Senior Agriculture Engineer

Background

The Senior Agriculture Engineer will work under a project in Minnieh – Donnieh targeting smallholder farmers with technical and material support, and piloting two collective solar powered irrigation systems with 5-10 farmers each.

The Senior Agriculture Engineer will work under the direct responsibility of the Project Manager and be based at Mada’s Tripoli office with daily field visits.

Description

The Senior Agriculture Engineer will have the following main responsibilities:

• Conducting a detailed needs assessment of smallholder farmers in the target areas and participating in the selection of 50 farmers to benefit from support;
• Delivering 5 training cycles on sustainable practices of 8-10 sessions each to clusters of 10 farmers (total of the 50 selected), using Mada’s curriculum;
• Conduct on-site assessments to develop drip irrigation designs and layouts tailored to farmers' needs adding to the inputs and agricultural small tools.;
• Prepare precise specifications for the drip irrigation systems and associated inputs and tools, detailing material quality, dimensions, and quantities;
• Leading on the distribution of toolkits (equipment, material, inputs) to smallholder farmers and providing technical support for their use;
• Leading on the installation of drip irrigation systems to smallholder farmers;
• Providing tailored daily support to the 50 farmers post-training and distribution;
• Ensuring constant field presence and technical support to farmers;
• Supporting the Project Manager to identify set-ups for the collective solar powered irrigation system pilots, supporting their implementation and follow-up.

Responsibilities and Tasks

• Ensure that the activities under his/her responsibility are delivered on time, and in line with the project proposal, timeline and logical framework;
• Lead on the assessment of smallholder farmers (including developing the tools, conducting the field visits required, and providing the data to the MEAL Manager);
• Work with the Project Manager to develop a workplan for the distribution to farmers;
• Oversee the distribution to farmers, ensuring proper crowd management;
• Conduct follow-up field visits to benefiting farmers to ensure proper use of toolkits and provide technical guidance and advice;
• Prepare the content, pre and post-test and conduct trainings in close coordination with the Project Manager;
• Report to the Project Manager on a daily basis and submit weekly reports as required, highlighting risks and challenges and proposing mitigations and solutions;
• Ensure that communication with the beneficiaries is clear, identify any bottlenecks and gaps and report back to the Project Manager;
• Act as main technical focal point (agriculture) under the project, supporting the team to ensure quality standards are respected;
• Ensure proper archiving of all project documentation;
• Support the Project Manager based on need with any other tasks pertinent to other project component.

Minimum Qualification and Experience

• Bachelor degree in Agriculture Engineering or equivalent degree/experience;
• 3 – 5 years of experience in similar tasks, working with NGOs in the livelihoods, agriculture or food security sectors;
• Experience in delivering trainings on sustainable practices to farmers;
• Experience in design and installation of drip irrigation systems to farmers;
• Excellent organizational, coordination and time-management skills;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Previous experience in the area is preferred;
• Valid driving license is compulsory.