Senior Project Officer

Solidaridad Eastern and Central Africa

Senior Project Officer – Climate Resilient Opportunities for Sustainable Livelihoods project

Solidaridad 

Solidaridad is an international civil society organization (CSO) with over 55 years of experience in developing solutions that create resilient communities and sustainable supply chains. We work across value chains to make sustainability the norm by supporting the transition to an inclusive economy that ensures sustainable livelihoods, fair wages, and production in balance with nature. Guided by our farmers-first approach, we champion sustainable land use, contribute to improved working conditions and livelihoods, and ensure food and nutrition security while strengthening producer organizations. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, Solidaridad East and Central Africa has country offices and operations in Ethiopia, Kenya (Regional Office), Tanzania, and Uganda, and outreaches in Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Rwanda.

We bring together supply chain players and engage them with innovative solutions to enhance production and drive the transition to economies that maximize the benefits for all. Our efforts focus on strengthening local capacities in developing nations, supporting the creation of enabling environments for economies to thrive, and improving market access. Through our interventions, we also promote fair and transparent trade, uphold corporate social responsibility, and encourage ethical sourcing and conscious consumption.

Senior Project Officer – Climate Resilient Opportunities for Sustainable Livelihoods project

Duration: One Year (July 1, 2026 – June 31, 2027)

Reporting Line: Country Manager/Project Manager

Location: Minjar Shenkora District, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Organizational position

The Project associate  works with the Project Associate, Project officers, senior project officers and project Mangers

Roles and Responsibilities

• Oversee the ground-level execution of climate-smart dairy strategies, ensuring strict alignment with Solidaridad’s approved implementation frameworks, timelines, and organizational standards.
• Serve as a key operational focal point to harmonize field activities with corporate donor compliance frameworks and reporting timelines, specifically aligning with BASF sustainability standards.
• Liaison regularly with national and local government livestock departments to ensure project actions complement and leverage public agricultural policies and regional veterinary extension programs.
• Spearhead the iterative formulation of integrated annual work plans, field budgets, and procurement lines in strict compliance with Solidaridad’s institutional planning cycles.
• Monitor project expenditure pipelines and track financial targets closely across all implementing hubs to ensure cost-efficiency, budget discipline, and timely programmatic milestones.
• Compile, analyze, and draft comprehensive monthly, quarterly, and annual progress reports highlighting milestone tracking, financial utilization, and data-driven strategic adjustments.
• Design and execute Business-to-Business (B2B) engagement strategies that formally link smallholder producer groups directly to commercial dairy processors, private off-takers, and industrial buyers.
• Lead the field-level deployment of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices, specifically targeting resource-efficient fodder banks, enteric methane reduction strategies, and rotational grazing systems.
• Oversee the installation, setup, and upgrade of dairy collection hardware, green technological networks, and solar-powered milk cooling systems to cut post-harvest losses.
• Direct environmental safeguard assessments across dairy value chains to limit land degradation, manage water resources efficiently, and minimize the carbon footprint of intensive livestock farming.
• Coordinate commercial linkages with private input providers to facilitate smallholder access to high-quality veterinary medicines, climate-resilient grass seed varieties, and artificial insemination services.
• Implement field-level dairy quality tracking and digital compliance tools to help smallholder farmers meet the strict product standards demanded by premium B2B commercial buyers.
• Lead the community mobilization, structural planning, and legal formalization of new smallholder dairy cooperatives and farmers' associations into self-sustaining commercial enterprises.
• Establish and institutionalize operational pathways connecting dairy cooperatives and individual smallholders with formal Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and rural savings groups.
• Collaborate with MFIs to co-design targeted financial products—such as climate-smart agricultural asset loans—enabling farmers to acquire milk-chilling units, biogas systems, or high-yield breeds.
• Build the financial literacy and corporate capacity of cooperative management boards to run transparent profit-sharing schemes, audit-ready accounts, and risk-resilient business plans.
• Embed climate risk insurance protocols and economic diversification options within cooperative architectures to protect smallholders from extreme weather or volatile milk markets.
• Assist established cooperatives in creating internal revolving funds and equity structures to gradually reduce long-term dependency on donor seed funding.
• Supervise the rollout of a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) framework that actively captures dairy economic metrics alongside environmental and carbon indicators.
• Enforce field data management protocols, ensuring systematic digital collection, verification, secure storage, and data privacy compliance for all participant and household records.
• Systematically analyze field data trends to isolate delivery bottlenecks, validate the economic viability of specific CSA interventions, and guide evidence-based program course corrections.
• Design and execute mid-term evaluation reviews and quantitative surveys to measure changes in smallholder household income, microfinance repayment rates, and milk-quality standard compliance.
• Institutionalize a cross-project learning culture by converting MEAL data into actionable technical toolkits, stakeholder briefings, and policy whitepapers for scaling interventions.
• Establish transparent community-level feedback channels to ensure farmer voices and cooperative grievances are documented, addressed, and woven into project adaptations.
• Lead the formulation, field delivery, and technical evaluation of training modules focused on climate-smart husbandry, commercial dairy business management, and financial planning.
• Conceptualize and facilitate structured cross-regional peer-to-peer learning tours and experience-sharing visits for dairy cooperatives to witness successful commercial hubs and green technologies in action.
• Convene regular joint advocacy platforms, policy tables, and consultation workshops between smallholder associations, government livestock bodies, and donor-allied corporate experts (such as BASF).
• Champion collaborative research trials alongside local agricultural universities and international entities to evaluate localized fodder performance and manure-to-biogas transformation models.
• Provide continuous specialized guidance, strategic technical assistance, and leadership coaching to field teams, community facilitators, and cooperative managers to raise standard project output.
• Direct the coordination of large-scale agricultural extension activities, including field days, regional dairy shows, and farm-to-farm learning exchanges to maximize stakeholder engagement.
• Maintain a proactive relationship with government offices and corporate specialists from BASF-Nunhems to coordinate policy alignment, integrate hybrid seed technologies, and manage specialized value-chain partnerships.
• Manage ad-hoc tasks, short-term assignments, and local emergency response initiatives as requested by leadership to support country-office resilience and strategic programming priorities.

Key Qualifications

Knowledge and experience

• Bachelor's  degree or higher in Agricultural Economics, Climate-Smart Agriculture, Animal Science, Agribusiness, Strategic Management, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of five (5) to seven (7) years of progressive, professional experience within Ethiopia, with a proven record of accomplishment in managing complex dairy value chains or climate-smart agriculture initiatives.
• Comprehensive, strategic understanding of Ethiopia's agricultural policies, climate resilient green economy strategies, microfinance legal frameworks, and cooperative establishment regulations.
• Proven experience directly managing relationships, compliance, and multi-sector workflows with international corporate donors regional and zonal and local government offices.
• Advanced management skills with demonstrated experience leading, mentoring, and evaluating multi-disciplinary field teams, technical specialists, and cooperative boards.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Amharic is mandatory; professional proficiency in additional regional languages relevant to the project deployment zones is highly desirable.   

Specific job requirements

Masterfully navigates shifting project landscapes and environmental volatility; maintains high performance under pressure and steers teams through operational crises or donor changes.

• Advanced skills in strategic resource scheduling, critical-path planning, and workload allocation to ensure complex project milestones are met on time.
• Data-driven strategist capable of interpreting complex MEAL trends, microfinance metrics, and field data to formulate proactive, systemic solutions to value-chain bottlenecks.
• High-capacity manager capable of overseeing multiple distinct project pillars simultaneously (B2B links, microfinance, cooperative governance) without losing operational quality.
• Inspiring leader who fosters cross-functional team cohesion, aligns field execution with long-term institutional goals, and drives high performance through delegation and vision.
• Executive-level communicator capable of delivering high-stakes briefs, technical whitepapers, and persuasive presentations to corporate donors (like BASF), government authorities, and international forums.
• Expert in designing, optimizing, and auditing administrative systems, operational workflows, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and strict donor compliance frameworks.
• Holder of a valid driving license, willing to undertake extensive deep-field travel to remote areas to oversee implementations, manage high-level field visits, and audit cooperative networks 

Salary:  Commensurate with experience 

To apply: Visit https://solidaridadnetworkeca.bamboohr.com/careers

Deadline for submission:
 June  2026

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, or any other protected characteristic. Applicants from marginalised and underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Due to the high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.