Agroforestry Program Manager At Inter Help

Who are we ? :

Inter Aide is an association specializing in the implementation of concrete development aid programs, conducted with particularly deprived families living in rural areas. In 2024, Inter Aide manages 51 programs spread across seven countries (Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sierra Leone).

Inter Aide has been working in Malawi with particularly deprived rural communities since 1992. The association is present in 10 of the country’s 28 districts, in the Central and Southern regions. In the Lilongwe district, an ambitious project to encroach on agricultural plots was launched in 2020. Inter Aide supports around a thousand small-scale farming families there in order to initiate a significant planting dynamic on their agricultural plots, in a context of a lack of available land and strong constraints on access to wood energy.

The objective of the project is to contribute to individual wood production by pruning trees in order to meet the energy needs of rural households and to enable the generation of additional income through the marketing of products from the plantations. In addition to direct economic benefits, the sustainable management of these plantations also helps to improve the conditions of the agricultural environment (soil and water conservation, combating soil drying and erosion, conserving biodiversity).

The mission:

You will be based in a rural area in the town of Mitundu, approximately 1 hour from the capital. Your main mission will be to coordinate, develop and evaluate the activities implemented with the villages in the intervention area. You will also have to carry out prospecting for future intervention areas. You will collaborate with a technical team of seven people as well as a team of five support people.

In this capacity, you will be responsible for:

– supervision, evaluation and strengthening of the local team;

– to ensure the quality of technical training offered to farmers and the team, update and write technical guides and training guides;

– to ensure compliance with the objective of supporting the most deprived farmers;

– monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the program (results of nurseries and plantations, measurements of survival rates, etc.) and carrying out studies (diagnosis of needs, targeting of villages, etc.);

– the development of collaboration with authorities and other local stakeholders;

– logistical coordination of the program;

– financial and operational reporting to the Sector Manager and the administrative and financial manager (monthly accounting and regular activity reports);

– strategic thinking around the content of the program (messages, approaches) and its geographical deployment (identification of future intervention zones, possible relocation of offices)

You will be required to make frequent trips to villages in the intervention zone and occasionally to other regions of the country (exchange visits, prospecting).

Profile sought:

– You have training as a forestry engineer, agronomist or equivalent (specialization or experience in forestry development or agroforestry)

– You have initial professional experience in a similar context

– You have experience in setting up and monitoring support and advice systems in rural areas and organizing sales channels for small producers

– You have experience in team management

– You are rigorous and organized

– You demonstrate listening and communication skills and a sense of diplomacy

– You know how to be autonomous, dynamic and adaptable

– You have a critical mind in order to best advise local teams

– You also have a strong taste for field and local work

– You are fluent in English (written/oral)

The conditions:

– 24-month VSI status mission, renewable

– Monthly allowance of €1,400 + land allowance

– Full social coverage (CFE + mutual insurance) and repatriation insurance

– A return plane ticket at the start and end of the mission from home to the mission location + an annual return plane ticket from the mission location to the Inter Aide headquarters