Job Details

Job Description

The Scottish Government Climate Just Communities (CJC) programme is a flagship programme under the new round of the Climate Justice Fund and will implement community-led projects in Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. The purpose of CJC is to develop and deliver, through a participatory approach, a series of interventions that build inclusive and climate change resilient communities. CJC will achieve this by enabling local communities in Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda to identify local priorities linked to the material and social impacts of climate change. Following which, CJC will support the delivery of interventions, developed through a participatory approach with communities themselves, that address these priorities.

The objectives of CJC are to:
a) Empower communities to identify their own priorities to be addressed through climate justice support and build resilience to the local material and social impacts of climate change;
b) Empower the most marginalised within communities (including but not limited to marginalisation for reasons related to gender, age, disability or indigenous status) to participate and take action in building resilience to the local material and social impacts of climate change;
c) Empower communities to advocate for climate justice and local equity;
d) Create long-term, sustainable change within communities in line with the pillars of climate justice.
CJC Zambia is a £7.4m programme which began in August 2023 and will run March 2026.

NIRAS Group (UK) Ltd has been contracted to deliver the CJC Lot 3 programme in Zambia. To deliver the assignment, NIRAS has developed a consortium of national and international organisations. NIRAS will be the Lead Service Provider contracted by the Scottish Government. Three Community Delivery Partners, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), and the Green Living Movement Zambia (GLM), are the local Community Delivery Partners (CDPs), providing the entry points into target CJC communities, and responsible for facilitating community participation to design, implement and monitor programme interventions under CJC, in coordination with ward-level Community Management Committees (CMCs). Three advocacy partners, Tearfund, the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), and Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), lead the advocacy activities of CJC, working with the Community Delivery Partners to advance participatory climate justice advocacy at the local and national levels. A pool of specialised Technical Service Providers and consultants will offer innovative solutions and will work either directly with communities or provide support to Community Delivery Partners to implement the climate resilience-building interventions requested by communities.

CJC Zambia is being implemented across four of the most climate-vulnerable districts in Zambia: Luangwa, Sinazongwe, Shangombo, and Sioma. More than 15,000 households in climate-vulnerable communities will receive interventions from CJC Zambia in a variety of areas, such as WASH, disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate advocacy, natural resource management (NRM), climate-resilient agriculture and livestock management, economic development (access to finance, business development, gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI), and climate advocacy.
Role Description
CJC will facilitate interventions aimed at improving community livelihoods through value chain development and business incubation along the selected value chains. The Livelihoods and Economic Development Lead’s role is to support agricultural production (crop and livestock), application of installed irrigation, and market linkages. Reporting to the Team Leader, the expert will work from the NIRAS office in Lusaka but with frequent travels to support implementation in project districts and wards in Luangwa, Sinazongwe, Sioma, and Shangombo. The Lead will also develop the technical specifications and line manage short-term technical assistance (STTA) consultants and liaise with service providers and Community Delivery Partners (CDPs) to deliver activities under this workstream.

Key Responsibilities:

Crop production

• Support seed multiplication for OPV varieties suitable for selected agro-ecological zones.
• Continued training of farmers using the Community-Led Field School (CLFS) model in sustainable production farming systems.
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  Support winter production of horticultural and field crops under irrigation.
• Support the trained ToTs to take charge of farmer training and deliver trainings independently after CJC closure.
• Identify mechanisms for improved crop technology, inputs, etc., to continue to be accessed and adopted post-project close.

Livestock production

• Support goat and village chicken production through the provision of parent stock and improved livestock housing.
• Support service delivery by community livestock workers.
• Build strong linkages and network with government and the private sector for the provision of livestock services.

Market development

• Facilitate establishment of agreements between CJC producers and producer cooperatives and offtakers of agricultural products as well as wild foods and other handicrafts in the selected value chains
• Oversee training in marketing skills
• Facilitate access to production capital including VSLA and other financial services
• Entrepreneurship development along the selected and value chains with the greatest potential.
  All activities above should be implemented with a view toward achieving community ownership and sustainability following project closure in March 2026.

As a member of the CJC core team, the Lead would also join planning and coordination meetings with the core team and Delivery Partners, including quarterly consortium workshops, and other meetings as requested by the DTL.

The Lead will contribute to monthly and quarterly client performance reports and work closely with the NIRAS Procurement Manager to coordinate budgeting, contracting, and delivery of crop, livestock, and irrigation resources to the project sites.

The Lead will participate in other project tasks as requested by the Team Leader.

Key Deliverables

Deliverables will be determined on a quarterly basis and reflected in the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Appraisal Process

KPIs will be produced, against which performance will be measured on an annual basis during an appraisal process.

Required Expertise

• Master’s degree in agribusiness, agriculture, business administration, entrepreneurship or related qualifications
• Experience in rural agricultural value chains and market systems development
• Experience in business development, particularly for SMEs/MSMEs
• Experienced in community training and facilitation
• Experience in supplier and consultant management