Job Summary:
The Technical Advisor I – Productive Alliances Expert will provide technical advice and support across a range of program design and implementation issues within their area of expertise. In alignment with established program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices, the Advisor will focus on fostering productive alliances between producer organizations, market actors, and service providers. The successful candidate will support country program teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to poor and vulnerable communities, ensuring interventions strengthen organizational capacity, enhance market linkages, and promote inclusive, sustainable livelihoods.
Roles and Key Responsibilities:
- Support the development and implementation of strategies, standards, tools, and best practices for productive alliances, fostering sustainable partnerships between producer organizations, private sector actors, and financial institutions, while integrating gender, youth inclusion, and resilience.
- Provide technical assistance to country program teams and partners, both remotely and in the field, on the design and operationalization of productive alliances, including structuring inclusive outgrower schemes and contract farming arrangements.
- Contribute to the technical design and development of proposals, including concept notes and full proposals, integrating productive alliance models, value chain financing, and market systems approaches.
- Support capacity strengthening of staff, partners, and producer organizations through development of training curricula, workshops, and coaching on partnership development, negotiation, contract management, and business planning.
- Provide technical solutions to strengthen commercial linkages, including facilitation of agreements between producers and buyers, improving quality standards, aggregation systems, and value addition processes.
- Facilitate access to finance for producer organizations and alliance actors by supporting bankable business plans, investment readiness, and linkages with financial institutions and blended finance mechanisms.
- Collect, analyze, and utilize program and market data to assess performance of productive alliances, document lessons learned, and promote best practices for adaptive management and scaling.
- Contribute to building and maintaining strategic partnerships with government, private sector, donors, and research institutions, while ensuring quality assurance, compliance with standards, and timely delivery of technical outputs and consultancy deliverables.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Proficiency in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), web conferencing applications, and information and budget management systems.
- Experience in project design and proposal development, including writing content for proposals.
- Knowledge of capacity-strengthening best practices and experience with program monitoring, evaluation and analysis.
- Strong relationship management skills, with the ability to influence and secure buy-in from individuals across diverse geographical and cultural settings.
- Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills, with sound judgement and the ability to see the big picture.
- Good technical writing, presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring and coaching skills.
- Proactive, resourceful and results oriented.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in Trade and Marketing, Agricultural Business, Agribusiness Enterprise Development, or a related qualification from an accredited institution.
Supervisory Responsibilities (if none, state none)
Key Working Relationships:
Internal
External
Qualifications
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Trade and Marketing, Agricultural Business, Agribusiness Enterprise Development, or a related qualification from an accredited institution.
- At least 7 years of proven experience in business-to-business linkages, facilitating farmer organizations’ engagement with processors, retailers, and exporters in regional and international markets.
- Deep knowledge of commodity value chains, price risk management strategies, and export regulatory frameworks to enhance smallholder farmers’ market competitiveness.
- Experience in negotiating supply contracts, improving agribusiness performance metrics, and implementing innovative branding and product positioning strategies.
Agency Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
- Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
- Acts with Integrity - Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
- Builds and Maintains Trust - Shows consistency between words and actions.
- Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
- Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.
Agency Leadership Competencies:
- Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
- Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
- Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.
What we offer
CRS offers U.S. based staff a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, life insurance, vision, and a generous retirement savings plan. Benefits packages for successful candidates employed outside the U.S. are based on the country of employment/in-country office where the candidate will perform the role. CRS´ work culture is a collaborative, mission-driven culture committed to improving the lives of the poor throughout the world.
Organization context
General Requirements
CRS offers are contingent on the selected candidate’s ability to legally work where the position is to be performed. Every government has a unique set of work permit eligibility requirements. All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside a home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical clearance; some work permit processes require clearing a separate government administered medical examination.
CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/ permanent residents of the countries where we have CRS offices.
