Programme Assistant Investing in Women in South Sudan AT Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund

About us

The AECF is a leading development finance organization that supports businesses to innovate, create jobs and leverage investments to build resilience and sustainable incomes for rural and marginalized communities in Africa.

The AECF’ s goal is to bridge the investment gap between early-stage enterprise and business maturity for entrepreneurs serving the poorest communities. We provide patient capital to new and innovative business models in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors across Sub-Saharan Africa through various financing instruments. To supplement finance, we also offer advisory services, investment support, and knowledge and insights.

The AECF has successfully implemented programmes across 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, supporting over 343 enterprises, raising US$ 392 million in funding for programmes, that have created 25,000 jobs and impacted 28 million lives.

The AECF is headquartered in Kenya, with offices in Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania.

The Investing in Women in South Sudan (IIW SS) programme is a five-year initiative with a goal to enhance economic empowerment of women in the agricultural sector in South Sudan through financing of SMEs and women producer groups.

The programme has three main objectives, namely, Reducing gender specific barriers of women’s participation in agricultural value chains. Increasing adoption of gender sensitive climate smart agricultural practices.

Improving employment/livelihoods of women in agriculture and food systems.

The AECF is looking for a Program Assistant who will be responsible for:

Program Implementation Support.

Program Administration.

Lo**c**a**t**i**o**n**:** This position is based in South Sudan and is only open to South Sudan nationals.

Re**p**o**r**t**i**n**g** to**: Programme Manager, Investing in Women in South Sudan

Key Responsibilities:

Program Implementation Support

Supporting the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of the activities under the IIW Program Coordinating and overseeing IIW data collection activities, monitoring and evaluation processes both in the short and mid-term

Ensuring that quality technical reports are timely received from implementing partners, in collaboration with IIW Program Team

Attending regular meetings with IIW Program Team

and IIW partners to facilitate the program coordination Reviewing, and archiving the periodic reports from Partners, ensuring that the submitted documentation meets the required quality standards.

Ensuring the M&E and reporting framework is regularly in place, as stated in the agreement with the implementing partner and updated to inform periodic reporting

Support in ensuring mainstreaming of a gender- sensitive and protection-oriented approach into all IIW programme activities / objectives.

Assist in the preparation of various programme documents, such as work plans, budgets, reports, factsheets of relevant documentation and proposals on programme implementation arrangements.

Programme Administration

Assist in organising and coordinating various meetings such as portfolio team meetings, Internal Investment Review Committee (IIRC) meetings and other meetings related to portfolio management.

Provide administrative support to the programme team in the organization of events, meetings, and workshops.

Leads in the coordination of South Sudan portfolio team’s travel planning and updates to the quarterly Travel and Procurement Forecast database. Coordinates program information management for ease of retrieval of physical and electronic records. Support the preparation of presentation material for meetings and/workshops.

Maintains an electronic calendar of events for the team and helps prioritize meetings and activities for the

team.

Provides program administrative support to help manage day to day running of the South Sudan office. Travels with the team to competition events (induction, launch and inception workshops) to provide logistical and program administration support as a member of competition team(s) as may be required.

Suitable candidates should:

Hold a Bachelor’s degree in in Development Studies, Business Administration or related fields.

Have a minimum of three (3) years of experience experience in the development or humanitarian sector with NGOs, preferably in the agricultural focused states in South Sudan.

Have previous working experience in agriculture, food security, nutrition, rural development, or any other livelihoods related interventions.

Be fluent in English. Knowledge of Arabic is desirable;

Possess strong organizational and planning skills that reflect ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.

Be proficient in ICT.

Have demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.