Closing date

20 February 2024

Green Innovation and Technology Integration Specialist; ACDI/VOCA

Since 1963 and in 146 countries, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society.

Overview:

The Tajikistan Employment and Enterprise Development Activity (EEDA) is a five-year, $18M program funded by USAID. Using a market systems approach, EEDA will increase market-led sales and inclusive sustainable jobs and livelihoods for Tajikistan households through improved ability of Tajikistan businesses to produce better quality and more consistent volumes of competitively priced goods and services.

Summary:

Employment and Enterprise Development Activity (EEDA) will facilitate systemic change by empowering market actors in Tajikistan to lead localized initiatives that spur job creation and catalyze a local entrepreneurship ecosystem, strengthening value-added exports in the textile, food processing, and IT sectors. The EEDA, implemented by ACDI/VOCA, will facilitate implementation of 100 green innovations initiatives. Our approach to building sustainable ecosystems is rooted in lessons learned from over 22 years of Central Asia experience and our proven ability to identify, grow, and strengthen private partnerships and financial institutions to make MSMEs more positive environmental effects.

To strengthen workforce development, scale green technologies, and generate sales and employment, EEDA will catalyze Innovative and Green Technology with local organizations. EEDA will partner with firms in the textile and food processing sectors to facilitate investments in innovative equipment and technologies to support positive environmental effects including promising green technologies.

‘Innovations’ are products, processes, tools, approaches, service delivery models, and/or other interventions (broadly defined) that have the potential to achieve significant (not incremental) improvements in development outcomes versus existing alternatives and are intended to improve the lives of ultimate beneficiaries. Here, innovations are defined not by their novelty, but by their potential to achieve significant improvements in development outcomes versus existing alternatives. The Green Innovation and Technology Integration Specialist is based in Dushanbe.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • The Green Innovation and Technology Integration Specialist will research and develop funding for green technologies and innovations in the IT, textile, and agriculture sectors.
  • The Specialist will lead efforts to support green innovation and integrate green technologies into target value chains.
  • The Specialist will leverage partner’s resources, innovation, and technology to introduce green technologies to deliver higher value commodities, products, and services to end markets.
  • The Specialist will identify firms in the textile and food processing sectors that can participate in the EEDA project market partnership fund, with the goal to facilitate investments in innovative equipment and technologies and improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  • The Specialist will develop criteria to co-create partner activities that deliver positive environmental impacts, technological capacity, employment generation, revenue impact, and social inclusiveness.
  • The Specialist will elaborate with financial institutions to develop a green finance strategy and explore leveraging this work to fund green technologies and innovations in the IT, textile, and agriculture sectors.

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree in relevant field.
  • Minimum 5 years of experience in green innovation and technology integration along the value-chains.
  • Proven facilitation skills in interacting with the EEDA private sector partners and potential beneficiaries along the value-chain. 
  • Research skills in market analyses. 
  • Demonstrated ability to be collaborative across projects and strong communications and interpersonal skills, with evidence of ability to productively interact with a wide range and levels of organizations. (private sector, public institutions, private sector, research institutions).
  • Demonstrated experience in gender and youth inclusive programming.
  • Strong writing, analytical, presentation and reporting skills.

The position requires extensive field travel within Tajikistan and beyond. 

To Apply:

Please submit a resume and cover letter to EEDATajikistan@Joinav.org  no later than February 20, 2024. Please include the position title in the subject line. The resume and related application documents shall be provided as a single attachment and list long-term employment history and any relevant short-term consulting work. Due to the high volume of applications, we are not able to respond to inquiries via phone. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we strongly encourage early applications. Only those candidates considered for an interview will be contacted. ACDI/VOCA is an equal opportunity employer. Minorities and people from diverse groups are encouraged to apply.