Regional Program Coordinator
East Africa Dairy Development Program / EAST AFRICA DIVISION
Nairobi, Kenya
June 2009
REPORTS TO: Regional Project Director, East Africa Dairy Development Program
East Africa Regional Director, TechnoServe
GENERAL INFORMATION
TechnoServe, Inc. is an international non-profit economic development organization
founded in 1968. Its mission is to help entrepreneurial men and women in poor rural
areas of the developing world to build businesses that create income, opportunity and
economic growth for their families, communities and countries.
The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) program aims to move smallholder women
and men farmers out of poverty by improving their profit participation in the dairy value
chain. This project is being implemented through a partnership of three established
organizations –Heifer International (lead partner), the International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI), and TechnoServe – working in targeted districts in Kenya, Rwanda and
Uganda. TechnoServe’s role is to increase market access for smallholder farmers and
expand dairy markets, in particular to:
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Organize smallholder dairy farmers to effectively bulk and market dairy products;
Ensure steady, cost effective supply of goods and services to farmers and farmer
groups; and
Expand dairy markets.
I. Primary Purpose
Working closely with the EADD Regional Project Director and TechnoServe’s East
Africa Regional Director, the TechnoServe Regional Dairy Manager will manage
TechnoServe’s regional activities, with a particular focus on regional knowledge
management and coordination of TechnoServe activities across the region. To do so, s/he
will:
a. Representation: Establish and maintain strong working relationships with partners
in the regional office, each of the three project countries and across the region;
b. Analysis and Knowledge Development: Analyze regional market information,
formulate recommendations to improve overall program performance, particularly
with respect to doubling farmer incomes, and disseminate key findings;
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c. Project Management: Lead day to day regional project management activities,
including budget management; tracking performance against project milestones
and work plan development and monitoring;
d. Facilitation: Coordinate TechnoServe project activities across the region;
II. Duties and Responsibilities
I.
Representation
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II.
Establish and maintain strong working relationships with Heifer International,
ILRI and other EADD partners; participate in project planning meetings,
contribute to problem-solving and work collaboratively.
Liaise regularly between TechnoServe and other project partners to ensure smooth
communications and coordinated activities.
Coordinate TechnoServe input into all project review and regional meetings
Analysis and Knowledge Development
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Finalize development and roll-out of the 5- and 10-year dairy market model.
Ensure output and forecasted results are shared with, and understood by all
relevant partners and stakeholders. Update markets periodically, and share results
 Market information system established, based on dairy market model, that
provides price, quality, quantity and timely information to farmers and other key
stakeholders
 Ensure that all country teams are abreast of project and industry developments
across the region, are aware of their own performance against project
milestones, sharing lessons-learned and benefiting from each other’s work
 Assemble and update regional market information on a regular basis, analyze
and synthesize, and disseminate
 Coordinate various modeling exercises and ensure consistency in assumptions,
collection and use of data, sharing of results and implications, etc.
 Ensure that best practices from elsewhere are shared into the project and that
new lessons learned are shared externally
 Develop case studies of successes and/or failures and lessons learned,
III.
Project Management
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Manage regional budget and monitor country budgets to ensure adherence to
budget limitations.
Produce consolidated financial and narrative reports for TechnoServe
management, partners and donor, as required by the contract and requested on an
ad hoc basis.
Report internally and externally on progress and status of project activities
Support Senior Business Managers and Country Directors to identify strategies
and tactics to achieve the project’s goals and milestones, as well as bottlenecks to
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IV.
effective execution of the project objectives; share and address both with the
larger project team.
Manage Regional Business Analyst and Regional Administrative Assistant,
ensure production of high quality, timely outputs per the project milestones.
Ensure timely production and sharing of collated project performance metrics
Regional Operations Coordination
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V.
Standard template for chilling plant business plans utilized consistently and
updated as needed
Coordinate and oversee data collection from the field teams. Ensure data
collection and analysis is completed each month, and shared with both the
regional office and the field staff.
Monitor and coordinate use of Basecamp website/document management service
for the program.
Overall coordination and quality monitoring of TechnoServe team’s input and
work content
Ensure information is shared and flows transparently between TechnoServe teams
in different countries and between TechnoServe and EADD partners
Ensure that lessons learned in one country are transferred to others
Manage all regional stakeholder relationships that require TNS lead
Create, disseminate and support country-level adaptation and use of standard
templates and tools for key project deliverables including but not limited to:
chilling plant business plans; hub feasibility studies and market assessments;
country-level work plans and other management and quality assurance challenges.
Work with country staff to identify TNS technical assistance needs at both
regional and country levels
Impact
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Partners and implementers informed of current conditions and new developments
in the market through periodic dairy market reports for the region
Toolkits, best practices information and market resources readily available to all
partners and implementers. Toolkits and other resources should support and
strengthen TNS’s roles in the program (organization of smallholder dairy farmers,
strong supply of goods and services and expanded dairy markets)
III. Requirements
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Qualifications in business related studies and proven skills in project
management;
Strong analytical skills with proven ability to provide sound, fact-based
recommendations;
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A minimum of four years professional experience;
Strong interpersonal/people management skills, excellent oral and written
communication skills;
Ability to develop well written, cohesive analyses and reports;
Track record of building strong client and partner relationships;
Excellent English oral & written presentation skills;
Strong private sector experience and entrepreneurial skills;
Strong financial analysis and management skills;
Willingness to travel domestically and internationally when necessary.
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