iDE

Market Development Specialist

iDE is an international NGO with over 30 years of experience in designing and delivering market based anti-poverty programs in 11 countries. We are a world leader in making markets work for the poor as well as the longest established market development specialist NGO in Bangladesh. iDE believes that markets can be a powerful force for improving smallholder prosperity by creating income and livelihood opportunities for poor rural households.

iDE Bangladesh currently has projects in Agricultural Markets, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Access to Finance with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and climate-smart technologies. We are looking for a skilled and ambitious professional for CSISA-MI, phase-II project. The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia, Mechanization and Irrigation Phase II (CSISA-MI Phase II) is a 5-years project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and iDE. It is funded by USAID under the Feed the Future Initiative. After Phase I’s success in unlocking smallholder farmers’ access to more efficient agricultural machinery by facilitating rural entrepreneurship and leveraging more than $6 million of private-sector investments, we embarked on the next phase. CSISA-MI Phase II is aiming to further support resilient agriculture through boosting the competitiveness and efficiency of domestic and private sector led agricultural mechanization, enhancing institutional capacity for agricultural mechanization through the development of skilled and youth workforces, and developing new models for public and private institutions to support irrigation and agricultural mechanization in Southern Bangladesh.

CSISA-MI Phase II will work with private sector partners (PSP) to connect agricultural machinery based ‘micro, small and medium enterprises’ (MSMEs) with business and technical training and access to finance. With PSPs, the project will also build a skilled agricultural machinery workforce by building the capacity of SMEs’ current and potential employees. As a result of the project interventions, MSMEs will be professionalized and made “investment ready” through technical assistance and support across three primary functional areas: i) strategy, management, and operations, ii) technical and industrial process improvement and iii) financing for capital investment.

The Market Development Specialist (MDS) is responsible for overall implementation of field interventions in assigned project areas and ensures the quality delivery of tasks. S/he will also provide strong leadership in the development and implementation of project approaches, strategies and interventions of the project. S/he is responsible for coordination, communication, functional relationship and maintain regular liaison with the project partners and progress monitoring of project activities at field level. The MDS will represent the project at multiple levels, ensuring productive stakeholder relationships with the private sector, public sector, local government, different enterprises and communities. S/he will facilitate staff capacity building initiatives, technical support to the staff, conduct different training in the field level, maintain liaison with PSPs, SMEs. S/he also responsible for new SME development, youth & women capacity building through incubation and accelerator center, employment creation, SME & firms maintain OHS and environmental standards for their workers.

Position		Market Development Specialist
Number of Vacancies		02
Job Location		(Bogura & Jashore)
Reporting Line		Field Manager/Coordinator

Key Roles and Responsibilities	Market Development Specialist will provide technical assistance to the project staff to execute the project activities effectively Facilitate the process of market system analysis to identify the systemic constraints & opportunity of agri machinery markets; SMEs, planning and programmatic guidance for the project staff and other stakeholders according to project guidelines and donor requirements; Facilitate training in different levels and maintain close collaboration with respective PSPs Supervise a small team consisting 5-6 Officer Market Development and provide technical backstopping to implement the project in the ground Assess the MSMEs and find out the business capacity gaps and bottleneck of their business growth Find out the market based solution and link the project targeted MSMEs with proper solutions to make the MSMEs competitive and grow their business as project expected Prepare and signing JVA with respective PSPs to promote enterprises and also develop business incubation and accelerator center Conduct different training, meeting and workshop in the field level with relevant stakeholders for MSME development Linkage established between national & international firms for adopt new design and marketing policy Keep the line Manager abreast of emerging project issues Facilitate to staff the process of imparting small agri machinery business planning, commercialization and utilization the Ag machineries at field level and technical skills development training to project participants involving private & public partners Facilitate private sectors and manufacturer to improve the competitiveness of the products in terms of quality and quantity, product line development and maintaining OHS and environmental standards for employee Facilitate to build the capacity of rural youth & women through involving private sector and also creation of employment Oversee project monitoring & evaluation and ensure adherence to reporting requirements; Monitor progress and capturing best practices, critical analysis and generate reports as required; provide feedback to the field team and updates the iDE senior management team and project manager on a regular basis.
Education	Masters in Business Administration/Management/Agriculture
Work Experience	Minimum 5 years’ experience working in implementing market development projects with minimum 3-4 years in a mid level managerial position;
Management and Programmatic Skills	Demonstrated excellent project monitoring skills; leadership and operational capabilities which resulted in achievement of targets; Sectoral experience and expertise, particularly in agri machinery, light engineering, service provision business; Prior experience working in the context of USAID or similar donor funded agricultural development projects; Must understand and be able to articulate the role of the private sector, government and civil society/NGOs in creating an effective service market; Experience of value chain approaches to market development and sub-sector analysis; Good understanding of the technical, social and economic constraints at the field level; Experience in integrating gender responsive and gender inclusive strategies in market systems development interventions is a strong asset.
Personal Skills	Self-motivated, energetic and team player Good analytical skills and problem solving skills Ability to think creatively and encourage field staff to take initiative Prepared to undertake frequent field visits and extensive travel Ability to adapt and work with all genders, religions, nationalities and ages Proven interpersonal and intercultural skills, including flexibility and sensitivity; and Sound knowledge of local government, good governance, human rights, women empowerment.
Physical and Language Skills	Ability to travel and undertake fieldwork in rural contexts High quality of written and spoken in both Bangla and English with an ability to produce regular qualitative narrative reports, proficient in the use of Microsoft Office including Excel, Power-point and Word. Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office, email and the internet Familiarity with internet based software systems such as Google Apps and Salesforce
Other Information and Conditions	The position would be the regular employment of iDE-B The remuneration package, work days and deliverables might be change based on negotiation between iDE management and the contract iDE reserves the right to terminate this agreement any time with the consultation of the employee as per HR policy

Only short-listed and qualified candidates will be notified.

Women are actively encouraged to apply.

iDE provides a women friendly work environment with flexible work arrangements, appropriate skill development opportunities and good career development potential for high performing individuals. We are committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Employment selection and related decisions are made without regard to gender, race, age, disability, religion, national origin, color, or any other protected class.

Deadline: 9th August 2019 (4:30 pm BDT)