Project Coordinator job at GOAL

Program Background

The Green Resilient Enterprise for Empowered NTFP Development Project (GREEN Project) is a 28-month initiative implemented under the ReForEst Uganda Programme with funding from Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the European Union. The project seeks to enhance livelihoods, jobs and ecological resilience through sustainable Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) enterprises while contributing to forest conservation, restoration and climate resilience across 16 districts in Eastern Uganda and Napak District in Karamoja. The project focuses on five priority NTFP value chains: bamboo, honey/apiculture, shea, cashew, and wild mango. Through a Green Entrepreneurship Platform (GEP), incubation services, acceleration support, cottage industry, access to finance and market linkages, the project will strengthen 140 enterprises, 50 producer groups and support 10,000 households along these NTFP value chains.

Job summary

The Project Coordinator will provide overall leadership, management and coordination of the 28-month Green Resilient Enterprise for Empowered NTFP Development (GREEN) Project. The Project Coordinator is accountable for delivery of the approved action on time, within budget and to the required technical and compliance standards. The role will coordinate GOAL, co-applicants, third-party implementers, associates, consultants and service providers; serve as GOAL's principal operational focal point with AICS; and ensure strong integration across programme, finance, procurement, partnerships, MEAL, safeguarding and operations.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

Essential

• Master’s degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Management, Business Administration, Development Studies, Economics or a related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in agriculture, NTFP, or markets development programming preferably within Uganda or East Africa. with at least 5 years at senior technical level, delivering impactful and complex market-led projects in Uganda or East Africa, with preference for prior Chief of Party and Team Lead experience,
• Strong technical understanding of market systems development, MSME/enterprise development, value chains, access to finance and market linkages; experience linking economic development with climate, forestry, agroforestry or natural-resource outcomes is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience managing partnerships, consortium arrangements, grants/sub-grants or financial support to third parties, including partner due diligence, performance management and compliance.
• Strong project financial management and procurement oversight skills, including budgeting, forecasting, value for money, controls, documentation and audit readiness.
• Complex programme management experience and demonstrated success building, managing and leading a team of professionals using learning and adaptive management.
• Proven track record of providing strategic direction, building leadership and consensus, delivering on Value For Money and, understanding and interacting with sustainable and climate smart landscape management and adaptive learning.
• Strong people-management skills, including supervision, coaching, performance management, delegation and collaborative leadership across multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation, problem-solving, organisation and prioritisation skills; willingness to travel frequently across project districts.
• Working experience in Uganda or East Africa.
• Strong project financial management skills.

Desirable

• Previous experience managing EU-funded actions and familiarity with AICS, EU grant management and/or PRAG requirements.
• Substantial working experience in Uganda, with established understanding of Ugandan government, private-sector and agricultural/forestry institutions.
• Experience with NTFPs, green enterprises, business incubation/acceleration, cottage-industry or processing investments, standards/certification, digital enterprise platforms and/or blended or commercial finance.

• Provides overall strategic and technical leadership for the GREEN Project, ensuring delivery remains aligned with the approved proposal, logical framework, work plan, budget, grant contract and ReForEst Output 3 objectives
• Ensures technical coherence and quality across the five NTFP value chains and across field-based activities, incubation, acceleration, cottage-industry support, the GEP, finance and market linkages, and policy/coordination activities.
• Maintains a market-systems and private-sector orientation that strengthens commercially viable NTFP enterprises while linking enterprise growth to sustainable harvesting, restoration, agroforestry and biodiversity outcomes.
• Provides overall leadership to identify and capture learnings and positive outcomes for scaling,
• Manages programme implementation according to the overall workplan, budget, and results framework.
• Translates the approved action into detailed annual, quarterly and monthly implementation plans; maintain the project critical path and ensure milestones, deliverables and dependencies are actively managed.
• Ensures efficient communication channels within the programme structure and with partners.
• Serves as GOAL's principal operational focal point with AICS, supporting regular progress meetings, quarterly reviews, ad hoc consultations, site visits, and timely narrative, technical and financial reporting.
• Ensures that the planning and reporting schedule are verifiably achieved.
• Works with the grants management and finance teams to oversee partners’ timely reporting.
• Ensure project implementation complies with the AICS/EU grant contract, GOAL policies and procedures, procurement rules, visibility requirements, ethical standards and donor-approved procedures
• Ensures that achievements and best practices are captured and disseminated
• Ensures logistics, administration and human resources are conducted in accordance with GOAL Uganda policy and with the maximum benefit to the programme.
• Maintains an active project risk register covering programme, fiduciary, procurement, partnership, safeguarding, environmental, market and operational risks, and ensure mitigation actions are implemented and escalated as needed
• Ensures efficient use of project assets, logistics and human resources and coordinate timely resolution of implementation bottlenecks across GOAL and partners.
• Ensures accountability to project participants, adhering to international standards guiding development work.
• Ensures consistent and dynamic coordination with all partners and stakeholders through regular, structured coordination meetings and updates.
• Manage relationships with third-party implementers, associates, cottage-industry hosts, technical consultants and service providers, ensuring coordinated delivery and compliance with agreed scopes, milestones and standards.
• Establishes systems and processes that enable regular reflection and effective monitoring of partners’ performance management.
• Facilitates, oversees, and leads joint planning sessions and shared learning initiatives with partners.
• Ensures well-functioning community feedback mechanisms and strengthen engagement with district local governments.
• Builds the capacity of the project team and partners’ staff, embedding a learning culture following adaptive management principles.
• Manages the recruitment and training of programme staff to attract staff of the quality required for successful implementation of activities.
• Recruits, supervises, coaches and performance-manages direct reports; fosters a collaborative, accountable and learning-oriented team culture; and ensures appropriate staffing, delegation, duty of care and staff development throughout implementation.
• Ensures programme achievements, challenges and corrective actions are clearly communicated to GOAL management, AICS, co-applicants and other governance structures.
• Represents GOAL and the GREEN Project with AICS, government, private sector, financial institutions, development partners and other stakeholders, maintaining strong relationships, professional credibility and accountability.

• Strong technical understanding of market systems development, MSME/enterprise development, value chains, access to finance and market linkages; experience linking economic development with climate, forestry, agroforestry or natural-resource outcomes is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience managing partnerships, consortium arrangements, grants/sub-grants or financial support to third parties, including partner due diligence, performance management and compliance.
• Strong project financial management and procurement oversight skills, including budgeting, forecasting, value for money, controls, documentation and audit readiness.
• Complex programme management experience and demonstrated success building, managing and leading a team of professionals using learning and adaptive management.
• Proven track record of providing strategic direction, building leadership and consensus, delivering on Value For Money and, understanding and interacting with sustainable and climate smart landscape management and adaptive learning.
• Strong people-management skills, including supervision, coaching, performance management, delegation and collaborative leadership across multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation, problem-solving, organisation and prioritisation skills; willingness to travel frequently across project districts.

• Master’s degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Management, Business Administration, Development Studies, Economics or a related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in agriculture, NTFP, or markets development programming preferably within Uganda or East Africa. with at least 5 years at senior technical level, delivering impactful and complex market-led projects in Uganda or East Africa, with preference for prior Chief of Party and Team Lead experience,
• Working experience in Uganda or East Africa.
• Strong project financial management skills.
• Previous experience managing EU-funded actions and familiarity with AICS, EU grant management and/or PRAG requirements.
• Substantial working experience in Uganda, with established understanding of Ugandan government, private-sector and agricultural/forestry institutions.
• Experience with NTFPs, green enterprises, business incubation/acceleration, cottage-industry or processing investments, standards/certification, digital enterprise platforms and/or blended or commercial finance.