Cooperatives Capacity Building Manager

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Capacity Building Manager's responsibility is to design, coordinate, develop and implement the operational plan related to our cooperatives portfolio starting from their initial selection to their full empowerment in order for them to reach the highest segmentation level and maintain it year on.

The key focus of the role is to develop and drive a process and methodology to assess, evaluate and empower cooperatives, propose and implement innovation through digital payments and capacity strengthening related to local , regional and global standards

KEY RESPONSABILITIES INCLUDE 

• ​​Be the Subject matter expert and ensure that the overall cooperatives capacity building is aligned with sourcing strategy as well as Forever Chocolate theory of change
• Design, Implement & update (if needed) a company-specific supplier ( Farmer group organisation) evaluation tool taking into consideration sustainability, traceability and sourcing parameters
• Organize and lead the quarterly meetings and reviews of the cooperative portfolio between the SOURCING and SUSTAINABILITY departments
• Ensure segmentations results are communicated to all relevant parties and corrective actions plan are developped & implemented in relation with sourcing & sustainability teams
• Continuously improve on the evaluation tool, process and methodology to make sure that it ‘s optimized
• Develop  the cooperative retention program aligned with customers’ expectations well as cocoa  sourcing priorities
• Design the cooperative professionalization program with content (training, coaching, investments plans, exit strategy)
• Monitor the implementation of the African Standard for Sustainable Cocoa, ARSS at CCC level.
• Ensure compliance with the ARSS certification process, in order to obtain renewal of our cooperatives' certificates.
• Work in relation with the compliance team to define and implement the necessary activities to ensure ARSS certification, in collaboration with the SOURCING and SUSTAINABILITY teams
• Work in relation with EUDR management team to ensure implementation of the necessary activities
• Define SOPs on, digital payment and coop. empowerment. Contribution to the quarter reporting to the clients
• Develop and drive digital payments ( mobile money, CCC cards,…) activities aiming to improve transparency
• Negotiate most effective deal with all external parties for digital payments ( Wave, Orange, MTN, Julaya to deliver offer best quality services to farmers in the most cost efficient way
• Draft and validate the procedure for all digital payments considering the relevant parties ( Finance, Internal Control, Sustainability,…)
• Lead and provide support to the team including clear R&R, prioritization and strong collaboration
• Ensure that activities are well distributed among team members and there is clear and open communication with other stakeholders
• Facilitate team activities follow up with usage of dashboards as well as other tools like regular 1 on 1, feedback and training where applicable
• Define and manage the budget for the whole department aligned with overall sustainability budget
• Monthly follow up of budget consumption with Controlling team
• Liaise with Accounting team to ensure timely payment of activities/partners
• Ensure strategic communication updates are done at the regional and global levels on a quarterly basis
• Maintain clear and proactive communication with internal and external stakeholders regarding the status of projects, key findings, and any emerging issues or challenges 
• Take charge of promoting BARRY CALLEBAUT's actions with partners, in collaboration with the relevant departments
• Stay at breast with potential changes in his/her field area and communicate those as well as their impact at local, regional and global levels
• Be the focal point to liaise with the government institutions on cooperative capacity building development programs
• Attend relevant external meeting and plan learning or sharing sessions with
• Proactively engage with the global and Africa team to share the CIV experience and  customer during quarterly meetings or ad hoc meeting stating the status of  standards and compliance activities
• Proactively engage with external relevant stakeholders to initiative audit, evaluation on our current program, methodology as per customers requirements ( where applicable)
• He/she will manage  strategic initiatives and must be able to plan, influence and lead a team of managers to deliver  the implementation of activities while respecting time and budget constraints.
• He/She may also be called upon to contribute to other projects/programs of the Sourcing, Sustainability and Traceability teams. 

ABOUT YOU

• Master Degree in Project management/ Law / Accounting / Business Management/ Social & solidary economy/ Coop development
• Experience at least  7 years’ experience in training development for cooperatives leaders
• Good knowledge of all laws applicable to the cooperatives
• Experience in managing teams and carrying out complex tasks across different regions 
• Experience engaging with local communities and cooperative
• Experience organizing training programs for farmers and team members 
• Ability to work under tight deadlines 
• Fluency in both French and English 
• Strong listening and analytical skills 
• Attention to details and reporting capability 
• Strong multitasking skills and solution minded  
• Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges and remains calm in stressful situations 
• Proactivity and Flexibility 
• Bilingual ( English and French) 
• A driving license 
• Frequent Travel requirements in rural cocoa communities (At least 50% of the time)
• Others: be able to go on assignment outside the country  
• Proven experience (with supporting achievements) in capacity building for cooperative societies (preferably cocoa) or cooperative management;
• Good knowledge of the institutional and legal framework of Côte d'Ivoire linked to the OHADA law governing cocoa cooperative societies;
• Ability to manage critical and important stakeholders including government officials
• Ability to lead and be able to plan, coordinate and monitor in order to achieve results
• Ability to explain complex reporting processes to end users with strong coaching and training skills
• Strong listening, analytical skills and solution minded
• Strong multitasking skills
• A good understanding of the challenges faced by cooperatives in Côte d'Ivoire;
• Good understanding  of the CIV agricultural sector, and future projections
• Strong critical capacity
• Ability to handle difficult conversations
• Excellent interpersonal skills, approachability, open-mindedness and good presentation;
• Excellent organisational, analytical and research skills;
• Ability to travel to the field as required by the project.
• Self-starter, when picture and rules are clear he does
• Good networker and stakeholder management
• Good communicator
• Seeks collaboration with his peers in the country
• Can work/understand  the field but at the same time feel and easy to contribute or lead strategy discussions on sustainability
• Team motivator
• KPI driven
• Easily approachable for all levels in the org
• Methodical,  honest and well organized
• Comfortable with project management
• Capacity for analysis and synthesis
• Good legal knowledge
• Be a good communicator
• Very good written and oral expression