Agricultural Entrepreneurship Senior Assistant

PURPOSE

• Assisting in assessing the local environment to pinpoint viable avenues for executing project plans and activities to identify opportunity.
• Supporting the development of analyses encompassing inputs, suppliers, trade, markets, and potential risks, with a specific emphasis on promoting sustainability and social inclusion.
• Supporting the development of financially viable plans that empower farmers and farmer organizations in El Salvador to achieve social and economic inclusion.
• Supporting capacity building activities for farmer organizations and their members, ultimately facilitating the successful adoption of efficient agroforestry and silvopastoral enterprise systems.
• Assisting in assessing challenges encountered during project implementation and collaborating with partners and stakeholders to leverage their skills and networks in identifying practical solutions for continued project success.

ENGAGEMENT

• Collaborate effectively with GGGI colleagues in El Salvador, the Regional Office for LAC, and headquarters on project-related matters. 
• Provide timely support to the Agricultural Economy and CSA Value Chains Senior Associate and the project team to ensure the efficient execution of field activities related to project outputs and deliverables.
• Collaborate with the Agricultural Economy and CSA Value Chains Senior Associate to leverage technical knowledge and skills while engaging with project stakeholder networks to ensure successful delivery of project outputs.
• Liaise with key stakeholders, including central government agencies, local governments, NGOs, development partners, and others.
• Liaise with international trade organizations, the private sector, producer organizations, MSMEs, and community initiatives engaged in economic activities in forest and agricultural landscapes.

DELIVERY

• Supporting implementation oversight: Assisting in supervising the implementation of project activities and contracts with third parties, ensuring adherence to GGGI policies, regulations, donor requirements, and national legal frameworks.
• Value chain research and analysis: Supporting the research and analysis of value chains alongside the project technical team, contributing to the development of comprehensive business plans.
• Risk management: Assisting in identifying potential risks associated with project implementation and collaborating in developing effective mitigation strategies.
• Action plan execution: Supporting project action plans in close coordination with relevant counterparts and beneficiaries, ensuring efficient progress towards project goals.
• Knowledge sharing and communication: Taking a proactive support to developing and disseminating knowledge-sharing materials and communication products that facilitate replication and potential scaling up of successful project outcomes.

REQUIREMENTS

QUALIFICATIONS

• A bachelor's degree in business administration, entrepreneurship, economics, industrial or agronomy engineering, or a closely related field.
• Preferred minimum 2 years of professional experience in business consulting or similar functions, preferably focused on micro and small enterprises within the agricultural sector.
• Preferred experience in business consulting with a specific focus on entrepreneurship and business development.
• Advanced understanding of financial concepts, encompassing accounting, financial analysis, risk management, and taxation.
• In-depth knowledge of entrepreneurship fundamentals, including business model development, business strategy, and financing.
• Demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit with prior experience in starting and managing businesses, either independently or for third parties, and actively participating within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively, showcasing initiative and strong problem-solving skills.
• Familiarity with business support technology tools and platforms is a valuable asset.
• Prior experience conducting capacity building activities with local farmer organizations is highly preferred.
• Excellent report writing skills are essential.
• Must be a citizen of El Salvador or possess a valid work permit.
• Willingness and ability to temporarily relocate or work in the designated duty station.
• Residence in the Eastern Region of El Salvador is preferred.
• Fluency in Spanish and working knowledge of English are mandatory.

FUNCTIONAL

• A strong track record of successful project implementation, including efficient management of work schedules, deliverables, and resources within budget constraints.
• Experience in designing and implementing comprehensive value chain analyses and business plans. T
• Familiarity with and prior experience in implementing participatory and community development projects.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to inspire and motivate others.
• Strong skills in managing and presenting data in a clear and comprehensive manner using relevant statistical tools. 

CORPORATE

• Understands and actively supports GGGI's mission, vision, and values.
• Processes and shares information easily.
• Is able to lead where needed and provide solutions to project-level challenges.
• Manages emotions and stress positively, builds rapport and resolves conflict easily.
• Promotes the best use of public resources.
• Fosters an organizational culture of trust, transparency, respect, and collaboration.
• Fosters creativity and innovation among employees.

INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is an intergovernmental organization founded to support and promote a model of economic growth known as green growth, which targets key aspects of economic performance such a poverty reduction, job creation, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. GGGI works with countries around the world, building their capacity and working collaboratively on green growth policies that can impact the lives of millions. The organization partners with countries, multilateral institutions, government bodies, and the private sector to help build strong economies that are more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources, less carbon intensive, and more resilient to climate change. GGGI supports stakeholders through complementary and integrated workstreams that deliver comprehensive products designed to assist in developing, financing, and mainstreaming green growth in national economic development plans. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page. 

CONTEXT

El Salvador faces the urgent challenge of developing and implementing sustainable agricultural systems that both enhance productivity and address the interconnected issues of poverty and climate vulnerability. This requires identifying, demonstrating, and widely disseminating best practices in Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), along with building technical capacity and fostering value chain integration. Additionally, harnessing the power of information technology (IT) through training and wider availability of relevant tools can significantly empower farmers, particularly women and youth. Cooperative and associative arrangements play a crucial role in this process, by building capacity, enhancing preparedness, and fostering resilience within these vulnerable groups, ultimately leading to improved livelihoods and employability within the agricultural sector.

This project specifically aims to strengthen the technical and entrepreneurial capacities of vulnerable farmers operating under associative models. By providing financial support, the project seeks to improve the sustainability of their farming practices and enhance their integration into value chains. These efforts contribute to both El Salvador's climate adaptation and resilience goals and the Republic of Korea's net-zero aspirations. The long-term vision of this program is to achieve transformative change through building climate resilience, creating socio-economic opportunities for vulnerable communities, and safeguarding the vital ecosystem services upon which they depend. By promoting ecosystem-based adaptation strategies grounded in CSA techniques, the program aims to equip local communities with the ability to cope with climate change and other external shocks in the medium and long term.

The project will promote, demonstrate, and disseminate sustainable CSA models, such as agroforestry and silvopasture systems, which will generate employment opportunities in the short, medium, and long term. This approach contributes to post-COVID-19 economic recovery from the ground up, as CSA management systems create local employment, stimulate consumption and production, and ultimately lead to a positive feedback loop that generates more jobs and fosters a transition towards green growth.

The project adopts a human-centric approach, focusing on empowering climate-vulnerable farmers, particularly women and youth, to integrate into CSA value chains centered on agriculture, agroforestry, and silvopastoral products. This will be achieved through various initiatives:

• Raising awareness of ICT tools: This aims to improve access to market information and climate adaptation strategies for resource-constrained and marginalized populations within the Salvadoran agricultural sector.
• Technical training: Providing training on CSA, entrepreneurship, business management, and financial literacy using proven methods to effectively reach beneficiaries.
• Supporting government efforts: Collaborating with the government to make ICT tools, such as early warning systems, accessible to a wider range of farmers nationwide, enabling them to prepare for climate-related hazards.
• Business plan development: Offering technical assistance in preparing CSA project business plans, with a focus on incubating bankable associative business models that can attract additional funding from the private sector.
• Accelerating business models: Supporting the acceleration of bankable business models through the provision of seed capital and facilitating connections with private sector investors.

WORKING CONDITIONS

The Agricultural Entrepreneurship Senior Assistant is an X5 grade on the GGGI’s El Salvador salary scale in El Salvador. Base salary is determined based on the candidate's experience, academic background, and internal equity. GGGI provides 15% of base salary for a retirement plan/long-term savings plan, 27 days of annual leave, and private medical insurance with dental and vision coverage.

GGGI is committed to providing a work environment that is flexible enough to accommodate various life cycle challenges and to help employees achieve a better balance between work and personal/family commitments, thus ensuring high performance, long-term productivity, and employee well-being.

Child protection - GGGI is committed to child protection, irrespective of whether any specific area of work involves direct contact with children. GGGI's Child Protection Policy is written in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

The application deadline is based on Korean Standard Time (KST). Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered. 

Applications and CVs must be sent in English.