Governance Advisor on Women and Youth Empowerment in Agriculture and Agribusiness

Focus of the Role

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) is partnering with AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) in Mozambique to support the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER) and the government more broadly to implement their vision for the agriculture sector. The AGRA-TBI Partnership already supports the role of an advisor embedded in MADER who directly works with the Minister to deliver the government’s priority Sustenta Programme. The Minister, as well as MADER more broadly and the current government, prioritise the inclusion and empowerment of women and youth in agriculture and in agribusiness as part of the Sustenta programme.

The second Advisor under this partnership will support this agenda: facilitating the development of a national framework on women and youth empowerment in the sector and supporting its implementation through coordination across the Ministry and its partners. In particular, the Advisor will have a lens of facilitating the ecosystem around the new framework for inclusion of women and youths with private sector, both locally and internationally. This will be done through strategically supporting key value chains where agribusinesses and government can best integrate women and youths. The work of the Advisor will be supported by the TBI MADER Advisor, the TBI Advisor embedded in the Ministry of Gender, the wider TBI team in Mozambique as well as the TBI teams in other African countries and globally.

Key Responsibilities

• With MADER’s Social Safeguard Department, review the existing AGRA-supported Flagship for Youth and Women Empowerment in Agriculture with the aim of converting the flagship program into a national framework for empowerment of women and youth in agriculture and agribusiness
• Recommend appropriate coordination tools and mechanism for the implementation of the framework
• Establish the resource envelope required to implement the new framework on empowerment of women and youth in agriculture and agribusiness, as well as the skills needed in MADER and across government to implement and enforce it
• Review women and youth indicators and targets in line with the new NAIP (PNISA) and government priorities and develop a results framework for the empowerment of youth and women in agriculture and agribusiness. Develop tools for review and to track progress towards achieving the framework targets 
• Undertake a stocktake and mapping exercise on the current practices and interventions of MADER and its partners relevant to the inclusion women and youth
• Identify quick wins within existing projects and programmes to mainstream the women and youth agenda
• Develop a phased implementation plan for the roll out of the framework. Support the ongoing review of Ministry programme and activities implementation to ensure the requirements of the new framework are met, working with Directorates and partners
• Support the Director of the Safeguards Department to coordinate with other MADER departments, including AgRED to bring the women and youth lens to new activities, plans and programmes, including at the sub-national level
• Support the Director to collect and analyse data on women and youth in agriculture and agribusiness that can inform Ministry activities
• Liaise with agribusinesses, value chains associations, banks and other financial institutions to support activities aimed at including women and youth
• Support relevant departments within the Ministry to engage large investors in the sector to abide by and support the women and youth framework 
• Undertake other activities as necessary to advance the Minister and MADER’s social safeguarding agenda
• Work with the wider TBI team in Mozambique to support this agenda, including the Advisor in the MADER Minister’s office and the Advisor in the Ministry of Gender

The Advisor will report to the TBI Country Head in Mozambique. The Advisor will be embedded in Mozambique’ Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), and their main counterpart will be the Director of the Social Safeguards Department. He/she will be regularly liaising with AGRA in country to ensure alignment, as well as with the TBI Programme Manager based in London.   

Person Specification

• At least 5-10 years of experience in agriculture, agribusiness, social safeguarding, market systems, or governance is required
• Experience in institutional capacity development, private sector development, communications, agriculture production and productivity, value chain analysis, consultancy, investment promotion and working in Africa is desirable
• An ability to work independently, think strategically and translate strategies into delivery plans on the ground, with emphasis on attention to details; with excellent analytical, organizational, communication and management skills
• Ability to liaise with partner governments, external bodies, organizations and key stakeholders to deliver the requirements of the office, and TBI in particular
• Excellent inter-personal skills and ability to work in a team with colleagues
• Experience of identifying and resolving project implementation bottlenecks
• An understanding of the needs of senior officials both while office based and travelling; be able to work and interact at the highest level of public life
• Willingness to travel, sometimes at short notice
• Strong sense of ethics, discretion and perseverance required
• Fluency in Portuguese and English is required

About The Institute

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a purpose-driven, not-for-profit organisation, with a mission to equip leaders to build open, prosperous and inclusive societies. We believe that politics done well has the power to transform lives. When governments work well, they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We are optimists, and we work relentlessly to support leaders and governments with the challenges they face: giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people.  

We do this within two connected divisions: 

 Government Advisory 

Our Advisory Practice works directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It has both non-profit partners and a client base and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia. We are currently in a rapid expansion phase from c. 18 countries at present, to 30 by December 2022.

 Policy Futures 

Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas: 

• Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics; 
• Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and 
• Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world. 

As an organisation, the core beliefs we all embrace are: 

• Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork 
• Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity 
• Optimistic Changemaker: you’ll be focused on results 

TBI believes embracing diversity and inclusion make us a better place to work.  It’s our goal to reflect everyone in society and we actively welcome applications from individuals and groups who are under-represented in the workplace. We celebrate difference be it ethnicity, religion, age, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.  We will only ever assess you on your abilities and fit for a role. We’re happy to discuss any adjustments you need to ensure a level playing field during recruitment and, if you\'re successful, discuss any adjustments you might need to thrive in your role.