Project Consultant

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) project has been established for the sustainable cocoa production in Vietnam, to operate from 2011-2014 including six partners (the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam, the Government of the Netherlands, The Rabobank Foundation, The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), MARS Incorporated, Cargill Company and one observer (Oxfam). This project aims at: Enhancing cocoa research capacity and dissemination of research results; Institutionalizing agri-technical support services and enabling program farmers to manage their farms efficiently and produce increasing volumes of sustainable cocoa; Improving market access and marketing capacity for cocoa farmers through organisation of farmers and support to certification; and Engaging with Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other governmental institutions of Vietnam to further sustainable development of the cocoa sector by capacity building for planning and implementation.

PPP Cocoa is seeking to recruit competent candidates for the following position:

Job title: Project Consultant

Working location: Based in Ho Chi Minh with 50% of time for travelling in the project province

Report to: Project Manager and /or Technical Advisor

Started time: as soon as possible

Role and responsibilities:

The project consultant has key responsibilities on monitoring and evaluation. She/he is responsible for the provision of technical assistance, support, and facilitation, and monitoring of the PPP activities of the assigned components in order to contribute to reach the outcomes formulated in the PPP documents.

Tasks:

·         Coordinate with implementers and PMU staff on M&E
·         Coordinate with active project implementers to get overall monthly work plan and report.
·         Coordinate  with  PMU staff and task group members  for monthly monitoring  plan and report
·         Execute and improve the M&E system including set of indicators and target with support from Technical  Advisors
·         Responsible for following and collecting data for  reports including monthly quarterly, half yearly and annual reports consultation under the coaching of the Project Advisor.
·         Active contribution to the documentation of best practices used or developed in the project, which can be shared and disseminated at a regional or national level.
·         Conduct on-going monitoring and evaluation of the PPP activities at field level in order to contribute to achievements of the objectives formulated in the annual plan of operation;
·         Work closely with the project implementers under of component in charge  to coordinate and implement PPP  activities
·         Collaborate with local partners to motivate, intensify and coach cocoa farmers to apply recommended techniques;
·      Support local cocoa farmers to formulate cocoa farmer groups and assist the farmer organizations in technical, management and organizational aspects in order to fulfil the requirements of quality cocoa production;
·         Support program stakeholders to strengthen extension systems from provincial to farmer club level for sustainable cocoa development purposes;
·         Support on logistics and facilitate events/ trainings/ workshops for both local partners, PMU.
·         Act as a master trainer (Training of Trainer) in his areas of competencies where relevant;
·         Proactively facilitate the linkage between the private sector, the farmer organizations, the provinces and the other partners;
·         Other tasks as required.

Required qualifications:

-    MSc. or BSc. in agriculture or economy or post-harvest
-    At least 3-5 years of working in cocoa sector and have strong experience in the project management, especially in M&E
-    Especially experience working with the cocoa sector’s actors, especially with farmers and farmer groups.
-    Excellent communication and facilitation/visualization skills (including writing skills for different target groups).
-    Very good command of English (spoken and written).
-    Very good interpersonal skills,
-    Flexible and open minded.
-    Adaptable to fast and dynamic changing conditions.
-    Willingness to be travel extensively to remote places.
-    Computer literate on MS office software and on visualization methods.

Deadline for applications: 05 May 2014

E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]