| Position: | South Sudan Country Manager / South Sudan Agribusiness Development Programme Manager |
|---|---|
| Location: | South Sudan, Juba |
| Application Deadline: | 22nd October 2021 |
| Duration: | One year, full time (2 months’ probation) |
| Start Date: | As soon as possible |
SPARK is looking for a results-oriented and experienced Country Manager for its agri-business incubation activities. The Country Manager will be responsible for programmes in South Sudan and will be the Project Manager for the existing project. The candidate should have a strong ambition to maximise SPARK’s social impact in South Sudan. The manager leads a team of business support officers & trainers that provide business skills training, mentoring & coaching. SPARK also facilitates access-to-finance to young entrepreneurs, (subsistence) farmers and cooperatives enterprises in South Sudan. He or she further develops SPARK’s incubation and business development services for clients and embeds these into a Business Support Ecosystem. The position offers a great opportunity to be deeply involved in business development and (youth) job creation in conflict affected environments.
SPARK uses a very hands on approach to working with young entrepreneurs and providing support to them to start and or grow their businesses. The entrepreneurs face many challenges compared to the average entrepreneur due to the difficult fragile state environment. Therefore, we are looking for people who feel confident in their ability to think on their toes, utilize deductive reasoning and those that are not afraid to be creative when it comes to finding solutions for making complicated programmes work in even more complicated environments.
Main Tasks and Responsibilities:
The responsibilities and tasks include, but are not limited to:
- Contribute to Strategy, Management and Coordination of the implementation of SPARK programmes in South Sudan in the field of private sector / agri-business development:
- Organize capacity building of business support officers and other local partners by providing training and coaching on business development, business support services, project management and entrepreneurial approaches for designing and implementing private sector development activities;
- Ensure quality and effectiveness of services through monitoring, evaluation and reporting of business support services;
- Coordinate the timely implementation of business support services;
- Coordinate, monitor, and synchronize the activities of various partners; Responsible for quarterly reporting of the partners, including verification of results, and update the Management Information System;
- Support proposal development and budget control of local partners;
- Provide draft reports on country level to donors and HQ;
- Responsible for quarterly reporting of the partners, including verification of results, and update the Management Information System;
- Management of the country office:
- Coach staff in Project Cycle Management;
- Plan and manage project and country budget
- Acquisition/fundraising:
- Donor networking and communication (both formal/informal) on national level;
- Project development and acquisition/fundraising for new projects;
- General:
- Provide input to the SPARK strategy on country level based on quarterly context assessments and progress regarding project implementation;
- Provide input to external communication (website) and promotion materials.
Requirements and Skills
- Minimum of 5 years proven management experience, preferably in (rural) private sector development;
- Demonstrated understanding and experience in promoting private sector investment in agricultural value chains and strengthening market systems.
- Experience or interest in entrepreneurship and innovation;
- At least three years management experience a business environment is desirable;
- Experience as an entrepreneur and/or farming as a business is a strong asset;
- Experience as a business skills trainer or as a coach/mentor for entrepreneurs is a strong asset;
- MA/MSc level education in a relevant field; for example business administration, economics or international development is an advantage;
- Tactful, excellent communication, presentation and social skills and the ability to work in a multicultural setting;
- Past experience working in the East African region
- Ability to identify and tackle (culturally) sensitive matters;
- Forward-thinking, pro-active and service minded;
- Hands-on attitude and willing to help out flexibly if required;
- Available and willing to very frequently travel between project locations in South Sudan. Available for occasional work visits to other SPARK countries and The Netherlands.
SPARK Offers
- A challenging and exciting field position in an international environment and an opportunity to contribute to realising an important social impact in South Sudan;
- The position involves close partnership and teamwork in the daily management of SPARK South Sudan;
- Contract for 40 hours per week
- One year contract with possibility for extension
- International and dynamic working experience
How to apply?
For more information, please visit the SPARK website: www.spark-online.org.
If interested, please apply with your motivation letter and your CV (both in English) on Country Manager / South Sudan Agribusiness Development Programme - SPARK until 22nd of October 2021. Please, with application send to us two references (phone number and email) which we can contact in the selection process.
For questions about the vacancy, please contact vacancy@spark-online.org reference South Sudan Country Manager
All applications will be assessed on rolling basis; interviews can therefore take place before the application deadline. However, due to the large volume of applications we receive, we cannot respond to every applicant individually. There may be a delay between the deadline and the moment we contact selected applicants.
If you have not received a reply we regret to inform that we have continued with other candidates with other candidates.
About SPARK
SPARK develops higher education and entrepreneurship to empower young, ambitious people to lead their fragile and conflict-affected societies into prosperity. SPARK is a dynamic and growing, international not-for-profit development organisation with 100+ staff members, in more than 14 offices around the world. SPARK supports youth and women in starting and developing their businesses in various, more stable parts of South Sudan. The focus of our activities is on agribusinesses.