Market Access Specialist

Background:

Land O'Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit committed to helping communities around the world thrive through agriculture. Affiliated with Land O'Lakes, Inc., Venture37 has more than 40 years of experience implementing agricultural development projects in more than 80 countries around the world. Venture37 strengthens economies by improving local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. It delivers integrated solutions that help build and improve food and agriculture systems through more competitive markets, more resilient systems, healthier and more nutrition-secure communities, and more inclusive societies.

Project Description:

Empowering Local Systems in Agriculture (ELSA) is a 5-year project funded by USAID under Farmer-to-Farmer Leader Award. ELSA aims to establish sustainable local systems that provide affordable and consistently available agricultural inputs and create inclusive market channels in the agricultural sector. To achieve this, ELSA will build implementing partners’ capacity and provide direct technical assistance (TA) to input suppliers to improve input distribution and agribusinesses' market access. Venture37 will supplement this TA with co-investment grants for selected agribusinesses to reduce the risk of their investments.

Position Summary:

The Market Access Specialist will support and work closely with the Chief of Party and ELSA’s implementing partners to provide technical assistance and capacity building to agro-processing businesses. This role is responsible for supporting sustainable local systems for agriculture and expanding market access. The Specialist will collaborate with implementing partners and stakeholders to deliver high-quality technical solutions to deliver project objectives. This position reports to the Chief of Party.

Primary Responsibilities:

The main duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Contribute to the design of yearly work plans through planning technical activities.
• Responsible for implementing market access activities in the Annual Work Plan and making adequate revisions on a regular basis.
• Responsible for identifying agro-processing businesses eligible for co-investment grants and coordinating closely with implementing partners to establish the selection criteria for program participants.
• Develop detailed TORs for consultants, and lead, according to USAID rules, their selection and recruitment in coordination with the Grants Specialist and procurement team.
• Identify training needs to be included in the capacity building activities.
• Support the co-creation process related to the market access components of applications
• Oversee the technical activities implemented: quality control and food safety, packaging and labeling, marketing strategies and clustering, export potential, conducting market research,  increased brand awareness, ensuring best practices are applied.
• Lead the RFA process and validate the technical specifications of In-kind grants needed to e quality standards, productivity, sustainability, or infrastructure.
• Support the inspection and receipt of in-kind grants to the agro-processing businesses and ensure cost-share conditions.
• Manage all service providers and consultants related to the program activities and ensure logistical support is provided, as well as ensure that they meet the deliverables as set in their Scope of Work.
• Conduct field monitoring visits to provide support when needed to ensure quality implementation in all areas.
• Coordinate with the MEL specialist to have the project database duly updated with data related to the market access component.
• Assist in organizing, preparing and running meetings, workshops, and field demonstrations.
• Contribute to project deliverables such as weekly, quarterly, and annual reports; annual work plans, as directed by the Deputy Chief of Party and/or Chief of Party.
• Coordinate and share learning and innovation around ELSA’s agricultural strategy’s cornerstones and success stories
• Communicate feedback from implementing partners, beneficiaries and stakeholders to ELSA’s team and ensure follow up when needed.
• Ensure gender equality approaches are integrated into programming; implement an engendered design
• Demonstrate the highest degree of integrity throughout all activities and raise any concerns with implementation quality immediately with the Chief of Party.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

Local candidates with the minimum qualifications are strongly encouraged to apply:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, agribusiness or related field.
• Minimum of six (6) years of experience in market access (domestic/export) and in the development of small and medium enterprises, working with agro-processing businesses, NGOs, associations, or international donors.
• Superior analytic, communication, and interpersonal skills, including facilitation skills and demonstrated experience working with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
• Strong understanding of private sector food and agriculture sectors in Lebanon and the requirements to be competitive in export markets.
• Ability to work independently.  Experience collaborating on work teams to achieve project results.
• Fluency in English (written and verbal) language. Demonstrated capability and history producing high-quality, formal written documents and agreements.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in relevant field.
• Experience working in USAID-Funded programs
• Familiarity with USAID rules and regulations and grant-making process and requirements.