PSD Case Specialist

About DAI/ACEBA

DAI, a private company, seeks candidates for ongoing multi-year humanitarian assistance initiatives in Afghanistan. Our programs create jobs, enhance value chains, and support businesses to improve the livelihoods of Afghan citizens in a variety of traditional industries and services including carpet production, light manufacturing, food processing, agriculture/agribusiness development, livestock development, and training, we support private businesses, farming communities, and individuals who need to learn job skills and trade production improvement techniques. 

Job Summary

ACEBA supports export-oriented businesses through a combination of technical assistance, grants, and business-enabling environment activities that will improve access to finance and facilitate exports. ACEBA will support Afghan export businesses to increase sales in international markets by working to improve production processes, increase productivity, and export products that meet international demand at competitive prices. ACEBA also provides support to non-exporting businesses that supply goods and services to exporters.

The Private Sector Development Case Specialist will be responsible to work with the ACEBA regional and HQ offices staff to review and write concept papers and work with applicant businesses to co-develop grant applications that will increase sales, exports, and jobs. In close coordination with the Business Enabling Environment Department, the candidate will assist in overseeing and training the businesses in business concept assessment, business financial assessment, project budget review, the calculation of the current financial position (i.e. Cost of Goods Sold, and Return on Investment), the calculation of financial projections, and gathering the specifications for equipment and machinery.

The Private Sector Development Case Specialist will help to build a network of private sector stakeholders, identify, and recommend potential businesses for ACEBA’s support, and provide ongoing support to assist the regional office. The candidate will work to decrease the time it takes to develop concept notes and final grant applications with a focus on succinct, effective writing and rigorous financial assessment, The candidate will have patience and the willingness to explain things repeatedly, if necessary, so that staff will improve their skills through persistent mentoring.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Review concept notes and grant applications in coordination with other ACEBA office staff.
• Help business applicants develop concept notes and grant applications.
• Assess and oversee the ACEBA activities in South region.   
• Help the ACEBA’s value chains team leads on the preparation and review of budgets, calculation of financial figures (including Return on Investment and Cost of Goods Sold) and preparing business plans for potential businesses in South region.
• Help ACEBA’s value chain team leads a review of grants applications and prepare the data on Capital Investment Specification Forms (CISF) and other financial templates.
• As part of the Business Enabling Environment team, play an active role in initiating, developing, and implementing activities to support small and medium enterprises (SME) development in ACEBA’s five target value chains.
• Play an active role in ACEBA’s Trade Fair management and implementation.
• Support business expansion, and sustainability of businesses to increase sales in international markets and improve production processes and productivity.   
• Assist value chain leads in the identification of export-oriented businesses with high potential production capacity that are well placed to utilize ACEBA grants.
• Support SMEs to assess their capacity for financial management, marketing, and production to international buyers’ expectations, and refer them to Business Recovery Initiative or Business Development Services activities for potential support.
• Outreach potential businesses in south region for value chain of ACEBA.
• Perform any other duties assigned by the Business Enabling Environment Department

Job Requirements

• Relevant experience working in mentoring staff, SME development, private sector business, grants writing, and business plan development.
• Experience working within large and complex projects, preferably USAID funded, is a plus.
• In-depth knowledge of accounting, business plan writing, budget development, and calculating the financial position of businesses. 
• Entrepreneurial instincts with an understanding of how to support businesses to grow and expand sales.
• Knowledge of trade fair management and implementation is not required, but a plus. 
• Established a network in the private sector and development community.
• Ability to provide ongoing mentoring and guide staff in concept note review and grant application development.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and either Dari or Pashto
• Ability to work remotely in Kandahar province with possible travels to south region provinces. 

Submission Guideline

DAI is accepting applications from interested individuals If you are interested, please send your CV and cover letter to ACEBARecruitment@dai.com with the reference number position title and province name ( ACEBA-P106, PSD Case Specialist, Kandahar or  ACEBA-P107, PSD Case Specialist, Jalalabad ) in the subject line. Please make sure to follow this format exactly, otherwise your application will be rejected, please also note that applications received after the deadline or without a subject line will not be considered. Only short-listed individuals will be contacted for follow-up. Applicants may be subject to prescreening criteria to expedite placements as they occur. In submitting your application, you understand that additional requests for information and/or participating in a screening interview to narrow candidate pools for shortlisting do not constitute a job offer or guarantee of employment.

DAI ETHICS/POLICY NOTICE:

It is illegal to offer DAI staff commissions, kickbacks, or gifts of any kind. If a DAI employee asks for commissions, kickbacks, gifts or engages in conflicts of interest or fraud of any kind, they will face disciplinary action and their actions will be reported.

DAI’s policy against bribery, conflicts of interest, and fraud exists throughout the life of the recruitment and beyond. Even if the recruitment is closed, if any party is found guilty of fraud, conflicts of interest or bribery, DAI will investigate and pursue disciplinary measures, including pursuing the matter in a court of law.  

DAI operates a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. DAI maintains policies and standards to prevent human trafficking and /or forced labor on its projects worldwide. DAI fully supports the prevention and prohibition of human trafficking and forced labor and complies with government laws and regulations to prevent human trafficking and forced labor.

The willingness of employees and others to report any concerns is essential to the enforcement of our policies. DAI requires all staff to report all incidents, suspected incidents, or reports of incidents to the appropriate channels.  All reports, allegations or suspected activity that breaches the above will be immediately investigated.  

Functional Area

Programmer

Countries

Afghanistan

Provinces

Kandahar

Nangarhar

Submission Email

ACEBARecruitment@dai.com

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