Agricultural Expert (consultancy) / Експерт/ка з питань сільского господарства (консультаційні послуги)

Program:             Global Communities, Ukraine Business Development.
Position:              Agricultural Expert.
Type:                    Short-Term Technical Assistance (consultancy).
Duration:            Up to 22 working days / level of effort TBD.
Location:             Ukraine, preferably Kyiv but flexible; travel required. 

Global Communities seeks a short-term consultant to support proposal development and technical solution design for the anticipated 5-year USAID/Ukraine-funded New Agriculture – Harvest activity. The Activity aims to enable male and female grain and oilseed farmers, including marginalized and underserved groups, to return production of important food export crops to pre-war levels while improving production efficiency and profitability, and will position farmers to market their crops more successfully and profitably.

This position is open to Ukrainians only and may require travel throughout the country.

Scope of Work:

• Assess and analyze communities in grain and oilseed producing areas with a focus on the conflict impact on smaller producers and their associations/coops.
• Determine which grain and oilseed producing areas can resume production in the short term and which will need medium and longer-term recovery.
• Through producer and association/coop consultations, identify solutions they have found in adapting to the situation and areas that currently have no solutions.
• Through producer and association/coop consultations, determine and define the most critical constraints and potential opportunities for getting grain and oilseed production back to pre-conflict levels.
• Examine small-holder grain and oilseed producer access to production input and services before the conflict, identify its impact on them, and determine potential solutions for restoring access.
• Through producer and association/coop consultations, determine their understanding of Ukraine market systems and their effectiveness in accessing them.
• Determine how their grain and oilseed markets and commodity prices have been impacted by the conflict.
• Through producer and association/coop consultations, determine what kind of solutions have been found in getting commodities to market and what opportunities exist to improve access and prices.
• Assess and analyze small-scale producer access to production/equipment finance, how it has been impacted by the conflict, and identify potential solutions to restoring it.
• Identify key barriers to small to medium producers accessing finance and their level of knowledge in knowing how to access it.
• Assess and analyze current small-holder access to financial and livelihood coping strategies of families in the proposed targeted intervention areas.
• Determine the status and loss of small-medium grain and oilseed producer productive assets including equipment, grain storage facilities, etc.
• Identify priority productive assets needing restoration and specifically, what is urgently needed to restart or expand production to pre-conflict levels.
• Contribute to the development of a partnering strategy, including government agencies, financial institutions, expert and/or advisory organizations, businesses, and other key actors.
• Contribute to the development of an operational profile, including office locations and staffing composition.

Requirements:

• University degree in business, agriculture, agribusiness, economic growth, international development, or a related field.
• Proven knowledge and experience working with grain and oilseed producers or other relevant agricultural sectors including ag input & equipment supply, ag markets, ag credit, etc.
• Excellent interpersonal, diplomacy, and leadership skills, including the ability to manage high-level relationships and motivate the project team. 
• Proven familiarity with agricultural development initiatives and programs
• In-depth knowledge of Ukraine’s agricultural grain and oilseed markets and the obstacles to increasing output, sales, and profitability.
• Demonstrated understanding of private-sector agricultural enterprises in the areas of input, equipment, credit, and markets.   
• Ability to establish and maintain working relationships with the Government of Ukraine, local, regional, national, and international private sector actors, and USAID-funded implementing partner organizations involved in agricultural growth/recovery.

To apply please send the CV (3 pages maximum), cover letter, and financial proposal (total cost of services) to [email protected] indicating Agricultural Expert (consultancy) / Експерт(-ка) з питань сільского господарства (консультаційні послуги) in the subject line by 18 PM, November 1, 2023.  

Global Communities is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment, without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability.

Global Communities is committed to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for all staff, representatives, partners, participants, and anyone with whom Global Communities interacts worldwide, especially children and adults at risk. All Global Communities staff and representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of breach of our safeguarding policies. In addition, it is Global Communities’ policy that it is the responsibility of anyone engaged with Global Communities to proactively build a safe and supportive environment in our work. All our staff and representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.