Practical Action
Position Title: Agriculture and Livelihoods Project Vacancies
About us
Practical Action is a global innovator, inspiring people to discover and adopt ingenious, practical ways to free themselves from poverty and disadvantage. With over 50 years of expertise, Practical Action has a strong heritage, and track record of bringing communities and experts together to find practical, sustainable solutions to enable people to meet their needs, which work for both people and the planet.
Practical Action is commencing a five-year project that will be implemented in Homabay, Siaya, Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga Counties. The project aims to make agriculture an attractive and resilient employer for young people by promoting agricultural livelihoods for the youth underpinned by agro-ecological principles and practices. The project aims to break the cycles of low productivity and increasing rural poverty, through a holistic approach which will enable young men and women to increase their income through agri-business.
Why join us
The opportunity to work for an organisation that is making a positive difference to the lives of people worldwide, a friendly and supportive culture, working with values driven and highly engaged colleagues – these are just some of the reasons we think Practical Action is a great place to work. In addition, we offer the following benefits:
- Work week of 35 hours
- 25 days annual leave, in addition to public holidays.
- A pension scheme that new employees join immediately on employment - employer contributes 12.5% of gross salary. Employee contribution is voluntary
- Life assurance (5 x annual salary)
- Employee Assistance Programme
- An e-learning & development platform
Open vacancies
Senior Project Officer – Agriculture & Livelihoods - 2 positions
Nyanza Region - Kisumu County
Western Region - Kakamega County
The Senior Project Officer will coordinate the field level activities in the project intervention areas with the primary responsibility of promoting agribusiness activities among youth ages between 18 – 35 years. The role involves supporting young people to start and/or grow their agribusinesses while earning an income to support their livelihoods. This will include supporting the young people access skills and knowledge, finance and markets as well as working with different stakeholders to ensure an enabling markets and policy environment that supports growth of youth led agri businesses.
The ideal candidate will be an experienced Project Management professional and a Graduate in Agriculture/Agribusiness/Natural Resource Management/Social Science/Development studies or any other relevant subject. A Post graduate qualification will be an added advantage.
You will have over five (5) years of relevant work experience where at least three (3) years’ experience in a rural development field with demonstrated ability to work with young people and create space for youth leadership; an innovator with excellent understanding of low input systems and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP); public and private sector engagement skills including building linkages between youth entrepreneurs and multiple market actors
- Project Officer – Agriculture & Livelihoods - 6 positions (multiple locations)
The Project Officer will coordinate the field level activities in the project intervention areas with the primary responsibility of promoting agribusiness activities among youth ages between 18 – 35 years. The function involves directly supporting young people to start and/or grow their agribusinesses while earning an income to support their livelihoods. This will include supporting the young people access skills and knowledge, finance and markets as well as working with different stakeholders to ensure an enabling markets and policy environment that supports growth of youth led agri businesses. The role works closely with the technical staff both in the Kenya and UK office.
The ideal candidate will be an experienced Project Management professional and a Graduate in Agriculture/Agribusiness/Natural Resource Management/Social Science/Development studies or any other relevant subject.
You will have over five (5) years of relevant work experience where at least three (3) years’ experience in a rural development field with demonstrated ability to work with young people and create space for youth leadership; an innovator with excellent understanding of low input systems and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP); public and private sector engagement skills including building linkages between youth entrepreneurs and multiple market actors, experience implementing market-based agro-enterprise initiatives in rural contexts and strong experience in activity planning and implementing in a way that ensures gender inclusion is embedded.
The project requires extensive engagement with youth in the county of operation hence the Project Officer will be expected to either relocate or already live within their county of operation but need not to be “natives or local residents” the county (Homabay, Siaya, Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga Counties). The operations office for Practical Action will be Kisumu field office.
The six Project Officers will be distributed as follows:
- Vihiga & Nyamira – 1 Project Officer
- Homabay – 1 project Officer
- Migori – 1 Project Officer
- Siaya – 1 project Officer
- Busia – 1 Project Officer
- Bungoma – 1 project Officer
- Knowledge Management Officer – Kisumu, Kenya
The Knowledge Management Officer oversees project level data collection, analysis and use as well as sharing of learning within the project and beyond. The position holder will oversee the operationalization of effective and appropriate systems for measuring, storing, and sharing impact, learning and reporting in the project.
The ideal candidate shall be an experienced knowledge management professional and holder of a first degree in development studies or any other relevant degree, Three (3) years minimum work experience in knowledge management, monitoring and evaluating programs with an organization with a robust M&E component. Have experience of using indicators at output, outcome and goal level and developing tools to measure the same; Experience of building-in gender and inclusion into project design and MEAL aspects; technical skills including use of PowerBI or Tableau; strong experience in evaluation methodologies such as outcome mapping and most significant change, experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection and management and experience in gathering learnings and promoting their application.
Detailed Job Profiles can be accessed on our website using this link: https://practicalaction.org/careers/vacancies/agriculture-and-livelihoods-project/
How to apply
If you are ready for an exciting challenge with an organisation whose mission and values are particularly relevant in these rapidly changing times, please forward your application, curriculum vitae and cover letter as a single document in PDF to: Practical Action, Kenya Office by email: recruitment@practicalaction.or.ke no later than 9th December, 2022 indicating the Job Title and your preferred job location in the subject line of the email e.g. Project Officer – Migori County.
Your cover letter should outline why you feel this is the position for you and you are the right candidate. Please include the names of 3 referees in your CV. Please DO NOT attach copies of your certificates/testimonials