Project Manager/Sector Leader Agrifood Systems

We are currently looking for a:
Project Manager/Sector Leader Agrifood Systems
Location: Vientiane, Lao PDR
Full-time/ International employment contract/ 2 years with options for extension

SNV in Lao PDR implements programs that are supported by various international donors. Implementation of these programs is currently active in six provinces, with the Country Office in Vientiane, and field offices in Savannakhet and Houaphan.

The person
If you are an impact-driven agri-food leader, SNV Laos will be keen to recruit you in the role of a Project Manager (PM) / Sector Leader (SL). In this role you are pivotal to grow and enhance the Agrifood portfolio, you are representing SNV towards (potential) donors and you ensure the quality of the Agri-food expertise with and through our programs and projects. You will also manage ongoing agrifood projects with 3 active projects and several in the pipeline, manage the agrifood team of 15 staff and be part of the Country Management Team that is jointly leading the Laos team of about 50 people across 3 locations.

As Project Manager / Sector Leader Agri-food:
You are working with our Agri-food team and partners across our portfolio to deliver impact at scale. You drive the national community of practice, and you ensure the use of our MEL frameworks to generate learning and insights across the diverse teams. You will oversee all projects within the Agri-food system to ensure implementation and together with the agriculture and nutrition advisors improve the quality of the overall sector performance at country level. 

You play an important role in Business Development, instigating, developing, and translating opportunities into sound concept notes and project proposals, connecting with colleagues from our Global office in The Hague and office in countries where we operate as well as with partners, both national and international. You maintain close relations with relevant stakeholders, keeping track of the development sector in-country, representing SNV to remain strategically targeted and responsive to potential stakeholder needs. 

Duties and responsibilities:
The selected candidate will be responsible for the following tasks:

Strategic Leadership

• Providing innovative leadership and encouraging people to take an active role in programme design and proposal development and ensuring quality and implementation in line with the strategic directions of SNV and the Lao PDR.
• As a key member of the Country Management Team (CMT), responsible for enabling and supporting the CMT uphold the highest standards of behaviour embracing diversity and inclusion across teams, maintaining SNV code of conduct and intentionally radiating SNV culture statements.
• Drive Agri-food systems impact via programme and project delivery, actively promoting reflections and learning based upon SNV MEL framework and ensure continuous development of practice standards across projects. 

People leadership

• Providing leadership, coaching and technical support to teams
• Driving the community of practice within the country
• Growing and nurturing talent, actively looking at opportunities to build diverse experience across teams.
• Directly leading a team of project advisors in the Agri-Food sector, instilling adaptive leadership with people centricity across the respective teams.

Collaboration and consultation

• Participating in global Agri-Food community of practice and meetings to ensure impactful steering of the sector.

Representation

• Building, maintaining, and expanding relationships with donors and other partners (government, local partners, national and international NGOs and bilateral and multilateral agencies, private sector), for a high level of visibility by actively participating in external and internal networks and events.

Project/program delivery

• Driving data-based reflections and decision-making at all levels, with a specific focus on ensuring that the agri-food systems programs are designed and implemented in quality.
• Contributing to internal and external knowledge development, by full documentation and sharing of project insights and results.
• Contributing to the development of the country strategic and annual plans and budgets and reports on progress/ performance against targets, within the requirements of the corporate planning process.
• Planning and assigning deliverables and activities, reviewing their progress and addressing deviations in terms of timelines and quality, based on project planning, deliverables agreed and budget set.
• Ensuring effective and efficient project/programme delivery in compliance with donor reporting and to promote cross-sectoral learning.

Business Development

• Supporting Business Development (BD) by developing proposals to secure funding for innovative Agri-Food programs and may also support business development for Energy and Water sectors. Supporting the country program to pursue and track business opportunities for new projects and programmes.

Your profile
You have an innate passion for people; you believe that experience and growth can be transferred to others, and you have a strong technical background in the Agri-food sector, nutrition and food systems in particular. You are an experienced project manager with a passion to design and enable sound theories of change that drive systems impact. Whilst being rooted in science, you adapt to context, and you inspire people from diverse backgrounds to join our cause. You are experienced with MEL frameworks, and you actively promote learning against insights generated from our field work. You are ensuring project reflections feed into practitioner learning cycles.