Country Programme Analyst

Organizational Context

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a UN specialized agency and international financial institution dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger by investing in rural people. The Department for Country Operations (DCO) oversees IFAD investments and non-lending activities. This position is within the East and Southern Africa Division (ESA), which leads design and delivery of IFAD country and regional programmes in the region. Applicants for this National Professional Officer (NPO) role must be nationals of the country where the position is located.

Job Purpose

The Country Programme Analyst is responsible for established programme/project coordination, focusing on improving rural food security and nutrition, enabling poor rural men and women to overcome poverty, and contributing to overall UN efforts in capacity-building and sustainable development in developing countries.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day administrative and reporting support to the Country Director, including budget preparation, expenditure monitoring, and grant portfolio support; collect and analyze data to support programme and project design, supervision, implementation, and completion; contribute substantively to monitoring, evaluation, and reporting; participate in capacity building activities and disseminate best practices; support partnership building by identifying potential partners, development initiatives, and maintaining counterpart contacts; participate in policy meetings to analyze and draft reports on innovations for knowledge sharing, and gather evidence-based data for policy input; support communications with headquarters and draft regular and periodic reports (project, country office, thematic, portfolio); serve as the monitoring and evaluation focal point, performing data analytics and liaising with the regional office portfolio advisory team; serve as portfolio intelligence focal point for the Addis MCO, consolidating and analyzing portfolio data across Ethiopia, Eritrea, and South Sudan; develop and maintain dashboards; produce monthly/quarterly analytical briefs and scorecards; monitor portfolio risk dynamics and early warning signals; ensure logical framework quality and alignment with COSOP results, and lead portfolio-level results analysis; provide analytical support for supervision and implementation missions; lead preparation of Addis MCO portfolio-level reports, including trend analysis, constraint identification, and actionable recommendations; ensure Addis MCO data integrity across corporate systems; engage with PMUs to improve reporting quality and implementation tracking; document lessons learned and best practices to support knowledge products.

Work Experience

At least two (2) years of progressively responsible professional experience in development institutions and/or government service. Must be a national of, or hold a valid working permit for, Ethiopia. Qualifying work experience in country programme analysis or loan/grant administration with international financial institutions or development cooperation agencies is an asset.

Skills

Budgeting, resource management (budget administration, accounting, resource allocation, planning); Advocacy (maintaining constructive dialogue); Data management (collection, cleaning, transformation, consolidation, database architecture, development, presentation); Risk management (identification, assessment, handling via contingency/mitigation strategies); Stakeholder management (alignment, consultation, networking); Ethics & Compliance; Adaptability (flexibility in new/unexpected situations, managing complex processes); Basic ICT & digital fluency (high digital literacy, ability to quickly learn new tools); Political acumen (sound political analysis, understanding complex environments, providing advice); Problem solving (systemic thinking, dissecting problems, formulating creative solutions); Written communication (clear, succinct, convincing, professional, diplomatic); Loans & grants (designing operations, managing preparation process); Programme/Project development, management.

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