Marketing Cooperative Advisor

Terms of Reference

Marketing Cooperative Advisor (CA)

Agriterra is an agri-agency founded since 1997 by Dutch farmer organisations and cooperatives. It is organized with a head office in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and has a network of 15 country offices spread over Africa and Asia, employing approximately 170 staff members. In Vietnam, Agriterra was registered as an INGO in 2017 and is currently active in twelve provinces (from North to South of Vietnam) including Mekong Delta, Central Highland, Central Coastal and Northern regions. The country team focus on value chain of coffee, tea, rice, and horticulture sectors.

As an international specialist in cooperative development, we work by using a three-track approach. We make cooperatives bankable and create real farmer-led businesses. We improve extension services to members and enhance farmer-government dialogues. We use Agripool, our knowledge broker agency which is a unique pool of hundreds of agricultural experts from the Netherlands and other countries.

The agribusiness team of Vietnam currently supporting farmers' organizations and agriculture cooperative in increasing their market power by offering services on advice and technical aid in the field of entrepreneurship, business planning, financial management and day-to-day management. This way, farmers' organisations and agriculture cooperative become bankable: ripe for investment. In this extend, support and advisory from Agriterra to companies and cooperative in communication and marketing will be our essential intervention activity.

Thus, we are looking for an experienced and dynamic national candidate to be an Agri-Cooperative Advisor focus on communications and marketing, based in Ha Noi with frequent travel to the cooperative sites to provide support to both Agriterra VN and the selected cooperatives.

Position of the Cooperative Advisor (focus on Marketing).

Tasks will include but are not limited to:

Focus areas.

• Provide business development services to support the profitable commercial activities of Agriterra’s clients, focus on strengthening Cooperatives’ market linkage and image.
• Establish a strong base for Agriterra’s activities in Vietnam and contribute actively to the goals of Agriterra’s Asia team: mobilized measurable support (in cash or in-kind) from public and private sector through Lobby & Advocacy activities; making cooperatives bankable, obtained additional or new commercial contracts.

Activities.

• Advising cooperatives on strategic marketing plan, market linkage.
• Seeking and managing client’s projects, including, and not limited to conducting of scoping, assessment, advising, monitoring/follow up and reporting the growth progress of clients.
• Bring Dutch knowledge on cooperative and agriculture development by involving international experts where relevant and sharing to clients/ stakeholders.
• Working with the team to reach targets committed to Dutch government and other donors.
• Actively contributing to the improvement of Agriterra’s image and position in Vietnam and Asia.
• Any other relevant tasks assigned

Expected results.

• Result-driven agribusiness advice that fulfills Agriterra-specific aims while at the same time meeting the demand of the clients.
• Advice on the improvement of the clients’ image and positions in the market and growth ambition.
• Client satisfaction, as well as satisfied parties in the business sector, investors, financial institutions, and development organizations. 

Qualifications and experience.

• Minimum a bachelor’s degree or proven equivalent experience in Marketing/ Communications/ Journalism/ Public relations or Agri-business, Economics, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, or another related field.
• At least 5 years of experience working related marketing positions in agribusiness and/or private sector.
• At least 3 years of experience working in an international environment.
• Besides marketing experience, communications experience is an advantage.

Competencies.

• Able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Strong advisory and coaching skills
• Personal qualities (traits): initiative, problem-solver, team player, decisive, helicopter view, motivator.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Vietnamese, with the ability to adapt messages for different audiences.
• Good computer skills in MS application (MS. Office). Skills in using communication software such as Photoshop, Canvas, Corel… is an advantage.
• Willing to travel to provinces, at least 30% of working time.
• Open, honest, careful, and good teamwork.
• Open attitude for learning.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

The selected candidate will be offered initially for one-year employment contract with two months’ probation time and possibility of extension subject to availability of funds. The position gives the selected candidate many opportunities for career development within the organization if growth of the program will develop as expected.

• The closing date for application: 20 Aug 2023.
• How to Apply: Interested candidates can send your application to [email protected]

Please be advised that only short-listed applicants will be contacted.