Youth and Agriculture Expert - Consultancy

EnCompass LLC is seeking a consultant to serve as a Youth and Agriculture Sector Expert for the five-year Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Call Order in Lesotho.  Under this project, the EnCompass team will support all GSI activities under MCC Lesotho’s Compact II Improving Capital Investment (ICI) Project including: Institutional Reforms (IR), Market-Driven Irrigated Horticulture Activity (MDIH), Business Environment and Technical Assistance Facility (BETA). The consultant will work closely with a team of staff and other consultants at EnCompass, MCC and local project staff in Lesotho.

This position is remote with expected occasional travel to Lesotho as needed.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will review project documents and related reports - MDIH and BETA projects, conduct interviews, meet with people and institutions of interest to the project, make assessments and identify gaps in youth inclusion in the context of GSI integration objectives; and thereby provide written recommendations for ongoing development and implementation of youth inclusive approach.  Areas of focus include, but not limited to:

Essential functions:

• Assessing/researching (brief) on the objective reality of youth (male and female) in the project area. This includes their needs, interests, and priorities; access to productive resources and services; engagement in employment and income generation activities; involvement in household and community leadership and decision making, among others
• Ensuring youth have voices in all aspects of the projects – requires visit and consultation with youth
• Meeting with government, non-government, and private partners of the projects to identify opportunities for youth engagement in the projects and in economic growth of the area, in general
• Identifying capacity building and training needs and opportunities to mobilize the potential of youth and engage them fully
• Identifying and recommending potential areas of youth engagement in the irrigation scheme
• Identifying small/medium business opportunities for youth across horticulture/agriculture value chain
• Assessing and recommending on access to loan/ and project finance (especially through BETA facility)
• Engage fully as a member of the EnCompass staff team, including participating in staff meetings and other EnCompass events, and providing administrative support to other team members as needed
• Other duties as assigned

Position Requirements

Qualifications

Academic Qualifications

• A minimum of Master’s degree in social science, anthropology, sociology, demography, geography, development studies, or closely related discipline.

Experience and Skills

• At least fifteen (15) years of relevant experience in social, gender and poverty analysis pertaining to agriculture value chains and supporting youth programs in rural livelihoods programs in sub-Saharan Africa, with at least 5 of these years in sub-Saharan Africa
• Have knowledge of gender dynamics among younger African generations, preferably South African.
• Have solid working knowledge and experience related to youth engagement in the agribusiness sector
• Able to frequently travel to Lesotho
• English language proficiency is required, including both strong oral and written English language skills
• Excellent communication (written and oral), reporting and presentation skills
• Experience with working with large international development or Cooperation agencies/organizations and large projects, preferably with MCC or USAID
• Experience in horticulture value chain and cold chain development
• We strongly encourage local and South African professionals to apply.