Responsibilities
- Provide overall technical leadership, coordination, and quality assurance for Component 2 (Agri-Enterprise Growth) across Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, ensuring alignment with the I-Youth 2.0 theory of change and results framework.
- Develop and coordinate country-specific implementation plans for agribusiness parks, cooperatives, finance and market linkages, input support, technology adoption, climate-smart innovations, and youth helpdesk interventions.
- Ensure interventions are appropriately adapted to country-specific regulatory, market, institutional, and operational contexts while maintaining consistent implementation standards across the three countries.
- Oversee the establishment, strengthening, and operationalization of agribusiness parks as sustainable enterprise hubs providing youth with access to productive infrastructure, technologies, inputs, services, and markets.
- Coordinate the establishment and strengthening of youth agribusiness cooperatives and clusters, including appropriate governance, mentorship, and enterprise support systems.
- Lead and coordinate partnerships with financial institutions, investors, off-takers, aggregators, input suppliers, government agencies, and other ecosystem actors to strengthen youth access to finance, inputs, and markets.
- Oversee the provision of starter and booster support and facilitate sustainable access to quality inputs, equipment, and other productive resources for participating youth.
- Coordinate the adoption and dissemination of relevant digital technologies and climate smart agricultural innovations in collaboration with IITA, CGIAR technical teams, and other partners.
- Provide technical guidance and performance oversight to service providers, mentors, and country teams responsible for delivering Component 2 interventions.
- Monitor the performance and utilization of agribusiness parks, cooperatives, and other enterprise growth interventions and facilitate corrective actions where required.
- Coordinate closely with Country Coordinators, field teams, the PMO, and the MEAL function to monitor implementation against approved work plans, budgets, indicators, and enterprise growth targets.
- Identify implementation risks, bottlenecks, and emerging opportunities and recommend appropriate actions to strengthen Component 2 performance.
- Contribute timely and high-quality technical inputs to project, management, and donor reports and support documentation of enterprise growth results, lessons, and good practices.
- Represent Component 2 at relevant technical meetings, stakeholder engagements, and donor forums, as required.
- Ensure compliance with IITA policies, donor requirements, safeguarding standards, and applicable environmental and social safeguards.
- Perform other related duties as assigned by the Executive Manager, I-Youth 2.0, or the Chief Executive Officer, Youth in Agribusiness.
Benefits
- We offer highly competitive salary with equally attractive benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant campus environment.
Work Arrangement
On-site — Ibadan
Additional Information
- Willingness and ability to travel frequently and extensively within Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
- Contract: 2-years renewable contract.
- Closing Date: 10 September 2026.
- IITA is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a diverse workforce, particularly welcoming applications from women.
