Result of Service

The following are the key deliverables and their respective submission timelines: • Develop a comprehensive monthly narrative report summarizing activities implemented, outputs achieved, lessons learned, challenges encountered and planned follow-up actions. The report should include photos, gender-disaggregated data, and any successes of field highlights. Submission timeline: by the 5th of every subsequent month • Develop detailed analytical quarterly progress outlining cumulative performance over the quarter, covering SME and producer group progress against targets, implementation gaps, key risks, and recommendations for adaptive management. Submission timeline: by the 10th day of the first month. • Document success stories and case studies highlighting project impact, innovations, or best practices among farmers, SMEs, or producer groups. These stories should be accompanied by high-quality photographs and quotations from beneficiaries. Submission timeline: at least one success story per quarter, submitted together with the quarterly report. • Updated Partner Tracker – An updated tracker summarizing the progress of each partner (SME or producer group) on key indicators such as training completion, equipment installation, farmer outreach, and CSA adoption etc. Submission timeline: updated monthly and submitted together with the monthly report. • Develop a monthly training calendar for producer groups that outlines planned training sessions, topics, locations, facilitators, and target groups for the upcoming month. The calendar should be developed collaboratively with the implementing partner and SMEs to ensure coordination. Submission timeline: by the 25th of each month, covering the next month’s training activities. • Document training attendance records for all training, coaching, and sensitization sessions conducted under STAR-supported interventions. Lists must be gender-disaggregated and signed by participants. Submission timeline: within five (5) days after each training activity. • A regularly updated log identifying potential risks (financial, operational, social, environmental) and summarizing actions taken to mitigate them in collaboration with the implementing partner. Submission timeline: compiled and submitted with the progress report.

Work Location

home-based in Gulu, Uganda

Expected duration

4 months (par-time)

Duties and Responsibilities

The Strengthening Agribusiness Resilience and Competitiveness (STAR) Project, funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and an implementing partner, aims to improve the livelihoods of rural communities in 10 districts across Northern and North-Eastern Uganda with a focus on increasing the competitiveness and natural disaster resilience of SMEs and farming households. The project targets 10,000 agricultural/agro-pastoral households and 60 SMEs, in the cassava, shea and oilseed value chains, addressing systemic bottlenecks and enhancing productivity, market access, value addition, and climate-smart adaptation among smallholder farmers and SMEs. The project will achieve its outcome through the following four outputs:  Output 1: Capacity of producers and SMEs to become more competitive and resilient to natural disaster risks increased.  Output 2: Community-based disaster risk management structures enhanced.  Output 3: Service offering of Business Support Organizations (BSOs) and other service providers to build SME natural disaster risk resilience and competitiveness improved.  Output 4: National strategies and policies to improve the natural disaster risk resilience and competitiveness of target agricultural value chains strengthened. The project adopts a gender responsive approach to support inclusive and sustainable value chain development. By building partnerships with national institutions and the private sector, STAR aims to create impact within the business ecosystem, enabling MSMEs to continue benefiting from trade beyond the project timeframe through a Market Systems Development (MSD) lense. The project seeks to engage a Agribusiness expert who will work directly with implementing partners to provide monitoring and technical backstopping on training quality assurance for producers and MSMEs and producer groups in the cassava, shea and oilseed value chains, focusing on Climate Smart Agriculture, Post Harvest Handling and entrepreneurship. The consultant will support partners and STAR field teams in identifying and facilitating sustainable SME–farmer linkages through a Market Systems Development (MSD) lens, ensuring inclusiveness, competitiveness, and sustainability of market relationships. The consultant will operate under the supervision of the STAR Technical Officer based in Kampala and in close collaboration with the field implementation partners, under the overall supervision of the Programme Manager based in Geneva   Purpose of the Assignment The consultant will serve as of the STAR project at the field level. The officer’s main role will be to conduct technical backstopping and support the implementation of training programmes, and farmer engagement activities undertaken by the project’s implementing partner and SMEs. The officer will ensure that all field activities are aligned with the STAR project’s objectives, logframe indicators, disbursement milestones, and safeguard standards, while fostering collaboration among SMEs, producer organizations, local governments, and other stakeholders. Specific Objectives of the Assignment a) Support effective coordination and delivery of STAR project interventions at the field level. b) Strengthen the capacity of the implementing partner and SMEs to meet project milestones and reporting requirements. c) Facilitate field-level monitoring, documentation, and learning to inform adaptive management and evidence-based decision-making. d) Promote the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), disaster risk management (DRM), gender inclusion, and youth participation across all value chain activities. e) Enhance linkages between producers, processors, input suppliers, technology service providers and off-takers to ensure market-driven sustainability. Key Duties and Responsibilities The Consultant will perform the following duties: • Work closely with the implementing partner, and SMEs to plan, sequence, and execute approved project activities. • Provide technical guidance on climate smart agriculture (CSA), post-harvest handling, financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills. • Conduct continuous project monitoring to assess progress against indicators, outputs, and outcomes, ensuring data accuracy and consistency across project partners. • Use monitoring findings to recommend adaptive management actions and support partners in addressing implementation gaps. • Collaborate with the MEL team to design monitoring tools, conduct field verification, and ensure timely submission of quality data. • Support organization of farmer training sessions, demonstrations, exposure visits, and capacity-building initiatives. • Facilitate where applicable procurement and installation of project-supported infrastructure and equipment. • Assist partners in integrating climate resilience, gender, and DRM safeguards in project implementation. • Collect and compile field data, prepare monthly and quarterly reports, and verify milestone documentation by the partners. • Participate in multi-stakeholder coordination platforms and district meetings. • Ensure compliance with project branding and visibility requirements. • Promote inclusive participation of women, youth, and vulnerable groups. The consultant will work under the supervision of the STAR Technical Officer based in Kampala and in close collaboration with the field implementation partners, under the overall supervision of the Programme Manager based in Geneva. Performance will be reviewed quarterly based on timeliness, quality, stakeholder engagement, and contribution to key indicators. The assignment is expected to run for 4 months. The position is field based, requiring frequent travel within project districts and occasional travel to reflection or coordination meetings at regional or national level. The officer will spend at least 60% of their time in the field engaging with partners and farmers. Copyright Clause: The consultant has to ensure that she has obtained the necessary permissions with regard to intellectual property rights required to perform her services under this consultancy contract and for the subsequent dissemination by ITC in any form. Documentary proof is to be submitted to ITC. Should any license fee be due for the use of copyrighted materials of third parties, the consultant shall request the prior written permission from ITC. ITC champions workforce diversity, inclusion, gender equality and gender parity and considers all qualified persons – of all genders – equally, including those with disabilities, without discrimination or prejudice of any kind

Qualifications/special skills

Minimum of Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness Management, Agricultural Economics, Rural Development, Business Administration, or related field. • Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in agricultural value-chain development, SME support, rural livelihoods, or donor-funded project implementation. • Experience working with private sector actors, smallholder farmers, agribusiness SMEs, cooperatives, or farmer organizations. • Demonstrated knowledge of climate-smart agriculture, market systems development, and inclusive agribusiness models. • Familiarity with monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance of capacity building and extension interventions. • Strong interpersonal, analytical, facilitation, and coordination skills. • Excellent communication and report-writing skills. • Ability to deliver within tight deadlines and work independently with minimal supervision.

Languages

Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required. Knowledge of local languages in Northern Uganda is an asset.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.