AGRA

Director – Agriculture Transformation Office (ATO) Sierra Leone

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Job Reference: DIR/CTE/01/2026

AGRA and its Work

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 aligned with the Kampala CAADP and national priorities.

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.
5. Youth, Gender, and Inclusiveness – We enable women and youth to contribute to and benefit from agriculture for their economic empowerment.

Implementing Our New Strategy Through People

People are the heart of our organization and remain the true drivers of our delivery and our impact.

We work with incredible people and partners who have roots in farming communities across the continent combined with an inclusive and diverse workforce from over 24 nationalities. Our commitment to a call to action goes beyond ourselves as we arise to catalyze African Food Systems transformation by being Deeply collaborative, Executing Excellently, Sincerely Constructive and Increasingly Entrepreneurial aligned with our values of (I-RISE; Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Stewardship and Equity).

We are looking for people who are passionate about Africa to join our innovative, growing, and multidisciplinary team. Together, we can grow Africa’s food systems improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Want to join us?

Position Background

The Government of Sierra Leone has launched the Feed Salone Strategy (2023–2028) to accelerate and ensure food systems transformation, food security, and inclusive economic growth, targeting an annual growth rate of 10% for the agriculture sector within the next five years. The strategy focuses on boosting productivity in high-impact value chains, leveraging the comparative advantages of targeted districts, and enhancing resilience through climate-smart practices. The Feed Salone Strategy focuses on six strategic pillars: mechanization and irrigation, seeds and inputs systems, aggregation and marketing, agricultural finance, AgTech and climate-smart agriculture, and empowerment of women and youth.

To drive its effective implementation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), in collaboration with AGRA and its partners, has established the Agriculture Transformation Office (ATO) as a dedicated delivery unit tasked with accelerating priority interventions, tracking performance, unblocking private sector bottlenecks, and mobilizing resources and partnerships through strengthening institutional delivery capabilities.

The Position

Director – ATO Sierra Leone Job Reference: DIR/CTE/01/2026

The Director – ATO Sierra Leone will lead the ATO operations, serve as a thought partner, stakeholder manager, and delivery champion, working directly with the Minister and engaging across government, development partners, and the private sector to deliver “Feed Salone” strategic priorities. The role holder will strengthen coordination platforms and provide strategic leadership to ensure Feed Salone delivers on its strategic goals. The Director will also embed a culture of accountability, disciplined delivery, and continuous learning while attracting, developing, and retaining a high-performing team that anchors delivery capacity within MAFS.

With overall management of the Sierra Leone Agriculture Transformation Office, aligned with the Minister’s priorities and the Feed Salone agenda the Director will provide regular briefs and analytical updates on progress, risks, and corrective actions.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead planning and prioritization of the Feed Salone Strategy and its priority flagships to translate into detailed implementable actions with clear targets and KPIs.
• Engage and work with the Ministry and other related teams to co-design implementation plan and support execution through building capabilities and ensuring ownership and commitments for effective routinization of delivery functions
• Catalyze and support mobilizing additional resources from governments, the private sector, and development partners to implement the Feed Salone Strategy and its flagship programs.
• Facilitate and strengthen sectoral and multisectoral stakeholders’ coordination platforms, working groups (ASWGs), and donor working groups (DWGs) with clear accountability mechanisms and performance outcome measures.
• Facilitate and coordinate functional sectoral/multi-sectoral platforms with clearly defined roles & responsibilities, structures, and systems among actors to effectively roll out implementation.
• Coordinate and lead the design of business/investment cases and operationalize them in collaboration with the stakeholders at the national level.
• Facilitate and strengthen sectoral and multisectoral stakeholders’ coordination platforms, working groups (ASWGs), and donor working groups (DWGs) with clear accountability mechanisms and performance outcome measures.
• Facilitate and coordinate functional sectoral/multi-sectoral platforms with clearly defined roles & responsibilities, structures, and systems among actors to effectively roll out implementation.
• Coordinate and lead the design of business/investment cases and operationalize them in collaboration with the stakeholders at the national level.
• Facilitate and strengthen sectoral and multisectoral stakeholders’ coordination platforms, working groups (ASWGs), and donor working groups (DWGs) with clear accountability mechanisms and performance outcome measures.
• Facilitate and coordinate functional sectoral/multi-sectoral platforms with clearly defined roles & responsibilities, structures, and systems among actors to effectively roll out implementation.
• Coordinate and lead the design of business/investment cases and operationalize them in collaboration with the stakeholders at the national level.
• Facilitate and strengthen sectoral and multisectoral stakeholders’ coordination platforms, working groups (ASWGs), and donor working groups (DWGs) with clear accountability mechanisms and performance outcome measures.
• Facilitate and coordinate functional sectoral/multi-sectoral platforms with clearly defined roles & responsibilities, structures, and systems among actors to effectively roll out implementation.
• Coordinate and lead the design of business/investment cases and operationalize them in collaboration with the stakeholders at the national level.
• Develop and lead systematic routines, frameworks, and delivery tools (playbooks, stocktakes, delivery chain analysis, prioritization, root cause problem-solving), including the M&E Framework, and support embedding across the Ministry of Agriculture
• Lead the development of the ATO’s plan and budget with a clear implementation plan.
• Develop a performance results framework and tracking system for the ATO and track the performance of the ATO and its staff members.
• Embed and enhance the delivery culture of the Ministry through structured capacity building programs, including on-the-job coaching and learning by doing.
• Collect and analyze data regularly to track and monitor performance progress against milestones & targets and ensure evidence-based feedback to take timely actions by all actors across the value chain.
• Document lessons, produce knowledge products and thought pieces related to the ATO’s delivery model and approaches through delivery and institutional capacity strengthening interventions and their implications to agriculture transformation in Sierra Leone and beyond.
• Track and report outcomes of the ATO to the Minister regularly.
• Coordinate with the Ministry’s employees and other partners to provide targeted capacity-building programs to drive the Ministry’s priority flagships.
• Design compelling resource mobilization pitch and engage development partners to support the Ministry’s priority flagships.
• Design business and investment cases, pitch to local and international private sector investors across the priority value chains in collaboration with the Ministry and relevant institutions.
• Design and provide need-based capacity building strengthening packages to enhance leadership skills and delivery functions in consultation with the AGRA and other partners
• Map, target, and engage partners in agrifood systems to forge and operationalize new partnerships to drive Feed Salone Strategy and its priority flagships.
• Build and maintain a wide network of stakeholders and contributors across the agrifood system in Sierra Leone.
• Enable talent management and development of existing staff, acquiring new staff as necessary, and managing team dynamics to ensure high-performance and positive employee experience.
• Engage with the Minister and other key stakeholders to communicate results, impacts, and issues related to the ATO’s work.
• Produce and submit program implementation progress, financial, and activity reports of the ATO regularly and as required.
• Instill and enforce the discipline of delivery culture and routinization by instilling management routines and digital tools to plan/prioritize, set targets, solve problems, data-tracking system, evaluate, and report performance against agreed targets.
• Ensure delivery routines are embedded as an integral part of employees’ discipline and daily norms and routines of their performance appraisal systems.
• Identify systemic constraints and key drivers of performance, motivations, and perceptions of delivery system actors and provide evidence-based recommendations.
• Track, evaluate, and report performance outcomes to ensure accountability mechanisms and learnings across the implementing partners in the delivery system.

Key Qualifications and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in business administration, Public Policy, Economics, Management, public/development administration, Rural Development, or any other relevant field from an accredited institution.
• An advanced degree in the fields mentioned above will be an added advantage.
• A minimum of 10 years’ professional experience, with at least 5 years in senior management roles in agriculture, food systems, or the development sector.
• Demonstrated expertise in deliverology and performance management.
• Experience in institutional capacity building of government institutions and the private sector.
• Proven track record of managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives with tangible results.
• Experience in working with multi-stakeholder platforms and processes, or other complex collaboration and partner management platforms across sectors.
• Strong knowledge of Sierra Leone’s context and global food systems is highly desired.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multidisciplinary teams, oversee planning and implementation processes, and ensure accountability for results. Experience in agrifood and food systems programs is a strong advantage, enabling effective sector-specific leadership and decision-making.
• Ability to build and sustain trusted relationships with senior decision-makers and influencers, aligning delivery objectives with political and institutional realities.
• Demonstrate a strong managerial background with proven experience leading large, complex programs or portfolios. Demonstrates the ability to manage multidisciplinary teams, oversee planning and implementation processes, and ensure accountability for results.

Languages Required:

• Fluency in writing and speaking English language is required. Additional local and foreign languages (preferably French) are advantageous.

If you believe you are the right person for this position, please submit your application with a detailed CV (including your e-mail and telephone contacts) to recruit@agra.org. Please quote the job reference number DIR/CTE/01/2026 in the subject line of the application e-mail.

 Applications must be received on or before 23rd January 2026. Only short-listed candidate will be contacted.

 For more information on the AGRA, visit www.agra.org.

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer