answered.

Support team-wide efforts to make learning (including across geographies and value chains) a core part of the project management process so that key learning questions are answered.

Contribute to internal and external knowledge sharing by documenting project insights, attending workshops/conferences, and applying lessons learned

• Master’s degree in a relevant field, development studies, MBA, or other related field.
• Minimum 3-5 years of relevant senior management experience with complex development programmes.
• Extensive management and technical experience working in the field of youth development, agriculture, agribusiness, sustainable livelihoods and/or rural development in Zambia
• Experience with market-based approaches and working with the private sector to achieve outcomes.
• Strong reputation and networked with government and private sector actors in agriculture and agribusiness, with extensive knowledge of political economy.
• Experience managing high performing, multi-disciplinary teams, and annual budgets above EUR 1 million.
• Solid understanding of climate, private sector engagement and gender-sensitive approaches for smallholder farmers.
• Experience in collaborative and adaptive monitoring, evaluation, and learning.