Water and Agricultural Management Engineer / Coordinator Assistant

Water & Agricultural Management Engineer / Coordinator Assistant

Shelter For Life International (SFL) is a Christian relief and development organization with over 30 years of history in providing humanitarian and developmental assistance to communities around the world. The SFL headquarters is in Minnesota, USA. Our mission is to demonstrate Gods love by enabling people affected by poverty, conflict, and disaster to restore their lives and rebuild their communities. We strive to be socially and environmentally sustainable by employing cultural sensitivity, community participation, appropriate alternative technologies, and cost-effective methodologies to our programs, which underpinned by human-centered design. Learn more at www.shelter.org.

Program Overview:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Service through its Food for Progress (FFPr) program has awarded Shelter For Life a five-year (2023-2028) climate smart horticulture value chain project called Climate Resilient Optimization for Productivity in Horticulture (CROP-H) in The Gambia. Following are the project strategic objectives:
1) To increase agricultural productivity in horticulture products while promoting climate change mitigating technologies and techniques; and
2) To expand trade of agricultural products (domestically, regionally, and internationally) through improvements in the trade-enabling environment.
The proposed program will develop and upgrade horticulture value chain linkages through the following four program goals: 1) Increased productivity and output; 2) Expand and improve quality exports, 3) Provide youth and women employment, and 4) improve incomes and standards of living for smallholder farmers in The Gambian horticulture sector.

Position Profile:
Shelter for Life is seeking a Water & Agricultural Management Engineer / Coordinator Assistant for the CROP-H project. This position will assist in overseeing efficient delivery of quality infrastructure development and capacity building related to on-farm, climate smart, community farm irrigation infrastructure. This position will assist in planning and coordinating activities related to irrigation infrastructure including technical supervision, oversight of contractors, and routine monitoring of the works. This position will be based in the CROP-H project field sub-office in Soma. 

Duties And Responsibilities:

• Assist the Water and Agriculture Management Engineer Coordinator in developing on-farm irrigation system and rehabilitation activities for efficient and timely delivery and to the required quality standards in line with the design specifications.
• Provide technical advice and guidance in the implementation of drip irrigation and other types of small scale, community garden irrigation schemes.
• Work with stakeholders to identify sites, ensure appropriateness, conduct due diligence for potential social, environmental, and other risks, and conduct participatory consultations/citizen engagement while working with producer cooperatives and associations.
• Supervising all on-farm irrigation system installation and rehabilitation activities for efficient and timely delivery and to the required quality standards in line with the design specifications, in collaboration with the Water and Agriculture Management Engineer Coordinator.
  
• Provide field technical update in the implementation of drip irrigation and other types of small scale, community garden irrigation schemes in collaboration with the Water and Agriculture Management Engineer Coordinator.
• Assist in supervising contractors for timely and quality delivery of work, managing the process and mitigating risks.
  
• Provide capacity building to farmers on technical areas of climate smart agriculture and water management.
  Provide support for the proper development of a typical irrigated garden design/guideline.
• Provide situational assessment, analysis and recommendations to the Water and Agriculture Management Engineer Coordinator and Horticulture Managers as required to ensure successful implementation of irrigation infrastructure development works.
  
• Maintain close relationships and coordinate all activities with other projects and stakeholders who are implementing similar climate smart gardening and irrigation activities.
• Identify, review, and address problems before escalation to COP.
• Provide technical and strategic guidance to ensure sustainability of completed sites and functioning and agreed upon responsibility of operating and maintaining irrigation and associated infrastructure.
• Provides overall coordination, management, administration, and guidance on designated activities.
• Coordinate preparation and submission of annual work plan and budget
• Ensures the responsible and judicious use of project resources.
  
• Promotes synergy between the different project components to ensure the delivery of desired results and impact.
  Supports and facilitates project data collection from the field
• Provides contract administration of the service providers, experts or specialists hired for implementation and project support and assess their performance on a regular basis.
  
• Ensures responsibility for networking and communications to internal and external stakeholders.
  Assist Water and Agriculture Management Engineer Coordinator with other strategic and operational tasks as required by the project. 

These essential functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties performed. Employees will be required to perform other job-related duties as required. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals and/or targets established.

Position Qualifications, Experience and Skills Profile:

• A minimum bachelor's degree (masters preferred) in Irrigation Engineering, Soil and Water RA minimum sources Management or another technical related field
• Proven practical hands-on experience in irrigation systems development in western África, preferably solar-powered schemes, preferably in the Gambia.
  
• At least 5 years' experience in irrigation engineering projects including new development and consolidation/rehabilitation of irrigation schemes in community vegetables farms and orchards.
• Experience in project risk assessment and mitigation, including advising on matters relating to complex irrigation development and quality management to technical service providers.
  
• Preferred experience working with farmer cooperatives/associations/federations.
• Experience in fieldwork and good knowledge of the regions in The Gambia preferable with a high degree of adaptability to the working environment
• Proven experience with project monitoring and evaluation systems and analyzing data.
  
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to anticipate demand and manage multiple tasks and projects while meeting tight deadlines.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, community level facilitation and coordination skills
  
• Good written communication skills in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates who meet the qualifications are invited to apply by clicking Apply Here. Please ensure to submit your CV and a short cover letter through the application portal. Kindly note that applications sent by email will not be considered.

Application Deadline:

Please submit your application by February 27, 2026. Any applications submitted after this deadline will not be considered.

Note: We appreciate your interest in joining the Shelter for Life team. We will review applications carefully and only contact shortlisted candidates for interviews.

Shelter for Life International is an equal-opportunity employer and encourages female candidates and individuals from all backgrounds to apply.