Project Manager – Policy and Advocacy

Job Title: Project Manager – Policy and Advocacy
Department: Programs/VINES
Grade: 9
Reports To: Chief of Party
Country/Location: Uganda

About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
CRS Uganda has a vibrant portfolio of projects, serving hundreds of thousands of people each year. Projects currently focus on agriculture and value chains, health, microfinance, systems strengthening, youth, and humanitarian response and recovery, and are funded by USAID, CDC, the United Nations, and private foundations. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with local organizations, including international and local NGOs, Ugandan government departments and ministries, the Catholic Church, and community-based organizations for maximum impact and sustainability. CRS Uganda employs around 190 staff and has its main office in Kampala, with suboffices in Kasese, Moroto, Yumbe, and Hoima.

Project Summary
The Vines Project, implemented by CRS Uganda, is a five-year, $13 million Food for Progress project that will make Uganda the world’s next leading supplier of high-quality vanilla. Vines will leverage the expertise of CRS and its partners to enhance the production of safe, pure vanilla and develop sustainable market links with US vanilla companies, directly transforming the lives of 16,200 farmers, 836 supply chain actors and create 15,820 new jobs to reach 32,856 vanilla stakeholders. The Vines strategy reflects best practice in sustainable development and will leave Uganda with a robust vanilla farming community resilient to the boom/bust nature of the market and a cadre of private sector agricultural extensionists to support more sophisticated production, processing, and marketing needs.

Job Summary
As the Policy and Advocacy Manager, you will be responsible for coordinating with vanilla farmers, traders, processors, exporters, and the government by providing strategic leadership and oversight of all program activities that seek to improve agriculture policy and advocacy for Uganda’s vanilla sector, with the aim of establishing a more conducive enabling environment for all market actors and increase investment in the Vanilla sector. You will also oversee the design and delivery of relevant training related to policy and advocacy under the Vines project.

Roles and Key Responsibilities
• Under the guidance of the Chief of Party (CoP) and in coordination with vanilla stakeholders, including Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) you will support the development and finalization of a national vanilla policy framework including the development of the Vanilla industry strategy.
• Coordinate and facilitate public-private dialogues on important vanilla sector policy issues, including supporting VANEX (the Association of Vanilla Exporters in Uganda) and other stakeholders to establish a National Vanilla Platform that includes wider representation among market actors (government, traders, farmers, processors, etc.) from across the value chain to advocate for key issues impacting the sector.
• Work with the CoP to support vanilla private sector actors to develop and operationalize the National Vanilla Branding and Marketing strategy which is private sector led and will promote the Uganda Vanilla Brand in the international market.
• Coordinate with district local governments to support the development and implementation of district ordinances to enforce the production and marketing of quality vanilla including supporting stakeholders’ meetings and training on ordinance developments at district levels.
• Facilitate MAAIF, private sector actors, and other stakeholders to manage a transparent, consultative, and replicable process to set harvest dates that effectively and transparently address regional timing differences in the vanilla pollination and harvest cycles.
• Work with the CoP and MEAL Manager to develop project work-plans with clear objectives and achievable benchmarks, reflecting a mix of strategic short-term and long-term priorities. And further design and roll-out of project-specific feedback and response mechanism.
• Contribute to knowledge management and learning, capturing, and sharing lessons learned and best practices, supporting communication strategies, research, and internal report development.
• Use data to understand obstacles to uptake and related enabling environment/policy constraints at local and national levels and build partner advocacy and representational capacity to connect local action to national goals to influence positive change.
• Establish strong partnerships with project partners including private sector actors, INGOs, other USAID/USDA funded projects, and MDAs to improve the policy environment of the Vanilla subsector and prevent child labor in the vanilla value chain in Uganda.
• Provide coaching sessions and daily support to implementing partners’ staff in policy and enabling environment work.
• Ensure the quality and appropriateness of activities to achieve the target indicators in a cost-effective, timely, and sustainable manner while mitigating and managing project risks.
• Perform any other duties as assigned by the CoP or their designate.

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:
Education and Experience:
• A master’s degree in a relevant field including agriculture policy or law or economic policy.
• Minimum 8 years’ demonstrated experience with USG or other similar development projects focused on agriculture sector policy and capacity building.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in projects or other relevant experience related to preventing child labor.
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships including the key government agency MAAIF.
• Demonstrated ability to work and coordinate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders, including national and local government, donors, community-based organizations, farmers and other community members, and the private sector.
• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented.
• Strong Microsoft Word and Excel skills.

Required Languages – English, total fluency with strong written capacity.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 50% within Uganda.

Key Working Relationships:
Supervisory Responsibilities: None
Internal: Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party, Partner Organizations, Head of Programs.
External: Government, VANEX, Peer Agency, Farmer Groups, Private Sector Organizations.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

DISCLAIMER CLAUSE:
This job description is not an exhaustive list of skills, effort, duties and responsibilities associated with the position.
Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive
background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding related topics.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer