Organizational and Business Development Officer

Project Description 

SOCODEVI contributes to improving the living conditions of communities by supporting the creation and strengthening of sustainable and inclusive cooperative or mutual companies.

The Strong’HER project, is a strategically designed response to the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change, particularly vulnerability to drought and erratic precipitations. The 5 years project focuses on enhancing climatic change adaptation from 3 woredas in Oromia region and in Addis Ababa targeting 2,500 rural families, including over 1,300 women-headed households, and 4,000 women entrepreneurs. Central to Strong’HER’s strategy is advancing climatic change adaptation and reducing climate vulnerability within vital agricultural value chains, such as teff and legumes, alongside women-led value chains in small ruminants and poultry production. 

By focusing on climate resilience, the project is set to reduce the vulnerability of these systems to drought and erratic precipitations, thereby fostering agrifood systems that are not only sustainable but also capable of flourishing amidst the evolving climate landscape. This approach positions climate adaptation as the driving force behind strengthening these systems, resulting in enhanced food security and economic empowerment for women in the agricultural sector. 

By leveraging the cooperative model, Strong’HER aims to enhance the capacity of rural and urban women to develop and adopt climate resilient practices, and to participate actively in decision-making processes. This model will not only boost the democratic organisation and income of women but will also enhance the quality of their products by integrating climatic change adaptation measures. Addressing the fact that women are especially susceptible and disproportionately impacted by climatic change, the project will confront gender-specific barriers that impede their capacity to adapt and restrict their contributions and economic well-being in agribusiness. Strong’HER is committed to supporting women’s sustainable farm management in response to climatic change, thereby ensuring they have control over resources and benefits, and can expand their networks to fortify their resilience. Additionally, Strong’HER promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment by increasing their participation in leadership roles and ensuring access to resources and training.

Job Summary 

The OBD Officer is responsible for building the capacity of supported cooperative enterprises, small business enterprises and rural women groups coordinating activities with them and participating in the evaluation of activities to promote organizational development. The OBD Officer works closely with other project advisors and field officers to develop growth and service development strategies that meet the needs of partners and project beneficiaries.

Reporting directly to the Operations Manager and working closely with the SOCODEVI Organizational Development Advisor(s) in Canada, the Organizational and Business Development Officer is responsible for:

Capacity building

• Support and advise the supported organizations and coop members, in collaboration with strategic partners, on business management and governance while strengthening entrepreneurial capacities, environmental management, and inclusive governance;

• Support the formalization and legal compliance of organizations;

• Plan, organize and assist the delivery of training workshops on Coop Skills and/or other training topics, implement management tools and introduce innovations through the elaboration of the annual work plan of supported organizations;

• Carry out diagnosis and evaluate the performance of supported unions and cooperatives enterprises following SOCODEVI’s intervention methodology, the PerformCoop Approach; 

• Develop, implement and monitor capacity building plans in a participatory manner; 

• Assist the supported organizations in training workshops on the Coop Skills material and/or other training topics, implement management tools and introduce innovations in accordance with mutual commitments signed;

• Provide advisory support on all aspects of cooperative business development, including the training delivered, the management tools implemented, and the innovations introduced to ensure skills consolidation and promote ownership;

• Periodically collect data from organizations for entry into the PerformCoop Platform and subsequent analysis;

• Assist and provide advisory support to women entrepreneurs and small women owned businesses related to trainings offered to develop or strengthen their business ideas and income generating activities;

• Assist and provide support to unions in the elaboration of their business model and marketing strategy, and their implementation and the identification of local and international clients.

Monitoring and evaluation of organizational learning

• Track the beneficiary coops’ performance on a monthly basis and update the data in the PerformCoop Platform accordingly;

• Regularly analyze financial data and/or market developments and present to the Country Director and Deputy Director, the field Officers, and the OD Advisor at head office the main findings leading to informed decision-making;

• Achieve annual performance assessment with the supported organizations and to set with them the objectives to be achieved for the next year;

• Follow-up with the beneficiaries concerning the development of their business ideas and income generating activities.

Systematization of good practices

• Contribute to the documentation of learning and innovations developed by SOCODEVI and its capacity-building partners.

Working conditions 

SOCODEVI offers the following and a great work environment: 

• One-year contract, renewable annually;

• Regular working hours: 8 hours a day from Monday through Friday, for a total of 40 hours/week;

• Salary will be paid on a monthly basis;

• 20 working days of annual leave per calendar year. The annual leave is earned at the rate of 1.67 days per month;

• Working during evenings and weekends might happen when necessary but shouldn’t be frequent;

• The successful candidate accepts to travel to the woredas when needed and required.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Undergraduate university degree in organizational development, business studies or relevant field;

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in Organizational Development, Business Development orin a similar role working with international organizations, NGOs or donor funded projects;

• Proven experience in Organizational Development in rural area, Business Development, Entrepreneurship;

• Good knowledge of local agricultural market, especially the teff and legumes sectors and rural areas in Ethiopia;

• Excellent knowledge of Ethiopian business and cooperatives development legal environment;

• Demonstrated experience in adult training (andragogy) and participatory methodologies in rural context;

• Experience in gender mainstreaming and/or knowledge of gender equality (an asset);

• Commitment to teamwork and supporting others;

• Commitment to applying SOCODEVI’s Gender Equality Policy and Environmental Policy;

• Creative and continually develop skills in response to changing work demands; 

• Proactive and self-motivated individual with excellent organizational skills.

Skills

• Excellent English written and verbal expression;

• Proficiency in Amharic and Afan Oromia is required;

• Good understanding of collective business management;

• Good understanding of cooperative governance;

• Ability to create and track a task schedule to be performed (seasonality of actions);

• Ability to analyze, synthesize and communicate key issues;

• Ability to design and adapt capacity building programs (training and support) and tools on management and governance;

• Ability to use participatory approach in its animations and advice sessions;

• Ability to work within a team of local and distant colleagues;

• Ability to work in rural and challenging conditions;

• Ability to use Excel to present well documented scenarios;

• Advanced computer skills (Windows, MS Office, Sharepoint).

Knowledge 

• Adult training (andragogy);

• Teff and legumes agricultural sectors in which women and young women producers are particularly involved; 

• Women entrepreneurship and business development;

• Monitoring, evaluation and learning processes.

How To Apply

To Apply: Send a cover letter, current resume with 3 referees to: recruitment.et@socodevi.org

Deadline to Send a cover letter, current resume with 3 referees: February 5th 2025 at midnight

The title of your message must contain the job title: OBD Officer 

We are committed to the principles of fair hiring. Only those selected for an interview will receive an acknowledgement of receipt. 

At SOCODEVI, we recognize that promoting gender equality and a more inclusive world must apply as much to the communities targeted by our projects as to the people who implement them. We therefore

work to ensure a healthy, respectful and safe work environment for everyone on our team and we act, as an organization, in a responsible, fair and equitable manner.

As with all our positions, we encourage women, Aboriginal people, visible and ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities to apply. Your motivation and related experience can make all the difference, so don’t

hesitate to apply!