AGRA

Job Role: Country Programs Lead – Burkina Faso

Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Job Reference CPL/PD/08/2024

AGRA and its Work to Transform Agriculture

AGRA is an African-led institution that actively supports the drive towards inclusive agricultural transformation and sustainable food systems. We do this by empowering the continent’s 33 million smallholder farming households to transform their agriculture from a struggle to survive to profitable businesses. The continent’s farmers regularly face challenges, and we aspire to provide uniquely African solutions that respond to their agricultural and environmental challenges, leading to increased harvests for reduced hunger and more income.

Working in alignment with the development priorities of our focus countries, we enable farmers to access improved and high-yielding seeds, gain knowledge on sustainable farming, and linkages to profitable markets.

In our work, we aspire to build the alliances, partnerships, and networks required to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation. We work with our partners to create an equitable youth-friendly environment that harnesses the youth dividend on the continent to drive growth and facilitate open employment opportunities for young women and men. We achieve our key objectives through a focus on the following four areas of intervention:

1. Policy and state capability – We support governments in creating an enabling environment for private sector involvement in agricultural transformation.
2. Seed systems – We trigger higher productivity by increasing the availability and access to improved seeds by farmers allowing them to increase their harvests for food security and better incomes.
3. Sustainable farming – We support farmers in building resilient farming systems for sustained high yields through interventions such as mechanization and irrigation.
4. Inclusive markets and trade – We work to increase the linkages between farmers, and other market actors for a positive, sustained cycle of commercialization and reinvestment.

Why Join Us?

People are the heartbeat of our organization and remain the true drivers of our delivery, impact, and success.

We have cultivated a workplace that fuels Depth in Collaboration, Excellence in Execution, Constructive Engagements, and a spirit of being Increasingly Entrepreneurial; all underpinned by our cherished I-RISE Values (Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Stewardship and Equity)

We work with incredible people and partners who have roots in farming communities across the African continent combined with an inclusive, diverse, and talented workforce from over 25 nationalities. Our commitment to a call to action goes beyond ourselves as we arise to catalyze African Food Systems transformation and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

We are looking for people who are passionate about being part of a mission-driven team that is making a real difference on the continent; love to work on cutting edge Ag technologies; and able to grow their skills, expertise, and experience career growth, while enjoying very competitive compensation and benefits.

Are you ready to embark on this exciting transformative journey with us?

 The Position

 Country Programs Lead – Burkina Faso Job Reference: CPL/PD/08/2024

 The Country Programs Lead assumes a critical role in managing and advancing AGRA funded programs, aligning them with AGRA’s integrated strategic objectives, and working closely with the Country Director, Regional Manager and Business Line Leads at the Centre.

In addition, the Country Programs Lead, leads the in-country Technical Team in formulation and actively managing AGRA funded programs, while maintaining strong collaboration with other technical teams, thus contributing effectively to the implementation of AGRA’s country strategy and operational plan. Moreover, the Country Programs Lead collaborates closely with the established Country Deal Team, which includes members from the Center of Technical Expertise and the Country team. Together, they identify potential grantees and scale AGRA’s investments and impacts through strategic decision-making, ensuring the successful delivery of results and impact.

 Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Leads in scoping exercises for new investments including gap and opportunities analysis highlighting potential investment areas around key country entry points i.e., market and trade analysis, sustainable farming practices, policy and state capability and input systems.
• In support of delivering AGRA’s country strategy, identifying and pursuing opportunities to mobilize resources in support of AGRA’s priorities and advocate for public and private sector stakeholders to scale AGRA’s demonstrated intervention models in country.
• Leads development of program workplan on an annual basis in collaboration with

business line leads.

• Coordinates country-level interventions set out in the donor funded activities, working with program teams to deliver innovative intervention models across the value chain.
• Ensures timely design, approval, execution, monitoring and reporting, as well as technical and administrative closure of AGRA interventions in-country
• Convenes, negotiates and build relationships with implementing partners with the aim to explore, build and deliver country-level partnerships deemed essential to AGRA’s mission in the country.
• Builds and implements a partnership framework that develops a value proposition for private sector partners, initiates, monitors and advances private sector partnership opportunities to scale and catalyze delivery of AGRA’s mandates.
• Translate partnership opportunities into implementable projects. Maintains day-to-day interaction with key strategic (private and public sector) partners.
• Draw on the expertise of AGRA technical leads in the areas of seed systems, sustainable farming, inclusive markets and trade, policy and state capability, inclusive finance, gender and inclusion, nutrition, climate adaptation and resilience to enhance the effectiveness of country strategies and link in-country program investments and activities to AGRA’s corporate strategic objectives
• Provides strategic leadership, directs and provides coaching to relevant technical teams
• Assists team to research and develop grantee, consultant and partner portfolios addressing systemic constraints, resources, and opportunities for an inclusive agriculture transformation.
• Publishes best practices, impact stories, and other forms of knowledge products, demonstrating progress being made towards transformation of agri-food sector in the country.
• Ensures that the Country’s risk register is updated on a quarterly basis and supports the Country Director in addressing reputational attacks, as well as audit recommendations in a timely manner.
• Enables talent management and development of existing staff, acquiring new staff as necessary and manages team dynamics to ensure high-performance and positive employee experience.

Key Qualifications and Experience required:

• Essential
  • Master’s degree in agriculture, agribusiness, agriculture economics or related disciplines
  • Certification in Project Management is an added advantage
• Desirable
  • A Doctorate degree
  • Experience working with multinational agriculture development agencies, especially in a program delivery and coordination role.
• Technical Competencies
  • Project Management
  • Resource Mobilization
  • Policy & Advocacy
  • Brand Advocacy & Communication
• Behavioral Competencies
  • Ability to drive collaboration through inclusive and agile teaming, breaking siloes, sharing information celebrating joint successes.
  • Ability to execute excellently by delivering high-quality work at speed, committing to decisions and plans, and increasing accountability to deliver impact at scale.
  • Ability to be sincerely constructive in interactions with others by demonstrating trust, sincerity, and care, in recognition of our joint purpose.
  • Ability be increasingly entrepreneurial by breaking hierarchies, embracing learning and innovation to unlock the potential of diversity and ideas.

If you believe you are the right candidate for this position, kindly submit your application with a detailed CV (including your e-mail and telephone contacts) to recruit@agra.org. Please quote the job reference number in the subject line of the application e-mail.

Applications must be received on or before 21^st August 2024. Due to the large volumes of applications, we usually receive, we will only be able to contact those candidates who are shortlisted. 

AGRA reserves the right to make changes to this role.

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer