Colombia: Regional Manager - USAID/Colombia Sustainable Agriculture Activity


May 9, 2023 | Palladium Group
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Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. Palladium operates in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

The Opportunity:

The purpose of the USAID/Colombia Sustainable Agriculture Activity (SAA) is to expand licit, profitable and climate-smart agri-business models for Colombia’s rural producers and value chain actors in conflict-affected regions with high prevalence of illicit crops, as a way to increase incomes, combat food insecurity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestered in plants and soils, disincentivize coca production, and contribute to integrated rural development to transform rural conflict zones.

The SAA will take a market systems development approach to address the continued need for inclusive rural development opportunities in the priority conflict-affected areas of 1) Catatumbo, 2) Bajo Cauca, Cordoba, Southern Bolivar, and 3) Caquetá. The strategy for implementation will focus on implementing three pillars, markets, productivity, and environmental sustainability. This activity will work primarily in the coffee, cacao, rubber, dairy, fruits, and vegetables value chains.

The Activity is composed of the following components: - Improved market access and increased sales for agricultural producers. - Increased productivity of licit production systems. - Expanded use of climate-smart agriculture (CSA). - Crosscutting component: small scale infrastructure.

The Activity start date was February 16, 2023, and is a five-year project.

Location: Palladium seeks to hire three Regional Managers, each of whom will be based in one of Palladium’s Regional Offices in Colombia, which include: 1) Cúcuta, 2) Montería, 3) Florencia. (Candidates should note on the application to which location they are applying).

Estimated Start Date: May 2023 

The Candidate

Palladium is interested in candidates who are problem-solvers, collaborators, and doers, and have expertise in supervising program activities. Palladium is a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. It prides itself on giving the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting and Supervision: 

The Regional Manager(s) will report to the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP). S/he will be in a leadership role, providing accountability for activities at the regional level. S/he will be responsible for leading the regional offices and overseeing activities that take place in those regions.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

- Serves as the senior leader in the regional office, and sets a positive, respectful, and productive tone for all the staff assigned to that office.

- Motivates and encourages regional staff to follow USAID and Palladium regulations, rules, policies, and best practices.

- Oversees high quality implementation of activity fund activities in collaboration with the Activity Fund Manager.

- Serves as a publicly facing representative of the project with local public and private sector stakeholders.

- Serves as relationship manager for stakeholders and partners in the region.

- Develops regional work plan in collaboration with the other regional team members.

 - Gathers technical inputs from regional team for program deliverables and reports. - Contributes to the communications strategy to tailor messages to the local context and realities.

- Works closely with the regional security and logistics team to be apprised of local contextual issues, events, and the security situation.

- Communicates regularly with the DCOP and other Bogota-based team members to ensure they are knowledgeable about activities, partnerships, and progress in the region.

Position Requirements:

- A degree in economic development, sustainable agriculture, natural resources management, community development, or similar field.

- At least 10 years working in the Colombian agricultural sector.

 - Experience managing public-private partnerships or different types of commercial alliances with the private sector.

- Established relationships with regional public and private stakeholders.

- Experience working and living in the specific region / PDET municipalities.

- Proven experience supporting and managing matrixed teams.

- Ability to lead teams, communicate effectively and inspire others.

- Fluent spoken, written and reading abilities in Spanish.

Key Competencies Preferred:

- Experience with USAID or other donor projects in Colombia

- Experience working in and mitigating risk in conflict-affected zones and areas with illegal crop production and other activities.

- Working knowledge of English.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: 

Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything it does. It welcomes applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. It positively welcomes and seek to ensure it achieves diversity in its workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should a candidate require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or if they are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email the team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com.

Safeguarding: 

Palladium Group define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect its people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. It is committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.