I am an Agricultural Economist by training and an expert program manager with 15 years of experience

managing agriculture, food security, livelihoods, nutrition, natural resources and WASH donor-funded
programs up to US$60 in size. I have technical leadership experience for multi-sectoral nutrition
programming, including nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions, health system strengthening,
gender and women’s empowerment, public financial management and technical assistance to national
and decentralized local government entities. I am currently serving as the Programming and training
specialist for the US Peace Corps agricultural programme in Ghana, which is sustainable agricultural
programme that aimed to increasing small holder productivity, supporting sustainable farming practices,
smallholder market development (improving agribusiness practices), food security resilience and
Stability, and sustaining the natural resource base, including effective soil and water conservation
practices. The programme also works to improved behaviors related to Nutrition and WASH practices,
particularly for women of reproductive age and children under 5. I am an experienced team leader and
has managed over 80 Peace Corps volunteers and temporary staff. I have experience mainstreaming
gender-sensitive agricultural enterprises and women’s empowerment into programs. I am experienced in
M&E, capacity building, and budgeting as well as expertise in managing relationships with donors,
government officials, and the private sector. I speak fluent English and write excellently too. I am
currently a French beginner at the Ghana institute of languages. I have extensive country experience in
Europe and Nepal.

The UNDP Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) in Ghana

(i) Enhancing sustainable forest and agroforest landscape management for biodiversity conservation.

(ii) Innovative agro-ecology models and mechanisms for conservation of carbon stocks in the forest and
savannah land use.

(iii) Improving governance of land management decisions and secured ecosystem.

(iv) Reduction of GHG emissions in agriculture through Climate Smart Agriculture.

(v) Waste and Chemicals Management.

(vi) Capacity development and knowledge management.

  Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING) is an integrated $60 million dollar development project
carried out in partnership with the Government of Ghana through direct funding to local
government authorities at the sub national (district) level. It contributes to USAID’s Feed the
Future Initiative and GoG’s efforts to reduce poverty and improve the nutritional status of
vulnerable populations in the region, specifically vulnerable women and children under five. The
RING project is uniquely designed based on USAID's Local Solutions Framework to strengthen
local support networks addressing the ongoing needs of vulnerable households by strengthening
the capacity of Local Government Authorities to respond to community priorities for improved
and sustainable nutrition, WASH, agriculture and livelihoods solutions. As the Programming and
training specialis;

• Responsible for the overall management of the US$60 Million USAID project; managing
relationship with Government of Ghana line ministries and departments and USAID Mission in
Ghana.


• Provide programmatic, strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for all components of the
program and ensures quality and timely delivery of the contract.
• Interact directly and on a regular basis with the UNDP GHANA to coordinate program direction to
ensure strategic alignment, collaborative learning, and adaptation through the project implementation.
Develop external relations, in particular with the government ministries, district assemblies, local
NGOs, and the private sector.

• Led the overall implementation and management of the Agriculture and Livelihoods
Components to implement nutrition-sensitive interventions; more than 95,000 vulnerable
women reached with Village Savings and Loans Association activity and saved US$4 million.
More than 60,000 women reached with 18 million vines of nutrient-dense orange fleshed sweet
potatoes and 500 small-scale drip irrigation systems installed in 200 communities benefiting
6,000 women supporting year-round production of leafy green vegetables. Led support for
10,000 women with small ruminants as ‘savings on hooves’ to cushion shocks during critical
times improving resilience of the target households
• Had direct supervisory responsibility of the project M&E Specialist and the M&E department
and supervised the roll out of DHIS2 database, the indicator performance tracking sheet for
project progress reporting.
• Led the WASH component of the RING project and providing strategic guidance to the WASH
technical team for quality implementation.
Led the WASH team to scale up Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and access to quality
drinking water to RING target communities. More than 800 communities triggered with 560
certified as open defecation free (ODF) communities
• Coordinated and provided strategic guidance and management oversight to all technical leads
of agriculture, food security and agricbussiness components of the project in the absence of the
Associate peace corps director.
• Led partnership management of Agriculture/Livelihoods component with ministry of
agriculture and Donor partners.

Agriculture & Livelihoods Technical Lead, USAID/Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING) Project
Dates EmployedOct 2014 – Sep 2015
Employment Duration1 yr
LocationTamale, Ghana

Mr. Yunus Abdulai led the overall implementation and management of the Agriculture and Livelihoods
Component of the USAID Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING) program for Global Communities. He supported
the project start-up and led the development of the Agriculture and Livelihoods component first 15 months
start-up work plan to USAID. He led the recruitment of Agriculture and Livelihoods officers for the RING 3 sub
offices, providing technical assistance on the entire program start-up (logistics, offices among others). Led the
design, implementation and management of the orange fleshed sweet potato initiative, Village Savings and
Loans Associations, small scale drip irrigation, cage fishing, and the small interventions in coordination with the
Ministry of Agriculture (MOFA) at the district level. Led partnership management of Agriculture/Livelihoods
component with universities and research institutions including Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI),
University for Development Studies (UDS), University of Illinois and Mississippi State University. Provided
technical assistance to Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the 17 Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts
Assemblies (MMDAs) involved in the project and other relevant government agencies. Coordinated closely with
other USAID investments and relevant projects/organizations in the region including SPRING, ADVANCE II,
GCAP, GCC, WFP P4P, REACH by UNICEF, SNV, and SUN.

Senior Business Advisor, West & Southern Africa Regional Office

Dates EmployedJul 2013 – Oct 2014
Employment Duration1 yr 4 mos
LocationGhana
• Led the overall management of the Access to Finance component of the Cocoa Livelihoods Program activities
in Ghana of which more than 9,000 smallholder cocoa farmers accessed more than US$4 million from financial
institutions for investment in cocoa farm businesses.
• Led the stakeholder and partnership management at all levels of the program in Ghana
• Oversaw the progress of implementation and management of 5 program staff in Ghana
• Provided technical assistance to financial institutions and input supply companies to deliver quality, timely and
tailored financial products and agro-inputs to smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana
• Represented TechnoServe in Technical Implementing Partners Review sessions with the World Cocoa
Foundation and its partners in the cocoa and chocolate industry.
• Reported on the progress of the program implementation in Ghana to the West African Regional Program
manager based in Cote d’Ivoire.
• Was responsible for quarterly, half yearly and annual reports of the Cocoa Livelihoods Program in Ghana. See
less
The Business Advisor was a member of the West & Southern Africa Regional Team for Cocoa Livelihoods
Program which is implemented in five cocoa growing countries including Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, Cameroon,
Nigerian and Liberia aimed at improving the income of cocoa farmers across the countries involved in the
program. The Business Advisor provides business technical advisory services for beneficiaries of all the regional
agricultural programs and also develops frameworks for development of farmer groups into associations; and
builds the capacities of partners involved in the program. Supported the development of business models for
programs implementation. Facilitated linkages between credit and input service providers. The Regional
Business Advisor supervised capacity building of smallholder farmer groups into functional business entities
across the regions.
 Developed the frame work for implementation of farmer association component of the agricultural program
for Ghana and Nigeria.
 Led the cocoa farmer association sensitization in Nigeria on the input credit scheme as part of the African
Cocoa Initiative Program by World Cocoa Foundation.
 Provided technical support services to beneficiaries of the regional agricultural programs in Ghana, Nigeria
and Ivory Coast.
 Trained program team members in Ghana, Nigeria on Farmer Association model
 Managed field budgets in-line with TechnoServe and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funding guidelines.
 Developed and operationalized a database system for performance monitoring for use in the agriculture
program reporting in Ghana and Nigeria.
 Negotiated contracts and facilitated linkages between financial service providers, input supply companies,
local cocoa producer groups in coordination with the Ghana Cocoa Board.
 Facilitated linkage between cocoa Farmer Groups to Opportunity International Savings and Loans to access
credit for investment in agro-inputs and Callighana to supply of quality inputs to Farmer Groups

Mr. Yunus Abdulai worked as a member of the USAID/Trans Boundary Area Natural Resource Enterprise Project
team and facilitated coordination, networking between government departments and stakeholders involve at all
levels of the project implementation in Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire. He worked with the Forest and Natural
Resource Program staff and the NRBE project team to plan, review program activities at all levels to achieve
synergies. He supported local government stakeholders and Community-Based Enterprise Groups to plan and
implemented sustainable natural resource-based enterprises in Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire. Led capacity building
initiatives (enterprise identification, group development and collective marketing, communication strategy,
networking and Monitoring & Evaluation at all levels) for Enterprise Groups; documented key lessons and
successful strategies and conducted dissemination to stakeholders. Mr. Yunus Abdulai successfully facilitated
the development of 23 Community Based Organizations into functional enterprise groups in Ghana and Cote d’
Ivoire through capacity development; group dynamics, enterprise development, market surveys, as well as
production, marketing and profitability analysis using participatory approaches; led the implementation of
Forest and Natural Resource Program of CARE International in the Juaboso & Bia districts for Ghana and
Niabley, Abenglou, Toutou for Cote d’ Ivoire; and supported the development of strategies and best practices
Manual for facilitating Enterprise Groups and Collective Marketing by CARE International in Ghana. He
contributed to the sustainable utilization of Mafia Community Valley (a forest-fringed community in Juaboso
district, Ghana) for rice production using the swampy production technology; a key community resource
previously not explored. This initiative contributed significantly to poverty reduction through the utilization of
the valley for year-round rice production.
The Community-Driven Initiative on Food Security project, a bilateral agreement between the Government of
Ghana and the Canadian Government to contribute to reduction of food insecurity in the Eastern Corridor of
the Northern region. Mr. Yunus Abdulai as project coordinator, supported 25 rural communities to utilize the
decentralized local government structures to plan and implement initiatives that improved the food security
status of vulnerable households through integrated activities including agriculture, conflict mitigation, gender
and social inclusion. Yunus Abdulai led project and government officials through the planning and
implementation; community engagement, community action planning, identification & prioritization of key
food security initiatives that meets the needs of vulnerable, marginalized and poor households. He provided
technical guidance to government officials across all levels both administrative and political leadership for
successful project implementation. All 25 communities implemented initiatives to address food and income
needs including asset creation to cushion shocks in times of hardship particularly during the lean season in
Northern Ghana. Mr. Yunus Abdulai was also a key member of the Yendi Municipal Food Security Network; and
led EPDRA-Yendi new business strategy that secured HIV/AIDS funding from Ghana AIDS Commission and food
security funding from CIDA (now Global Affairs Canada) through Yendi Municipal Assembly and CIFS project.
He ensured organizational learning on food security through documentation, course-corrections, analysis and
sharing of results/lessons with Ministry of Food & Agriculture (MOFA), the decentralized GOG substructures
and the Yendi Municipal Assembly. This strategy resulted in good management of data for project performance
measurement. Mr. Abdulai also coordinated and managed all the reporting responsibilities of the CIFS project
in coordination with the government departments.

Market Access Project Manager

Dates EmployedSep 2005 – Jan 2007
Employment Duration1 yr 5 mos
LocationYendi, Ghana
Led the Market Access project that contributed to positive change in the lives of communities in the northern
region of Ghana through access to credit, seeds, tractor services, good agricultural practices and market
linkages. Mr. Yunus Abdulai led the project team to identify market chain actors, established the linkages
among actors and facilitated information flow among actors through networking events. He consolidated the
Market Access project in Yendi and it was rated among the top two out of 8 Implementing Agencies which
attracted attention of ICCO through ACDEP to commit more resources to EPDRA-Yendi due to the success of
this project. Mr. Yunus Abdulai ensured EPDRA delivered critical humanitarian assistance in its operational
areas, notably in 2007 draught and floods that caused serious destruction of properties and lives in northern
region. He led the development of Secondary level FBO for the Yendi Municipality to serve as an advocacy wind
for more than 20 primary FBOs in the Municipality to manage the production and marketing agreements with
market actors for fair prices and quality services. Mr. Yunus Abdulai also acted as EPDRA Team Leader in 2006
and led the development of Food Security Strategy used to secure the Community Driven Initiative for Food
Security project. Launched the loan repayment strategy which consistently achieved 100% loan repayment rate
2007-2008. This was the first time for such to occur in the Market Access project in all the 8 Organizations
implementing the project

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Masters-Level Educated English-French Bilingual Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning Professional in
Governance & Democracy, Peacebuilding, and Human Rights & Protection with a set of skills applicable across
 diverse sectors and roles. Having a progressive 7-year experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research &
Learning, Peacebuilding, Governance & Democracy , Human Rights & Protection, and Pedagogy, performing
well in competitive dynamic work environments. Enthusiastic professional with a solid background in promoting
change and growth in society through Governance & Democracy, Human Rights & Protection, Peacebuilding
(Human Security Early Warning & Early Response, Countering Violent Extremism & Countering Terrorism, and
Dialogue & Mediation), Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (Result-Based Monitoring & Evaluation,
Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation, and Outcome Harvesting) combined with outstanding first-generation
academic prowess. Well-rounded, English-French bilingual, culturally sensitive professional with the ability to
relate to different people with various backgrounds. Highly skilled in identifying and developing peacebuilding
approaches & instruments, advocacy issues & social accountability tools for development interventions in
peacebuilding, governance & democracy, livelihoods & food security, and human rights & protection for clients
and stakeholders. Committed to promoting change and growth in society.

Program Officer of the Volunteer Section

2-1. Job Description

(1) Survey Work on Request of Volunteers

1. To find and confirm potential needs and possibility of sending volunteer

2. To collect and share with JICA's staff the information of the activities of organizations in Ghana expected to
dispatch volunteers.
(2) Support of Volunteers Activity

1. To take support work of necessary arrangement for new arriving volunteers, especially preparing accommodation,
home stay program and to nominate local language teacher
2. To confirm current situation of volunteers activity and find out appropriate solution.
3. To explain regulation and policy of JICA volunteer to recipient agencies and the other related organizations.
4. To support for making a good relationship between volunteers and local authorities (including Chiefs and
community leaders) as well as local community.
(3) Security

1. To coordinate with Ghana Police Services mainly at Regional and District level to introduce volunteers working in
the area
2. To coordinate with the Police at Regional/District level when several volunteers are gathering at one place, for
example, for implementation of workshop.
3. To assist Volunteers and Program Formulation Advisers especially Volunteer Coordinators to take a necessary
measures for security.
(4) Office Work

1. To support management and Project Formulation Advisors (Volunteer Coordinators) through electrical
documentation by secured PC in order to carry out the smooth implementation of volunteers' program
2. To prepare necessary draft documents and letters to related organizations including recipient agencies of
volunteers.
3. To handle incoming and outgoing mail and post for volunteers.
4. To make necessary arrangements for site visits and business trips.
5. To collect necessary information and evidences for procurement of equipment for volunteers' activities
6. To prepare necessary accounting documents for the payment and revenue related to Volunteer Program by
utilizing the relevant system of JICA Ghana office
7. To collect, analyse, and report the information and policies of related sectors for volunteers' program as well as the
trend and
1. circumstances of the other donors' volunteer program in order to share with office members by several resources
such as web news, statistic data, governmental statements and so on.
(5) Management of the Volunteer Dormitory

To manage facilities and equipment in the dormitory and take necessary arrangement for the operation and maintenance.
 (6) Others

1. To prepare necessary draft documents and letters, as well as to make copy, print and file official documents related
to JICA Ghana Office.
2. To promote Public Relations on JICA itself and its activities to the Ghanaian public and media
3. To undertake other tasks requested by Chief Representative, Senior Representatives, Representatives and Project
Formulation Advisor of JICA Ghana Office..
4. To consult with the Representatives if you have any challenges in conducting these tasks.
2-2. Employment Period

 Six (6)months (A probationary period)

 Renewable upon satisfactory performance