Cooperative Development Manager
Position Summary Expectations - Duties, Responsibilities
FUNCTION:
The Cooperative Development Manager is responsible for ensuring the successful, efficient, and effective functioning of all cooperatives in the program. This includes providing support needed for co-ops to form themselves into business hubs (member services, governance, management, marketing, finance, etc.). The Manager helps to ensure the capacity building of cooperatives’ principles, values, and business development in collaboration with the signature program team. The Manager is responsible for providing leadership and strategic management support in effective team performance, capacity building of project partners, building relationships with various stakeholders including government and private sectors, and resource mobilization at the assigned regional program office. This position also helps to support farmers and co-ops in mass production, profitability and strengthening value chain infrastructure, market systems, and partnerships and engagement.
- Cooperative Development (40%)
- Lead in formulating the cooperative development strategy for signature programs.
- Update and implement policies, procedures, and systems for cooperative development and self-help group (SHG) management in alignment with Heifer’s signature program strategy.
- Facilitate and monitor pre-cooperative orientation activities in the SHGs and clusters of SHGs as they develop into cooperatives and unions.
- Support in facilitating SHGs in the formation of primary cooperatives and support in the registration process.
- Ensure that meetings between SHGs and co-ops are conducted regularly to share progress and build mutual trust.
- Facilitate the capacity building of cooperative/union governing board and management in effective and efficient decision making, financial management, human resource management, operation and strategic planning and implementation, conflict management, and democratic governance.
- Monitor, support and backstop the cooperatives/unions for effective functioning.
- Build relationships with external agencies (public and private), and facilitate engagement with similar organizations (unions, federations).
- Conduct assessments of cooperatives on a regular basis to evaluate their status, by using the Cooperative Assessment Tool (CAT).
- Strengthening Cooperative Business (25%)
- Support co-ops in formulating short- and long-term strategies and business plans and ensure their effective implementation.
- Support co-ops to ensure the cooperative-owned business hubs are appropriately linked to the markets and functioning sustainably.
- Support leveraged resource mobilization and investment for sustainable growth of co-ops’ agri-enterprises.
- Work with the signature program team to develop cooperatives as business hubs with backward and forward linkages into the entire value chains.
- Support co-ops in developing business relationships with financial institutions, banks, and other value chain actors.
- Support in providing business development services (BDS) to co-op members (finance, inputs, training, market linkages and support services).
- Support co-ops to ensure that aggregation of products is functionally sustainable.
- Support in increasing the business transactions of FOABs (volume and value of services and transactions-purchase sales, through FOABs).
- Provide support in economic transformation, value chain infrastructure and market system development.
- Strengthen the collaboration and enabling environment (partnership and engagement) through the Public Private Producer Partnership (4P) model to achieve mass production and profitability.
- Regularly monitor program investments for investing in production at household and cooperative levels.
- Provide support in digital applications for livestock, vegetables, fruit and fish.
- Training and Capacity Building (10%)
- Develop and deliver training packages/modules related to personal transformation, economic transformation and market system for farmers/cooperatives and project partners.
- Develop guidelines for the formation, management, and governance of cooperatives.
- Facilitate cooperatives in the orientation of new non-Heifer members to have a fuller understanding of co-op principles and values.
- Ensure SHG management guidelines are updated and adapted in context.
- Guide co-ops in conducting periodic Participatory Self Review and Planning (PSRP) and reinforcing values.
- Facilitate cross-learning among cooperatives and encourage the adaptation of best practices.
- Leadership and Management of Regional Program (20%)
- Represent the Heifer Cambodia Program in the assigned region.
- Provide leadership and strategic support to Program Officers in the region to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of program implementation.
- Manage the sub-award/project partners toward quality of program and impact.
- Establish and strengthen collaboration with government, NGOs, private sectors and other stakeholders in the assigned region.
- Support partnerships and locally leveraged resources from the sub-national level (linking agricultural cooperatives [ACs] to Commune Investment Plan and District Development plan), government, NGOs and private sectors in the region.
- Visit and monitor all regional projects to ensure their effective implementation, providing backstopping of partners as required.
- Ensure systematic documentation of successes and lessons learned for internal programmatic use and external sharing.
- Conduct regular reflections for learning among the regional program team and project partners to improve program implementation.
- Lead planning and consolidate progress reports for the assigned region.
- Support to ensure the formation and functioning of the project management committees.
- May perform other job-related duties as assigned (5%)
- QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:
- Bachelor’s degree in sociology, agriculture economics, community development, business management, enterprise development, or a related field, plus seven (7) years of related experience OR Master’s degree plus five (5) years of related experience.
- A minimum of five years of relevant work experience in the field of cooperative development, agriculture/livestock value chains including access to finance.
- Knowledge of training individuals and teams using participatory methodologies.
- Knowledge of and experience with or within community organizations.
- Fluent in national language and English, spoken as well as written.
- Have an interest in animals/agriculture/community development.
- Skills with Microsoft Office package, internet browser, and other appropriate technology.
- Ability to implement and maintain various capacity assessment tools for quality and accountability assurance of cooperatives and agribusinesses.
- Working knowledge of sustainable livelihoods, value chain development and market systems development.
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to both help groups reach agreements and to represent collective perspectives.
- Strong commitment to the shared leadership model.
- Knowledge of different training topics such as social capital, gender, AC development documentation, etc.
- ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES:
- Demonstrate a high degree of honesty and integrity.
- Ability and willingness to work a flexible schedule.
- Motivated to work responsibly with little supervision.
- Ability to produce and present reports in a well-designed and attractive format with superior attention to detail.
- Ability to meet and deal with others in a courteous and tactful manner.
- Constant face-to-face, telephone and electronic communication with colleagues, potential donors, and the general public.
- Constant sitting, standing and walking, with occasional bending and lifting; may work at a computer for extended periods of time.
- Willingness and ability to travel extensively, both locally and internationally.
Agriculture Value Chain Lead (Manager)
Position Summary Expectations - Duties, Responsibilities
FUNCTION:
The Agriculture Value Chain Lead (Manager) is responsible for successfully bringing products and/or services through the phases of production to delivery to the final consumers and disposal after use. S/he is accountable for horticulture value chain management with a focus on improving business operations at the level of producers, processors, and other actors in the chain and/or the (contractual) relationships among them, flow of knowledge, and information and innovation. This position will also be responsible for fostering overall coordination in the value chain; participation of selected beneficiaries in local, national, or global value chains; reduction of entry barriers and a higher share of value addition for certain actors.
- Inclusive agriculture value chain development (40%)
- Accelerate growth in the value chain of vegetable production and smallholder farmer producers.
- Work with the country team to map the value chain including main actors, flow of products, infrastructure facilities, financial institutions, and all supporting organizations.
- Conduct value chain assessments to identify gaps and develop recommendations on how to improve the selected value chains and maximize impact.
- Support business plan development and analysis for vegetable SMEs and agricultural cooperative (ACs).
- Provide technical support for the formation of cooperatives or producer groups for vegetable-based inputs.
- Develop and deliver capacity development activities in the areas of agribusiness, vegetable value chain and marketing development.
- Supervise and monitor the implementation of vegetable value chain activities with a focus on improving crops, productivity processing and input-output market enhancement.
- Conduct market assessments on vegetable production and markets.
- Support cooperatives to develop safe vegetable farming at a commercial scale.
- Agriculture/horticulture production capacity building (60%)
- Develop the horticulture business model and vegetable prototypes based on needs assessments and market demands.
- Design a training curriculum manual for vegetable farming including post-harvest management.
- Provide TOTs on vegetable farming and post-harvest management to SHG/AC focal persons and project partners.
- Initiate and develop the best practice option of climate smart agriculture for replication.
- Lead in research development and develop options for improving horticulture production.
- Ensure that products are well processed and appropriately packaged.
- Be accountable for water resource management.
- Be accountable for creating an enterprise enabling environment.
- Support cooperatives to build safe vegetable storage facility infrastructure, i.e., cleaning, grading, cold storage, etc.
- Scale-up safe vegetable producers to become MSMEs.
- Promote the use of solar technologies for the agriculture value chain.
- Increase smallholder farm productivity through the adaptation of innovative technology and improved valued chain.
- QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:
- Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university in agriculture, business, horticulture technical extension, international development, or a related field, plus at least seven (7) years of related experience OR Master’s degree plus five (5) years of related experience.
- Demonstrated experience in community mobilization, social capital development, institutional development, capacity building, training, smallholder farmers/rural SMEs/co-ops, and base of the pyramid consumers.
- Fluent in national language and English, spoken as well as written.
- Have an interest in animals/agriculture/community development.
- Skills with Microsoft Office package, internet browser, and other appropriate technology.
- Ability to implement and maintain various capacity assessment tools for quality and accountability assurance of cooperatives and agribusinesses.
- Working knowledge of sustainable livelihoods, value chain development and market systems development.
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to both help groups reach agreements and to represent collective perspectives.
- Strong commitment to the shared leadership model.
- ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES:
- Demonstrate a high degree of honesty and integrity.
- Ability and willingness to work a flexible schedule.
- Motivated to work responsibly with little supervision.
- Produce and present reports in a well-designed and attractive format with superior attention to detail.
- Ability to meet and deal with others in a courteous and tactful manner.
- Constant face-to-face, telephone and electronic communication with colleagues, potential donors, and the public.
- Constant setting, standing and walking, with occasional bending and lifting; may work at a computer for extended periods of time.
- Willingness and ability to travel extensively, both locally and
