Position: Agricultural Competitiveness and Diversification Director
Location: Kathmandu (frequent domestic travel required)
Reports To: Deputy Chief of Party (Technical)

Background: 
The new five-year Feed the Future Nepal USAID Agricultural Transformation (“USAID Agricultural Transformation”) aims to catalyze the transformation of Nepal’s agricultural sector required for long-term inclusive economic growth. USAID Agricultural Transformation is implemented by Winrock International in collaboration with Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED), Forum for Rural Welfare and Agricultural Reform for Development (FORWARD), CrossBoundary, Banyan Global, and the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS). USAID Agricultural Transformation’s working area will include 26 districts across six provinces, with the goal to reach more than 500,000 farming households. Building on successful Feed the Future (FTF) investments in Nepal, USAID Agricultural Transformation will apply a refined evidence-based market systems development approach that empowers Nepali private and public actors to identify, design, implement, and own solutions that address root causes of market inefficiencies across five target value chains (fine rice, industrial maize, lentils, high value-vegetables, and goat) through four interrelated objectives:  

Objective 1: Agricultural productivity, competitiveness, and diversification increased  
Objective 2: Enabling environment for private sector investment in agriculture and equitable access to market systems improved  
Objective 3: Climate and economic resilience of women, youth, and marginalized communities enhanced  
Objective 4: Capacity of national agricultural research institutions and extension systems strengthened.  

USAID Agricultural Transformation will place women, youth, and marginalized populations at the center of intervention design to strengthen their economic participation and address underlying constraints to accessing productive resources, markets, and information. Strategic facilitation pathways will catalyze new investment in inclusive business models, facilitate adoption of climate smart practices, technologies, and services tailored to the diverse needs of users, and strengthen the Government of Nepal (GON) at all three tiers.

Position Description: 
This position is responsible for implementing a comprehensive and sustainable agriculture approach that increases smallholder farmer incomes, productivity, competitiveness, and diversification with increased resilience. This position will oversee and provide guidance to activities and consortium partners under Objective 1 using a market systems development approach while engaging a variety of value chain actors (cooperatives, agrovets, local service providers, aggregators, millers, extension workers etc.) in service delivery and capacity strengthening of farmer groups. This position will work closely with the Senior Business and Market Systems Director and Managers in supporting activities focused on: 

1. Enhancing commercial linkages between farm production and agro-based industries 
2. Expanding agro-enterprise opportunities 
3. Strengthening access to markets and trade and 
4. Expanding trade in domestic and regional markets. 

This position will be responsible for supporting a holistic (project-wide) analysis of barriers and identifying strategic opportunities for farmers to access higher value markets; receive improved agricultural inputs (including bundling of inputs with other key services, such as insurance); and adopt improved post-production technologies to increase competitiveness. Simultaneously, the position will collaborate closely with other USAID Agricultural Transformation objectives to provide technical input on agricultural policy reform (especially for research and extension); liaise with and provide technical guidance to private sector partnership and other support mechanisms to facilitate technical capacity strengthening measures; and improve access to finance. 

Essential Responsibilities:

• Develop and oversee technical training curricula, design and delivery of customized capacity strengthening packages for different value chains, sectors and target groups. This includes developing and refining capacity strengthening interventions to establish business relationships between farmers and agro-based processing industries.  
• Collaborate closely with Senior Business and Market Systems Director to: 

1. develop appropriate interventions to leverage potential opportunities offered by end markets and private sector buyers 
2. promote and facilitate the adoption of scalable technologies and practices for agriculture and food systems (that are context-specific) to reduce emissions and increase the amount of carbon sequestration
3. match grantees with farmer groups to implement capacity strengthening/training opportunities and
4. ensure programmatic linkages and capacity strengthening/training opportunities for Business Literacy Program (BLP) participants. 

• Ensure transfer of improved technologies (including identification of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and other innovations; and coordinate closely with Objective 4 to ensure that such technologies are integrated in the research and extension feedback loop).  
• Build strategic partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders (local, national, and international). 
• Facilitate strategic partnerships between GON at the national and sub-national levels; research institutions; and the private sector. 
• Act as technical focal person to support GON’s initiatives in replication and upscaling USAID-supported agricultural models (e.g., Rice Mill Model [RMM], Maize Aggregation Model [MzAM] etc.). 
• Provide technical guidance for the development of new and/or adapted agricultural models, such as for other targeted value chains (e.g., high-value vegetables). 
• Collaborate with major commodity associations, such as the Seed Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (SEAN), the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industries (ANROPI) and the Nepal Agri-machinery Entrepreneurs’ Association?(NAMEA) as well as business and finance-related associations, such as the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), and Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA).
• Collaborate closely with consortium partner CrossBoundary to unlock a variety of financial tools, products and services (e.g., loans, investment, subsidies, etc.) and link such products and services to agri-businesses and farmer groups. 
• Collaborate closely with Objective 4 lead in providing technical guidance to municipalities and for the demand-driven research and extension feedback loop. 
• Collaborate closely with the Policy team regarding private sector policy requirements in the agricultural sector (e.g., mechanization; research and extension-oriented policies; CSA technology promotion; warehousing standards and financing; crop insurance; contract adherence and timely payment to farmers, etc.) to ensure integration of activities into overall project design.
• Collaborate closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team to ensure proper data collection and reporting (including facilitating the MEL team in conducting the annual household survey and other technical studies). 
• Collaborate closely with the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Director to ensure integration of GESI considerations.
• Participate in and contribute to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) initiatives.
• Provide technical guidance and backstopping to field teams to ensure that all USAID Agricultural Transformation deliverables are accomplished and undertake regular field visits for monitoring/supervision, partner outreach and activity coordination.  
• Monitor agriculture-related activities across all components to ensure that USAID Agricultural Transformation is on track to meet targets and develop plans to adapt approaches as necessary. Closely track budget expenditures against activities. 
• Provide technical inputs on all Objective 1 deliverables for annual workplans related to activity design, sequencing, outcomes, location, partner responsibility; bi-weekly, quarterly, and annual reports; and subsector analyses.  
• Undertake other related tasks assigned. 

Qualifications and Requirements:

Education:Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required (preferably in agriculture). Master’s degree in related field (agri-business or agri-economics) preferred.

Required Experience & Skills:

• At least ten years of experience working in agriculture/agribusiness, with demonstrated experience integrating GESI considerations in implementation.
• Proven experience in market systems development, private sector engagement and enhancing value chains (including forming strategic partnerships and public private partnerships; and designing/implementing interventions that make effective use of bundled input supply, mechanization, and climate-smart agriculture technologies). 
• Demonstrated experience working with farmer groups with a focus on enhancing productivity, competitiveness, diversification and resilience.
• Experience collaborating with commodity associations and business networks. 
• Ability to design and implement targeted interventions, capacity-building initiatives, and partnership management tools.?
• Demonstrated experience in strengthening business and value chains including buyer-led extension models.
• Demonstrated ability to work with government counterparts at all tiers.
• Experience with private sector policy engagement, policy reforms, and integrating financial tools (e.g., loans, investments, subsidies) to support agribusiness. 
• Experience with identifying, assessing, and utilizing a variety of digital tools and resources.  
• Experience with identifying, assessing, and utilizing a variety of CSA tools and technologies. 
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate effectively with MEL units in managing data.  
• Demonstrated cultural competence, organizational skills and experience working in diverse, multi-disciplinary teams and environments. 
• Strong communication and coordination skills.

Language: Fluent Nepali is required. Fluent/Advanced English, including excellent report writing and English speaking skills, with the ability to deliver high-quality reports/technical documents is required.? 

Diversity, Equity, Inculsion and Accessability (DEIA): 
We seek to cultivate an environment where all candidates relish equal employment opportunities devoid of discrimination, misconduct, fraud, and abuse. Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) and Localization guides our practices not just in hiring, but also in staff retention, growth, and policy implementation. This commitment signifies that we value diversity in all its forms including age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, and cultural background. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, recognizing the rich tapestry of the communities in which we live and work. 

We highly encourage women & people from marginalized communities to apply.

Disclaimer:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further selection process. The organization reserves the right to reject any/all applications without assigning any reason whatsoever. Canvassing at any stage of the process shall lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.