Senior Agriculture Engineer

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 curricula;
• 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.