Senior Project Officer - Private Sector Engagement & Markets

Senior Project Officer - Private Sector Engagement & Markets

Based in CRS Uganda’s Kampala office, the Senior Project Officer (SPO) - Private Sector Engagement and Markets will coordinate and support the implementation of Forest Flavors (FF) activities under the Church Lands and Private Sector Engagement (CL3) project. The role will focus on diocesan and private sector engagement, business development service delivery, and facilitating linkages to key market enablers, including finance, technical assistance, standards and certification bodies, and other relevant service providers.

The SPO will identify and engage potential private sector actors (PSAs), in coordination with the Project Manager - CL3, and facilitate the co-creation of commercially viable, inclusive and nature-positive agroforestry business models. This will include identifying partnership opportunities to address systemic market constraints, coordinating business case development and tailored business development services, and supporting capacity strengthening in marketing, financial management and inclusive business practices. The SPO will also coordinate and follow up on activities implemented through private sector partners, verify and manage milestones, budgets and deliverables, and ensure timely activity implementation and reporting.

Through effective coordination, facilitation and relationship management, the SPO will support market linkages, strengthen enterprise, diocese and smallholder participation in priority agroforestry value chains, and contribute to continuous learning and improved project results.

The role will work closely with the Project Manager - CL3 and the wider FF team, as well as relevant technical, MEAL, finance and operations colleagues. This is a technical coordination role and has no direct staff supervisory responsibilities.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the planning, coordination, and high-quality implementation of assigned activities in alignment with approved annual workplans, budgets, and CRS program quality standards. This includes mapping and onboarding potential Private Sector Actors (PSAs), collaborating with stakeholders to co-create commercially viable business models across priority value chains (coffee, cocoa, vanilla, and spices), and maintaining rigorous activity trackers to manage deliverables, risks, and implementation milestones.
• Coordinate technical assistance and business development support for private sector partners / MSMEs and, dioceses based on identified needs and follow up on agreed actions to strengthen commercial performance, market access and investment readiness.
• Ensure, gender equality, youth inclusion and social inclusion are considered in partner diagnostics, business model design, service delivery, access to assets and finance, and tracking of economic benefits.
• Coordinate implementation follow-up with PSAs and project stakeholders, including periodic partner check-ins and targeted monitoring visits when required; document bottlenecks and agree practical corrective actions.
• Support portfolio reviews and learning processes to assess whether supported models should be expanded, adapted, paused or discontinued based on evidence of commercial viability, inclusion, environmental contribution and scale potential.
• Coordinate stakeholder engagement and represent the project, as delegated, in technical meetings with PSAs, service providers, financial institutions, relevant government and sector actors, and Church/diocesan stakeholders.
• Work with the Project Manager and relevant CRS colleagues to monitor activity expenditure against approved budgets, flag resource or implementation risks early, and support timely planning of procurement, logistics and technical assistance.
• Coordinate technical inputs and support for assigned activities to ensure deliverables are completed to agreed standards and within approved timelines.
• Work with finance, operations, technical colleagues and partners to ensure required resources and administrative processes are planned in time to support implementation.
• Compile and review activity progress updates, maintain evidence of milestone completion, and provide timely inputs to consolidated project progress reports.
• Maintain complete and organized documentation for assigned activities, including partner engagement records, due diligence, business cases, agreements where applicable, milestone evidence, lessons learned and case studies, in line with CRS and donor requirements.
• Strengthen partnerships and engagement with church and partner staff using CRS partnership principles, tools, and approaches, ensuring mutual accountability, collaboration, long-term impact and proactively address partnership challenges,

Required Languages

• English fluency, including excellent oral and written skills, required. Fluent in local Ugandan languages from the Central or Western or Northern regions would be an added advantage.

Travel

• Must be willing and able to travel up to 50 %.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Analysis and problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners
• Proactive, results-oriented and service-oriented
• Attention to details, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities
• Deep commitment to land restoration

Supervisory Responsibilities

• None

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Pram Manager – Church lands and PSE (CL3), Program Manager -Partner Capacity Strengthening (PCS), Head of Programs, Snr. Ag, Markets and Livelihoods Advisor, Head of Operations, MEAL team, Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion (GYSI), Operations and Finance team, Regional and HQ Forest Flavors teams

External: Church and Diocese focal points, local partner staff and relevant national, district, and other government stakeholders, community leaders

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required. Degree in Agricultural economics, Agribusiness, or related studies with specialized study in Market Systems Development, private sector engagement / partnerships or relevant field.
• Minimum of 4 years of work experience in projects in the field of market systems development (private sector and value chain development), livelihoods, business development support, agriculture or agroforestry. Experience working with an NGO is a significant advantage.
• Additional experience may substitute for some education.
• Experience working with Private sector actors is a must.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with private sector partners, value chain development and support institutions – enablers.
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data.
• Prior experience in MSD, business development services and/or in financial services is a plus
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Agency Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

• Personal