Program Manager Agri-commodities and Landscapes

Organization: IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative
Job title: Program Manager Agri-commodities and Landscapes
Date: 03/02/2017
Deadline: 20/02/2017

IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative

IDH helps to accelerate the sustainable production and trade of agricultural commodities produced in Asia, Africa and South America and traded globally. We build ambitious public private coalitions of companies, civil society organizations and governments and high-impact programs in order to benefit people, planet and profit. With co-funding from the Dutch, Swiss, Danish and Norwegian Governments, and from business partners, IDH organizes scoping, development and implementation of public private partnerships in 11 sectors such as coffee, tea, aquaculture, apparel and 11 landscapes across 7 countries. IDH is a dynamic organization of 60 staff members based in Utrecht, The Netherlands, with hubs in Asia, Africa and Latin-America. In the last year IDH has expanded its activities and now runs around 600 projects in 50 countries, together with a wide range of private and public partners. Starting operating in Vietnam in 2010, IDH has since established strong partnerships with businesses, government and NGOs working on coffee, tea, cocoa, spices/pepper, aquaculture and apparel/footwear. IDH supported the establishment of the Vietnam Coffee Coordination Board (VCCB), the creation of the first public-private partnership (PPP) taskforce on agrochemicals – addressing among others the food safety of export products, and helped 20% of the country’s pangasius industry to comply with global sustainable aquaculture standards. In 2014, IDH also launched a program aimed at using the publicprivate approach to addressing the key sustainability issues in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, which plays a key role in the production of several agricultural commodities.

IDH Vietnam would like to strengthen its team with a Program Manager Agri-commodities and Landscapes

Position overview

The PM will be in charge of the management and development of public-private partnerships and projects in the Central Highlands region, under the guidance of the Vietnam Country Manager. Responsibilities will include managing relations with both national and local government and agribusiness, providing hands-on support to the implementation of different projects, supporting monitoring & evaluation, contract management, data collection and analysis. The PM will work in the Central Highland (possibly in Lam Dong province) and in the IDH Vietnam office whenever in Hanoi and will also liaise with the relevant program team(s) in IDH Headquarters in the Netherlands.

Who are we looking for?

You are an energetic, enthusiastic team player, interested in addressing environmental challenges together with agribusinesses, using a business-minded approach. You feel comfortable talking with business and government stakeholders national and local levels and help them cooperate to address their shared challenges. You are willing to stay in the Central Highlands region with travels to Ho Chi Minh city and Hanoi.

More specifically, you:

• have at least 5-8 years of working experience in the private sector, an international NGO, an Embassy or multilateral organization, or in a government department related to agriculture and/or environment (water);
• have acquired international experience by working in an international organization or studying abroad
• are familiar with agribusiness and/or environmental (water) issues in Vietnam, or strongly motivated to acquire/develop this knowledge fast.
• have proven hands-on experience with program management, explicitly including budget and contract management
• enjoy and feel confident in engaging and working with (external) government and business stakeholders, networking and building relationships. We prefer candidates with proven experience in building stakeholder or client relations.
• are fluent in Vietnamese and English (verbal and written)
• are working and thinking at Master’s degree level
• are independent and a pro-active self-starter
• are able to think in a structured, analytical way
• are able to organize and prioritize work, multitask and meet strict timelines
• are proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint

Key responsibilities

1. Program management:

• Ensure program implementation according to the annual plans and targets sets by the program team.
• Ensure that individual projects and consultancy assignments are delivering results according to the key performance indicators and budgets agreed upon, identify problems and discuss solutions with the project and assignment implementers.
• Support the development of new projects, including supporting business and government partners to strengthen the project concepts and proposals.
• Collect and analyse required information to support program development.
• Contract negotiations and management with implementing partners and consultants, in close collaboration with legal and finance experts in the IDH Headquarters.
• Contribute to writing annual plans and annual reports.

2. Stakeholder management and networking

• Support the Country Manager in convening and facilitating different multi-stakeholder platforms related to our projects in the Central Highlands,. These include Vietnam Coffee Coordination Board, Steering Committees in Lam Dong and Dak Lak provinces, a Project Management Unit including a number of Vietnamese and global coffee companies and others.
• Leading the technical working groups on water and agroforestry in the landscape
• Contribute to further development and maintenance of a relevant network of institutions and individuals who play an important role in sustainable development in the Central Highlands, including Vietnam Sustainable Agricultural Transition program (VnSAT), national and local government, business, research institutions, and international donors.

3. Events and workshops:

• Lead or co-chair the meetings organized by ISLA/IDH in the field.
• Support the organization, at times including content and logistics, for meetings and workshops organized by IDH and its partners as part of the program;
• Writing reports about and support facilitation of the above-mentioned events.

4. Communication:

• Support the development of program communication materials, such as writing newsletters, website articles, fact sheets, etc. in collaboration with external partners and IDH’s global communications team.

Terms and Conditions

This position is based in the Central Highlands region (preferably Lam Dong or Dak Lak) with travels to other Central Highland provinces, Hanoi and HCM City. A 3-4 months introduction period in Hanoi is foreseen before working in the Central Highlands. IDH offers a challenging position with opportunities for growth within an enthusiastic and passionate team. The successful applicant will be offered a consultancy contract for one year with competitive remuneration, but with the possibility to extend.

For more information about IDH, please visit www.idhsustainabletrade.com. For questions about this position, please contact Tran Quynh Chi at [email protected]

Application process

Interested candidates should send their CV and application letter (in English), explaining your interest and capabilities for the position and your CV/resume, to Annemarie Woudstra, HR Officer, at [email protected],Tran Quynh Chi, at [email protected], and Pham Thanh Mai at [email protected]

Application timeline

Applications must be received by February 20th, 2017.