MARKETS SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR, PAC – EAST AFRICA At Practical Action

PRACTICAL ACTION
ABOUT US
We are an international development organization putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world.

We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.

We’re a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.

OUR AIMS
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic
climate change and persistent gender inequality. Our aims are to:

• Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living
• Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
• Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
• Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimizing their impact on lives and livelihoods.

PRACTICAL ACTION IN EAST AFRICA

In East Africa, Practical Action has a long history of addressing systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing energy that transforms their lives, helping communities and government make cities healthier and safer, making agriculture and markets work better for small holder farmers and supporting communities and government to become more resilient.

We use a mix of programming with communities and consultancy services with shapers of policy and practice to achieve our aims in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

ABOUT THE ROLE
Households use markets for acquiring food, essential everyday items such as charcoal and for selling products and labor to others. Markets have the potential to connect marginalized producers to valuable commercial and social relations, and also to a broad network of technologies, experiences and assets that can help them escape poverty. Market systems are therefore fundamental to delivering benefits to the poor, and are a vehicle for growth, but only if they are developed appropriately.

Practical Action Consulting’s (PAC) market interventions are designed to produce change between market actors and the systems in which they operate in a sustainable and replicable manner. Our responses are always designed with a good understanding of key market-systems, to ensure we do not inadvertently damage livelihoods, jobs and businesses. PAC delivers consultancy assignments that assist people at the bottom of the pyramid to increase their incomes by accessing technology, skills and knowledge to participate in and transform market systems.

The overall purpose of this job is to lead and manage Practical Action Consulting East Africa’s market system development work, winning and delivering market development-focused consultancy assignments in the areas of Energy Access, WASH, Agriculture and Livelihoods, and Disaster Risk Reduction, which support Practical Action’s regional strategy and our goal of helping poor and marginalized people in East Africa to achieve equitable access to the markets they need. The role will also engage in Practical Action’s work on impact investment, working with SMEs to develop inclusive business models that can access finance to grow their businesses.

RELATIONSHIPS
The job holder will work under the supervision of the PAC Manager in the East Africa region. He/she will work with Practical Action’s markets team and liaise with the other PAC offices in Africa and the UK in order to ensure that Practical Action’s markets strategy and specific consulting assignment goals and objectives are achieved.

Assignments will be delivered directly by the job holder or through project management of other PAC staff and experienced external consultants, and the job holder may also be called upon to input to assignments managed by other members of the team, and/or led by PAC offices in other regions.

In the course of assignments, the job holder will be expected to build strong relationships with communities, private sector providers, policy makers and other partners who together contribute to developing healthy market systems.

The job will also entail the development and maintenance of new and existing partnerships with other organizations and our network of consultants in the East Africa region. The job holder will interact and collaborate with central and county governments, international agencies and development partners, institutions of higher learning and peer consulting firms, as required to deliver work to a high quality.

SCOPE
Title: Markets Systems Development Advisor
Reporting to; Manager – PAC East Africa
Direct reports: NA
Relationships: External Associates /Consultants
Location: Nairobi (Kenya) or Kigali (Rwanda) with travel within the Eastern Africa region
Grade: 5

ACCOUNTABILITIES
Project Development
Develop high quality Concept Notes, Expressions of Interests and Proposals to win new assignments
in the thematic areas mentioned above in the Eastern Africa region (often to very tight deadlines).
This will involve:

• Identifying and reviewing opportunities
• Leading and coordinating proposal development activities
• Identifying the capabilities, activities and roles needed to deliver projects, contacting potential partners and external associates and agreeing partnering arrangements
• Developing technical proposals and methodologies for project delivery
• Collating organizational information and relevant project references
• Developing project budgets
• Network with relevant stakeholders and potential clients’/funding agencies in the region with a view to securing new work

Project Implementation

• Manage the day-to-day delivery of long-term and short-term markets assignments in East Africa in close collaboration with PAC UK, other PAC regional offices, external partner organizations and consultants.
• Lead or support research components of PAC EA assignments. This entails but not limited to methodology development, data collection and analysis.
• Be responsible for all aspects of assigned projects including technical inputs, budget and contract management, client relationships, partner co-ordination/facilitation, production of reports/knowledge products and team management (with responsibility for other project team members’ inputs; developing TORs, ensuring timely delivery, and quality assurance of subcontractors, Practical Action and PAC staff).
• Review reports prepared by project team members and associates before delivery to the client to ensure that they are of a high quality and meet the client’s requirements
• Ensure that all project management functions are completed in a timely and quality manner, including implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
• Manage allocated project budget(s) to ensure that all expenditures are legitimate and accounted for with correct budget coding and supporting documentation as per PAC’s administration procedures.
• Ensure that information and lessons learned are collected from projects and knowledge shared with key stakeholders within and outside the organization (including writing and reviewing relevant project reports and knowledge products).

Liaison and Networking

• Represent PAC and Practical Action at international meetings and events, particularly those which will support PA’s influencing strategy, increase the awareness and effectiveness among practitioners of Practical Action’s approaches and exert influence over their practices and policies, raise PAC’s profile and generate networks and contacts in the markets development sector.
• Author and commission articles for publication in international media and journals based on synthesis of project experience
• Build and maintain relationships with Associate Markets Consultants to enable PAC to effectively deliver assignments in the region.
• Represent Practical Action Consulting at national, regional and international meetings, workshops and other forums to share our work, our lessons, our impacts and our capabilities.
• Build on the existing good working relationship between PA/PAC East Africa, PAC UK and other PA/PAC regional offices to develop increased levels of understanding, collaboration and innovative opportunities for joint working.

Others

• Identify opportunities for innovation, and new areas for developing improved market system development approaches and tools and applying market systems approaches in new areas to ensure that Practical Action remains on the cutting edge in East Africa and in the area of market system development.
• Undertake any other tasks as assigned by the line manager.

PERSON PROFILE
To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:

Experience &Knowledge

• A Master’s degree in business management, agriculture, cooperative management, social enterprise, finance, renewable energy, economics or a related discipline
• A post graduate diploma in project management or community development will be an added advantage
• At least seven (7) years’ relevant work experience in market development and/or business support within INGOs, consultancy or private sectors, in East Africa and internationally.
• Experience in business development, building networks of contacts, developing proposals and winning new projects or consultancy assignments from donors and/or clients.

Essential

• In depth understanding of at least two of the following: Private sector development, approaches to inclusive market system development (such as M4P), enterprise assessment/support and commercial analysis.
• Experience with market development in at least two of thematic areas (Energy Access, WASH, Agriculture and
  Livelihoods, enterprise models and bottom-of-the-pyramid delivery approaches
• Vast knowledge in collecting, organizing and interpreting statistical information. Able to use Programming languages such as SQL, Oracle, Python, R, Machine learning, Power Bi, Tableau among others
• Experience in rural development, community engagement, social impact assessment and participatory methods
• Proven track record of the ability to analyze, model and interpret data

Desirable

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, generate new project ideas and contacts and drive forward initiatives proactively
• Excellent communication and influencing skills across cultures, including proven technical writing and presentation/communication skills. Fluency in written and spoken English essential, working knowledge of French will be added advantage.
• Excellent project management skills, including finance and contract management, client and stakeholder management, managing inputs from team members, consultants and partners, capability to use project management tools to deliver projects on time and budget to the satisfaction of the client.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills and ability to adhere to strict deadlines
• Clear understanding of core principles of good practice in development in areas such as gender and social inclusion; strategic partnerships and consortia building; local partner capacity development; beneficiary and partner feedback; participatory approaches.