Agriculture Technical Specialist - Ukraine / Pending Funding

Description

About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact. 
The Program Summary
Mercy Corps’ Ukraine crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Ukrainians and other conflict-affected people where they are: displaced inside Ukraine, refugees in Poland, Romania, and Moldova, or trapped behind frontlines. We aim to reach 500,000 vulnerable people with multi-purpose cash assistance, in-kind humanitarian support, and protection services across four countries. Almost all our impact will be delivered in partnership: with Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian and Moldovan civil society organizations through a granting program that matches humanitarian action with capacity strengthening, and with peer international NGOs through a consortium in Ukraine.  Mercy Corps is focused on the emergency delivery of aid to the affected populations, primarily through Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) and in-kind food and non-food assistance. Mercy Corps realizes that alongside ongoing emergency activities, it is essential to engage in resilience programming that will help conflict affected businesses and farmers in their recovery efforts.
 
Ukraine’s vital agricultural sector has been heavily impacted by the ongoing war, including for the predominant smallholder producers, leaving producers to salvage harvests, find new markets for their products, and plan for future growing seasons amidst uncertainty and incomplete information. Mercy Corps has been supporting affected household, small and medium-sized agricultural producers since the beginning of 2023 in Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava oblasts. Support includes grants to farmers designed to support them in adapting their agribusinesses to the new reality they face. Future programming will be primary oriented on recovery efforts and broaden the geographic scope of agricultural support, including additional oblasts directly impacted by war. Therefore, Mercy Corps is planning to launch Ukraine Agriculture Support Program (UASP), that aims to increase economic stability and self-sufficiency, and facilitate early recovery for smallholder subsistence farmers and small and medium sized farming enterprises in 11 oblasts of Ukraine, out of which 5 eastern and southern oblasts (Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson) will be a priority areas.  
 
The Position 
The Agriculture Technical Specialist works closely with UASP Program Manager and the program implementation team. Under the direct supervision of UASP Deputy Program Manager, overall plays crucial role in ensuring sustainable and productive agricultural practices, promoting food security and recovery of household level subsistence farmers, as well as small and medium farming enterprises. They are responsible for providing expertise and guidance in agricultural practices, technology and sustainable methods to support recovery efforts of Ukrainian farmers and agriculture sector in general. they will work with subsistence, small and medium farmers with the purpose of restoring/expand agriculture activities, thus increasing incomes, improving productivity and competitiveness. One of the key responsibilities of the Agriculture Technical Specialist will be to advise the program management on the best use of the available grant support aimed to help farmers to adapt their agribusinesses to the new reality they face. The Agriculture Technical Specialist will be part of the field activities, including vetting of the program participants for agriculture support and provision of technical assistance to the farmers. they at the same time should promote Mercy Corps values through various entry points in the project and preserve staff moral and enthusiasm for the project work.
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Essential Responsibilities**

• Provide regular assessment of the needs, as well as opportunities to support household level subsistence farmers, as well as small and medium-sized commercially oriented farming enterprises;
• Analyze current challenges and trends within agricultural value chain of fruits and vegetables growing, poultry, honey production and other sectors that are creating market opportunities for smallholder subsistence farmers;
• Provide evidence-based recommendations to UASP management that can be used to steer Mercy Corps’ agriculture programmatic interventions over both the short- and long-term perspectives, thus informing future programs and donor submissions;
• Support in identification of the most appropriate projects by small and medium farmers, that will engage vulnerable households and subsistence farmers in their income generation schemes;
• Support in identification of the training needs of the project participants and engage in needs-based capacity building interventions;
• Provide advice to UASP management to address challenges related to crop production, soil health, pest management, implementing effective irrigation methods, access to machinery services, etc.
• Research, analyze data and develop innovative solutions to improve agricultural productivity for household level subsistence farmers, as well as small and medium scale farming enterprises;
• Collaborate with other experts, government agencies, agriculture extension service providers, farmers associations, processors, agrarian universities, etc.
• Maintain good working relations within Mercy Corps and other organizations in the area of responsibility;
• Adherence to all MC policies and procedures as outlined in MC policies and procedure manuals.
• Conduct themselves both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
• Perform other tasks as requested by the project management.

Supervisory Responsibility
N/A
 
Accountability
Reports Directly To: UASP Deputy Program Manager
Works Directly With: Resilience Program Lead, UASP Program Manager, UASP implementation team, PAQ Team.
 
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
 
Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• University degree in agriculture or other closely related field;
• 5-10 years of experience in the Ukrainian agriculture sector or in countries with a similar context;
• Good knowledge of agriculture sector in Ukraine and current needs;
• Demonstrated experience with market analysis and systems assessments and additional analytical tools (e.g. Value chain analysis, Market mapping, etc.)
• Proven experience of working with small and medium farmers, supporting value-added agriculture production and interventions to strengthen competitive agriculture value chains;
• Solid understanding of supporting systems for agriculture (e.g., finance, inputs, transportation, processing, logistics), ideally including experience working within one or more of these functions;
• 5-10 years overall working experience. Experience of working with an international humanitarian/development organization is an asset;
• Good communication, presentation and reporting skills;
• Full working proficiency in both oral and written English, Ukrainian and Russian (equally important)[1];
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs;
• Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response preferred;
• Ability to work under pressure and meet hard deadlines.

Success Factors
To be successful in this role we expect you to have: a comprehensive understanding of the needs of agriculture sector in Ukraine in the current crisis and possible solutions. Practical understanding of the competitive value chains in Ukraine and the ways to strengthen them. Proven experience in agriculture, livelihoods, economic recovery and resilience programming.
 
Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.
 
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
 
We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening, and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.
 
Equal Employment Opportunity
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.
 
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination based on race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.
 
Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme**.** We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
[1] For non-Ukrainian citizens, knowledge of Ukrainian and/or Russian is desired, but not a must requirement