A Project Manager within GRET’s Agriculture/Value chains team in Laos At Research and Technological Exchange Group

Context

GRET is an international development NGO governed by French law. Since 1976 it has been working to provide sustainable, innovative responses to the challenges of poverty and inequalities.

It is also a professional and innovative NGO, in its vision of the development sector, in its approach involving populations in developing countries, whom it considers as stakeholders in development, and in its practices. To successfully implement its actions, GRET creates alliances and builds diverse long-term partnerships with stakeholders from associations and the economic, public and research sectors in France and in all its countries of operation.

For more than 40 years, GRET has been striving to contribute to the creation of a fairer and more sustainable world. Today it is a solid, international, decentralised, plural, influential organisation in which countries of operation and headquarters form a sustainable community of meaning, values and rules.

In 2021, its staff of 756 professionals implemented 224 projects, studies and expert consulting missions in 28 countries, mainly in Africa and South-East Asia.

GRET has been working for over 15 years to support the development of products of specific quality, as a means of strengthening the sectors of small producers in family farming. Our approach consists in adopting methods of sector development based on interprofessional cooperation and market-based development. Concerning GIs, GRET has been developing projects on these issues for more than 15 years. In particular, GRET implemented the AFD / PRCC project on the development of GIs in Cambodia, which led to the registration of 2 GIs: Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu sugar. The producer organizations and GI associations set up at that time are still operating today, proof of the quality of the work done at that time. More recently, GRET is implementing GI regional project (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar) and projects in Africa (Pampig) as well as the evaluation of AFD’s projects on GI.

GRET aims at supporting small producers in forming groups or cooperatives and improving the quality of their products. GRET uses the “guides to good practice” to support this approach. These guides are in line with the specifications developed under GIs.

GRET also establish, with cooperative producers, a PSG-type quality control system, which is a type of participatory certification that is useful for small producers seeking to sell their products on local markets.

In Laos, GRET has been implementing projects since 2004 in various sectors, essential services for water sanitation solid waste management, natural resources management, land governance, eco-tourism, rural development. 15 staff are currently working in the GRET Laos team, in the main office in Vientiane, and in branch offices in Luang Prabang and Houaphanh provinces. The Mekong Tea Project manager will join a dynamic team working in a spirit of exchange, sharing and support, committed to developing new projects for GRET in Laos.

Mekong Tea Project

Laos is part of the endemic tea zone. The production is mainly sold to China, where the main stakeholders have developed efficient sectors but which leave little added value to Lao stakeholders. The objective of the Mekong Tea project is to improve the incomes of smallholder tea farmers through better governance of the value chain and better access to the market through quality and certified products. Funded by AFD and implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DoA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, the project has two components, one at the national level for developing value chain, the other at the local level in support of two pilot projects. In partnership with AVSF and Lao Consulting Group, Gret is the leader of the consortium which provides Technical Assistance to the DoA for the implementation of the project.

Agroecology and Safe Food System Transition (ASSET) in Southeast Asia (https://www.asset-project.org/)

The overall objective of the ASSET regional project is to make food and agricultural systems in the region more sustainable, safer and inclusive through harnessing the potential of Agroecology to transform them. It is implemented by GRET as general coordinator, in strong articulation with CIRAD, in charge of the scientific coordination, in partnership with a consortium of 23 international/European/national institutions and organisations and two United Nations agencies. The ASSET regional project is implemented in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

ALiSEA is a new regional platform which gathers to date over 150 members from different background and approach to Agroecology. It is quite unique by its diversity of stakeholders (CSOs and NGOs, Farmer organizations, Research & Academia, Private Sector, Government…), its broad geographical focus (Mekong Region), and its attractiveness. ALiSEA network aims to answer the need for a knowledge exchange and to share the wealth of experience from different regions. Through fostering a wide dissemination and understanding of the principles of agroecology, it intends to facilitate their concrete incorporation in the practices of farmers and companies, and in public policy.

Gret coordinate and support the ALiSEA network (Sub Component 1.1) (https://ali-sea.org/)

• GRET ensures ALiSEA members and boards members involvement in the structure and the governance process of the network at national and regional level (SC1.1)
• GRET give particular support to the sub component 1.2 by involving in the global design of the knowledge hub in collaboration with CIAT, CDE, CIRAD and Mediaseeds.
• GRET contribute to the audience needs assessment study together with Mediaseeds and ALiSEA, and to the sub component 1.3 notably by strengthening ALiSEA members capacities to elaborate specific communication strategy.

The consortium engages with governments, civil society, the private sector and smallholder farmers to generate and transform knowledge into sustainable innovation processes and policies that support the scaling up of transformations, taking into account youth and gender equality.

• · In Laos, the Department of Agricultural Land Management (DALAM) has been nominated by The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) as the host institution for the regional project ASSET to overview with GRET and CIRAD the whole implementation in Laos. GRET and DALAM will established at national level a Project Implementation Management Committee (IMC) in Lao PDR which will meet every year and gather all ASSET national partners, representatives of the Department of Planning and Finance (DoPF), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Main Duties

Within the “Food and Rural Economy” department, under the responsibility of GRET’s Representative in Laos and the relevant agriculture project managers, the project manager will occupy the position of Team Leader in the Technical Assistance for Mekong Tea Project and policy dialogue officer in the asset project.

In relation with Mekong Tea Project – part time 75%

• Support the ministry’s Department of Agriculture, and particularly the National coordinator to manage the project: general coordination, preparation of work plans and budgets, application of project procedures, procurement plan, environment and social management plan, general capacity building of DOA’s team.
• Ensure the overall supervision of project activities, monitoring, and reporting.
• Coordinate the Technical Assistance team staffed with experts and representative of the consortium’s (GRET, LCG, AVSF).
• Represent the project toward institutional, private and development partners, and development of networks.
• Facilitate the coordination of the project Monitoring and Evaluation system implementation.
• Prepare the Terms of Reference for the experts or service providers mobilized for specific missions, coordinate the missions, and monitor the progress of activities and deliverables.
• Prepare, when necessary, requests for the donor’s non-objection for the approval of field missions or any other activities not anticipated or insufficiently detailed in the annual plan.
• Lead the preparation and drafting of all contractual deliverables, periodic technical and financial reports.

In relation with ASSET Project – part time 25%

• In close collaboration with the General Coordinator of ASSET project (Gret), based in Laos:

o Support the implementation of the ALiSEA Policy Dialogue strategy and action plan in the three countries (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) (SC11).
o Ensure links with SC23 coordinated by CIRAD and FAO (Multi-level policy dialogue from provincial to ASEAN level).

1. Support ALiSEA Board Members (mostly, local NGOs) to contribute to national and regional Policy Dialogue debates on Agroecology Transition (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam).
2. Contribute to the organization of multi-stakeholders’ workshops at national level together with ALiSEA Board Members.

o Encourage and facilitate the participation of the ALiSEA members in Laos to the flagship field visits (SC21).

Profile

• Degree (Master or equivalent) in project cycle management, agriculture sector and/or value chain development.
• Minimum 10 years’ experience as project manager within an international NGO or international organization or similar institutions and / or government technical assistance in a southern country.
• Aptitude for teamwork and fieldwork, strong analytical and synthesis skills, as well as a good personal capacity for autonomy and adaptation to work with a mixed team (government partners, local and international consultants, backstopping of headquarters).
• Strong interpersonal and editorial skills.
• Knowledge of the procedures and operation of projects financed by AFD would be an advantage.
• Fluency in English is essential, Lao language would be an advantage.
• Computer skills are compulsory

Terms and conditions

Position based in Vientiane (Laos) with travel in the Meung district – Bokéo Province and in the sub-region depending on the health situation.

The remuneration will be in accordance with GRET’s salary scale according to experience.

Expected Starting date: July 2022.