Job Opportunity: Project Officer II - Cluster Coordinator (Somali) position available at Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) in ethiopia, Somali. Agriculture jobs in Ethiopia are in high demand. Apply now through GeezJobs - Ethiopia's leading job portal.

ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTE

Position:                                   Project Officer II - Cluster Coordinator (Somali)  

Term of Employment:             One year with possibility of extension

Duty Station(s):                        Gode, Shabelle Zone 

Required Number:                   One

Application Deadline:              January 14, 2026

BACKGROUND

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI), formerly known as the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), is a strategy and delivery-oriented government institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of Ethiopia’s agriculture sector, which is a key contributor to the country’s GDP, exports, and workforce. The ATI’s work is centered on improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers (SHFs) across the country for improved income, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability. 

The ATI works to transform the agriculture sector in Ethiopia by conducting policy and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support and capacity building, coordinating.  platforms to better integrate partners and projects and designing and directly leading several innovative/pilot interventions. The Institute joins forces with various stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers, farmers, and development partners, to support the implementation of agricultural development programs and initiatives. In addition, the ATI collaborates with national and international partners to facilitate knowledge exchange and learning opportunities. The Institute plays a crucial role in generating and disseminating information to support evidence-based decision-making in Ethiopia’s agricultural sector.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated, and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great teamwork to achieve excellent results. At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training, and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

 POSITION SUMMARY: 

The Cluster coordinator will work across the ACC project in and around the Shabelle zone (crop, irrigation, livestock, agribusiness, and other value chain interventions) and will report to the regional program manager. The Cluster Coordinator will drive day-to-day coordination of implementation activities in the ACC by public, private, and development sector stakeholders, as agreed in the ACC target-setting and operational-planning process. The cluster coordinator will follow-up the overall programs under implementation by SoATC and ATI implementing partners (ESDA, SoRLARI, SSD and others) in the region.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

The cluster coordinator is accountable for supporting clusters with ACC prioritised interventions or projects across the value chain and ensuring the interventions or projects contribute to increasing the level of farmers' aggregation and adoption of improved production practices through effective delivery of the following KPIs:

• Farmers know about and get registered in FPCs, 

• Land covered under FPCs/ACC with full package recommendations increased.

• Volume of production and priority commodity productivity under FPC/ACC increased.

• Volume of marketable surplus under FPC & ACC woreda increased.

• Involvement of farmers in the bottom-up FPC plan preparation ensured.

• ACC planning and M&E system integrated into respective zonal systems and processes.

• VCA forums are facilitated and conducted regularly.

• Support and follow up on HDP and other ATI’s projects implementation in the zones. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Specific responsibilities for the cluster coordinator in the ACC Project include, but are not limited to: 

• Mainstream use of planning, program management and reporting processes and tools developed by the National and Regional cluster development teams and by other local stakeholders, to ensure effective decision-making. 

• Coordinate planning (including preparation and circulation of meeting agendas, presentation decks, and cluster reports) and facilitation of cluster commodity value chain alliance meetings and other activities within the cluster and its follow-ups.

• Ensure strong program management within the FPC/ACC through driving day-to-day coordination of interventions and reporting, verifying status and progress of interventions, proactively identifying issues and solution options, working with stakeholders to ensure effective joint problem-solving.

• Escalate issues and needs which cannot be addressed at the ACC level to the regional director, where appropriate, including support around coordination, resources, capacity-building, policy, and other systemic interventions.

• Oversight and tracking of relevant ATI-owned interventions implemented by subgrantees.

• Support implementing partners to share lessons and best practices among each other which can be documented for future replication.

• Follow up with woreda focal persons and VC members and report regularly on progress.

• Coordinate DAs for periodic and yearly FPC assessment.

• Ensure upward reporting meets the needs of Regional and National stakeholders.

• Record and document cluster-level basic databases, including cropping system and all agricultural data and information, any ATI intervention projects and ACC Woreda agricultural basic data.  

• Engage in the delivery of full package training for Zonal and Woreda experts and DAs in collaboration with the Zonal and Woreda office of agriculture.

• Provide FPC technical support/backstopping, implementation monitoring and supervision in collaboration with Zonal and Woreda Agricultural office. 

• Actively participate in cluster-level monitoring.

• Organize learning field days for ACC/FPC participant farmers in collaboration with the Zonal Office of Agriculture.  

• Facilitate capacity-building activities for IDPs and follow up on HDP project implementations across the zones.

• Liaise with community leaders, IDPs/refugees, local stakeholders, and humanitarian organizations in the zones to ensure effective and coordinated HDP project implementation.

• Organize, collect, and maintain accurate data on IDPs/refugees for proper targeting and resource allocation.

• Ensure timely updates of beneficiary lists, service mapping, and activity documentation.

• Ensure transparent, inclusive, and equitable beneficiary selection for HDP project activities. 

• Document best practices in collaboration with the Zonal Office of Agriculture and share with other areas.

• Facilitate market linkage platforms for FPCs with potential buyers to enhance contract farming/marketing.

• He/she is responsible for additional tasks assigned by the Regional ACC manager to meet the team’s functions.

Required Qualification, Competencies, and Experience:

• Education: Master’s degree in Agronomy, Crop Science, Plant Science, Agriculture, Crop Protection, Plant Breeding, Irrigation Agronomy, Dryland Agriculture, Rural development, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics , and other relevant fields 

• Experience: At least 4 years of professional experience.

• The cluster coordinator is expected to have in-depth knowledge of agriculture and rural development, particularly on the Agricultural policy and regulatory framework in Ethiopia, including specifically: -

• In-depth experience and know-how of agricultural commercialisation, agri-business / agro-industry, or industrial cluster or corridor initiatives in Ethiopia.

• Possess excellent stakeholder management skills, including knowledge and understanding of various public and private stakeholder relationships in the ACC, and extensive experience in facilitating dialogue with them.

• Strong knowledge and skill in identifying and problem-solving challenges to agricultural value chain development, as well as best practice program and project management approaches and monitoring and evaluation activities.

• Understanding of the private sector, commercial farming, and market-based programming experience with a particular focus on smallholder farmers. 

• Experience working with IDPs/refugees/emergency response programs is highly desirable.

• Good understanding of humanitarian principles and protection standards.

• Excellent oral & written communication skills, with a highly collaborative working style.

• Fluency in English and Somali, written and spoken, is essential; knowledge of other local Ethiopian languages preferred.

• Experience in working within multi-cultural teams. 

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

How To Apply

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) a CV (maximum 5 pages) to https://apply.ati.gov.et It is mandatory to mention the position title in both the subject line of your cover letter and the Outlook email subject line. Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.

Women are highly encouraged to apply 

NB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.