Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at ECOWAS Commission

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is recruiting for Director of Agriculture and Rural Development


Job Title: Director of Agriculture and Rural Development
Reference: ECW-COMM/REC/AGR-D/001/2012

Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Department: Agriculture Environment & Water Resources
Directorate: Agriculture and Rural Development
Grade: D1
Annual Salary: USD 60,372 - USD 75,005
Supervisor: Commissioner, Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources

Job Description
Following the restructuring of the ECOWAS Commission from an Executive Secretariat in 2006, the number of Directorates was increased from 16 to 25. A Directorate in ECOWAS Community Institutions is a subset of Departments headed by Commissioners. Directorates are headed by Directors.

Directors are responsible within the Commission for providing the technical expertise in particular technical areas for the design and implementation of technical projects within the region in line with ECOWAS objectives.

Directors in ECOWAS provide leadership and management to major sector(s) of technical activities which are substantively important to the accomplishment of the Institution’s mandate. They are responsible for interpreting governing bodies’, the President’s and the Commissioner’s broad visions and policy guidelines, and for developing and managing goals and objectives to meet that mandate. D1 positions typically supervise 10 or more professionals some of whom may be Division Heads at the P5 level who supervise other professional staff.

Duties and Responsibilities
Leadership Tasks

• Directors report directly to respective Commissioners who head Departments. As the principal link between the Directorate and the wider public, the Director is responsible for:
• Clearly communicating the President’s and Commissioner’s vision to staff, explaining how the Directorate’s activities align with them and how the Director expects the Directorate to carry-out set tasks on it.
• Staying on top of fast-moving technical, political, social or economic changes.
• Being in frequent contact with the other Directors in the Institution to ensure that the work is harmonized with that of other Directorates as needed.
• Maintaining a network of peer technical specialists and decision-makers in Member States, needed to ensure the smooth introduction of ECOWAS programmes.

Managerial Tasks

The Director will supervise staff of the Directorate including Professional and General staff. He or she will utilize a range of transactional managerial skills to ensure that staff of the Directorate perform efficiently and effectively, and that they deliver the regular outputs needed at sufficient quality and in a timely manner.
Managerial tasks will include:

• Planning annual goals, objectives, activities and budget tied to the Commission’s overall plans; measuring and monitoring goal achievement; negotiating suitable adjustments to goals and budgets;
• Implementing performance-based budgeting within the Directorate;
• Organizing the Directorate in an efficient way with clear reporting lines, minimal bureaucracy and optimal delegation of responsibilities and authority;
• Working with the relevant Directorate to ensure efficient and effective services such as recruitment, action on performance decisions, promotions and related matters;
• Setting standards of work and creating mechanisms to monitor staff output and ensuring that standards are maintained and deadlines met without compromising quality of work;
• Managing the system of setting individual performance planning and standards through available Performance Planning and Evaluation systems;
• Providing regular and prompt performance feedback to direct reports;
• Actively engaging in the development of staff to ensure skills are built to match plans, goals and existing structures;
• Creating productive working atmosphere within the Directorate to encourage staff participation.

Use of Personal Expertise

While the Director will have a staff of skilled professionals to draw upon, he or she may at times be called upon to apply his or her personal expertise directly in the relevant technical field in any of the following ways:

• Direct technical guidance on programme design or implementation in an area where he or she has high-level technical expertise;
• Represent ECOWAS in professional meetings or working groups; make speeches, negotiate agreements, mediate disputes;
• Lead or participate in technical missions to develop projects and programmes;
• Advise President, Vice President and Commissioner on issues relating to his or her area of technical expertise;
• Work with the relevant specialized Parliamentary Committee on regional legislation, as needed.

Technical Tasks
Direct technical guidance on programme design and implementation in the area of agriculture-related economic development
Facilitate coordination between the ECOWAS Commission and the relevant technical and liaison units of Member States, with a view to improving co-ordination and interaction, and ensuring balanced liaison between member countries

• Generate ideas in the relevant technical field for future ECOWAS initiatives.
• Under the direction of the Commissioner, work with the relevant specialized Parliamentary Committee on regional legislation, as appropriate.
• Take the lead in promoting the mainstreaming of production chains and markets in all integration programmes and projects of ECOWAS Member States, especially common agricultural programmes and projects, as well as common agricultural and related policies
• Collaborate with the organization’s other units and development partners (technical and donor agencies) and secure their views/comments on countries’ requests and activities requiring regional action.

Qualifications/Experience/Skills

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Agricultural Economics, Agronomy, Business Administration, Regional Planning and Development or a related field
• Minimum of 12 years of progressively responsible and relevant work experience
• Minimum of 5 years work experience managing others, preferably in a supervisory capacity within an international organization;
• Work experience in Africa, preferably in the development and implementation of programmes on food security;
• Experience in knowledge management, advocacy work and strategic thinking relating to factors that affect policy decision making in Agriculture and Rural Development in developing countries
• Candidates should not be 50 years old or over at the point of recruitment and must be a citizen of one of the ECOWAS member states.
• Must be fluent in one of the official languages of the Commission; English, French and Portuguese. A working knowledge of another would be an advantage.

Competencies (Skills, Knowledge and Abilities)

• Ability to chair meetings efficiently and effectively;
• Good communication skills for influencing groups of peers and stakeholders outside the organization (public speaking, writing, persuasiveness, credibility, negotiation, problem-solving)
• Good interpersonal social skills for working with peers and subordinate staff (listening ability, approachability, clear oral expression)
• Able team-player with peers (creates solutions to problems, creates ideas, takes on share of the work, reliable). Ability to align self and Directorate to the Commission;
• Drive and energy;
• Demonstrates fairness;
• Self-control and stress management methods;
• Good personal organization with ability to prioritize comfortably, adjust to rapidly changing priorities and to manage time well;
• Ability to delegate authority clearly and effectively to staff. In particular, ability to use support staff available to the Directorate.

Application Closing Date
31st October 2012

Method of Application
Interested and Qualified Candidates Should
Click Here To Apply Online