U. S. /TCN Personal Services Contractor - Program Management Specialist - Agriculture, USAID/West Africa

The position is in the USAID/West Africa Regional Economic Growth Office on the Agriculture Team. The Incumbent serves as a Project Management Specialist to implement key aspects of USAID’s Feed the Future (FTF) programs to increase food security and agriculture investment in the region. The Project Management Specialist coordinates major regional programs under the Presidential FTF lnitiative that is administered by USAID's Bureau of Resilience and Food Security in Washington, D.C.

The applicant must possess an in-depth knowledge of the sector, based on areas of practical experience and be able to build partnerships among regional groups and institutions to greatly enhance the effectiveness of food security programs in West Africa.
Agricultural producers, traders, processors, distributors, and consumers in West Africa face numerous operational and systemic challenges. USAID/West Africa implements various programs to address these challenges on a regional scale. The overall goal of the REGO Agriculture Team is to improve food security for West Africans. This goal will be accomplished by enhancing the effectiveness and ability of regional institutions to address the myriad problems facing both ends of the agricultural spectrum, from the producers to the consumers.
The USAID/West Africa REGO Agriculture Team, with a technical team of five full-time specialists, is responsible for directing approximately $16 million of technical assistance to meet the regional challenges of food security. The five specialists deliver direct support to regional institutions, but also target critical gaps in the agriculture sector such as a lack of quality seeds and fertilizer, the inability to trade efficiently across borders, the lack of market and trade related information for all those involved in the industry, and other barriers. The Agriculture Project Management Specialist is part of that team.