Responsable Guichet (Position Nationale) At Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale

AVSI BURUNDI, as part of the activities of the “Isoko Irama – Sustainable and market-oriented strengthening of Burundian agricultural entrepreneurship” project, wishes to recruit a **(e) “Window Manager”.**

Contract:  Local

Duty station:  Ngozi

Work sites:  Ngozi, Kayanza and Bujumbura

Contract period:  36 months, starting February 15, 2024

Supervisors:

1. Project Manager,
2. Legal representative AVSI Burundi

Context

AVSI BURUNDI is an International Non-Governmental Organization which has been working in Burundi since 2001.

Burundi being an essentially rural country, 87% of its population lives in rural areas, which explains why its economy is essentially agricultural.

To improve the economic situation of producers from vulnerable groups, the AVSI, IRC, BBIN and DSIK consortium has developed a flagship project on: “support for entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector (SESA)”. The implementation of the SESA project spans a period of 42 months from October 2023 to September 2027 and covers the provinces of Ngozi, Kayanza and Bujumbura, with the possibility of potentially reaching other areas.

The general objective being to “Contribute to the strengthening of rural entrepreneurship, and the creation of added value and employment in rural areas in Burundi; more particularly in the provinces of Kayanza, Ngozi and Bujumbura”.

Specifically, this project aims to remove the constraints that producers encounter in their quest for individual and collective development, through four key components or specific objectives:

1. The technical aspects of the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products from the selected sectors are improved by promoting the development of a circular green economy;
2. A complete training and support service for the empowerment and capacity building of entrepreneurs is developed;
3. Conditional grants for rural businesses, financial inclusion are accessible and functional;
4. Knowledge levels and adoption of good nutritional practices are increased.

To achieve the objective, the action is based on the hypothesis that the strengthening of rural entrepreneurship in the main banana value chain (and its sub-sectors: wine banana; leather banana; dessert banana) and secondary sectors of honey (in correlation with the banana-to-wine sector) and mushrooms (off-land cultivation), could be strategic in Burundi for the creation of added value and employment.

Indeed, based on the observations, it appears that all of the areas targeted for SESA interventions have a common characteristic: they are rural areas whose economy and the livelihood of the populations are mainly based on agricultural production and direct exploitation of natural resources.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the supervision of the Technical Monitoring Committee and the Project Manager, the Window Manager will take care of the coordination, programming and supervision of the window for the allocation of grants, the coordination of the window team and will coordinate with the project partners .

• Contribute to the writing of a manual for the management of grant funds.
• Contribute to the identification of grant allocation criteria.
• Contribute to the writing of ToRs for grant allocation.
• Participate in the grant selection and assignment process.
• Contribute to the writing of contracts with grant recipients.
• Contribute to the establishment of a system for monitoring and evaluating the progress of subsidized projects.
• Supervise the implementation of subsidized projects.
• Audit grant recipients
• Report the activities carried out, the results achieved and the objectives obtained in the required format.
• Carry out any other task entrusted to him by his hierarchical superiors

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

Local Contract.

• Have a university degree in economics, financial management or similar.
• Have 5 years of experience in administrative project management and/or bank loan management.
• Experienced in financial audits (3 years)
• Experienced in business plan analysis (3 years)
• Experienced in drafting grant contracts (3 years)
• Experienced in risk assessment for business loans (3 years)
• Excellent knowledge of EU administrative procedures
• Excellent reporting skills in multi-donor format.
• Excellent coordination capacity with private and public institutions.
• Excellent knowledge of IT and the Office package.
• Mandatory Excellent French and Kirundi.
• Useful Basic English and Swaili.
• Experience working on agricultural value chains is an asset.