The position

The job advertised by this vacancy is for the position of Project Officer Early Generation Seed (EGS) Production. You will work in a small team based at the Seed Division, consisting of a national project coordinator (fulltime), an executive assistant (fulltime), two EGS advisors (part-time), a platform advisor (part-time) and a project advisor (part-time).The team closely collaborates with another team based in Mandalay, consisting of four seed business experts (full-time). You will be supervised by the national project coordinator on a day to day basis. You will be responsible for increasing the business performance of a number of seed farms that are producing early generation seed. This includes the promotion of public-private business models and strengthening the capacity of seed farm staff. You will be supported by a team of experts from Wageningen University & Research (WUR), the Netherlands for technical assistance.

ISSD Myanmar

The goal of ISSD Myanmar is to contribute to food security and climate resilience of smallholder farmers in the Dry Zone. The project does this through improving farmer access and uptake of quality seed of improved and well adapted varieties. This in turn should lead to a sustainable increase in agricultural productivity. The project was launched in April 2017 and phase out in December 2020. The project focuses on four regions in the Dry Zone, i.e. Bago East, Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay and Sagaing, and will concentrate on three crop groups: rice, legumes and oilseeds.

The project consists of three major components: (1) improving seed sector coordination; (2) improving early generation seed production and marketing; and (3) promoting seed business development for increasing local availability of quality seed. The first two project components will be coordinated and implemented by a project team based in Nay Pyi Taw; the third project component will be coordinated and implemented by a project team based in Mandalay.

Key Responsibilities

You will be specifically responsible for the coordination and implementation of project component 2: improving the production and marketing of early generation seed. In this component you will be closely working together with the DOA Seed Division and DAR, and ten selected DOA and DAR seed farms. Moreover, you will ensure alignment between ISSD Myanmar interventions and the Agriculture Development Support Project (ADSP) of MOALI and the World Bank, which particularly focusses on strengthening the infrastructure of DOA and DAR seed farms.

EGS study: you will be responsible for an EGS study in the Dry Zone, identifying different intervention strategies for strengthening the EGS system. This study will inform future activities on institutional reform and capacity gaps.

Direct support to DOA and DAR seed farms: Your role is to provide support to ten selected DOA and DAR seed farms in business planning, demand forecasting, variety portfolio development, and quality EGS production. You will organize trainings for seed farm managers with follow up coaching and action planning.

Pilots on seed farm institutional arrangements: You will facilitate discussions between DOA, DAR and other stakeholders on division of roles and responsibilities and opportunities to create more complementarity in EGS production. In close collaboration with DOA and DAR headquarters, you will develop pilots to work on alternative institutional arrangements like: licencing of varieties, performance contracts, outgrower schemes and partnerships with the private sector.

Linking EGS production and seed business development: You will work closely together with the project team based in Mandalay to ensure linkage of EGS and quality seed production of local seed producers and domestic companies. In addition, you will support the application of a transparent EGS forecasting systems and forward contracting where possible.

Planning, monitoring and evaluation: You will be responsible for the work planning of the EGS project component, and ensure involvement of DOA and DAR and the seed farms in the work planning process, the annual review and planning meetings, and the preparation of the project annual reports. You will ensure that seed farm data are organized as required.

The kind of person we are looking for

An energetic and enthusiastic hard worker who is a team player and can work independently. Good interpersonal communication, mediation and facilitation skills are required. Acting as a vital member of a dynamic team, staff members are expected to be flexible, reasonable, accommodating, and constructive and to actively contribute to making the working environment a happy one. We are also looking for a person with an interest in professionalizing agricultural organizations with a proven capacity to work effectively on the ground with seed farms in quality seed production, and demonstrated interest in promoting seed business development and marketing.

Experience, knowledge, and skills required

The EGS coordinator shall have knowledge, experience, and skills in:

-       Application of methodologies for developing business plans and generating new business models.

-       Conducting market analysis, seed demand assessments and market forecasts.

-       Organizing workshops, forums and dialogues and working with a range of stakeholders to facilitate public-private partnerships.

-       Basic understanding of seed production, crop rotations, irrigation and mechanized farming.

Applicants must satisfy at least all of the following minimum requirements:

-         Masters degree or Bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics, agri-business, business administration, marketing, or a related field of study

-         Five years accumulated professional experience in related fields of work

-         Documented proof of educational training and professional experience, along with the names and contact details for at least two references with whom you’ve worked in the past three years

-         Proficiency in written and spoken English and Burmese

-         Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint packages

Application information

The gross salary for the position is MMK 1,350,000 per month (gross). Interested candidates are invited to send a well-formulated letter of motivation of no more than one page and their up-to-date full CV before 8 May 2017 by email to: vacancy.issdmyanmar@gmail.com; directordoa.seeddivision@gmail.com

All applications must include the job title in the subject line of the application email.

Candidates that pass the first round of screening will be shortlisted according to the experience, knowledge and skills we are looking for. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in May 17, 2017. It is only at that stage that credentials such as scanned diploma copies and reference letters will be requested.

For more information on the project, please contact: abishkar.subedi@wur.nl