AGRA

Procurement Officer -Implementing Partners & Consultancies, REGAIN 

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Job Reference: PROC/PMU/02/2025

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 small-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 link 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.

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).

The Program

The RE-GAIN program – Scaling solutions for food loss in Africa, aims to address the impacts of climate change on harvest and post-harvest food losses in seven African countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The program focuses on strengthening food security by supporting the innovative adaptation of the harvest and post-harvest value chain. It seeks to reduce food loss, improve food quality, enhance local capacity, and reduce climate risks through the wide-scale adoption of Food Loss-Reduction Solutions (FL-RS) among smallholder farmers. The program operates across three primary pathways: farmer-centric, supplier-centric, and institutional support.

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 by improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Want to join us?

 The Position

 Procurement Officer -Implementing Partners & Consultancies Job Reference: PROC/PMU/02/2025

 The Procurement Officer – Implementing Partners & Consultancies will be responsible for facilitating, managing, and overseeing the grant-making process, and all procurement activities of the RE-GAIN program across all target countries.  He/she shall ensure that the grant-making and procurement processes are undertaken as per laid down policies, rules, and regulations while enforcing transparency and accountability to ensure value for money. He/she will also be responsible for managing the performance and reporting processes as per AGRA policies and procedures throughout the grant lifecycle.

The ideal candidate will manage all grants as per AGRA policies as follows: request for concept notes, request for proposal, evaluation, selection, award letters, grantee orientation, grant compliance issues, implementation, reporting, and closeout.  Managing procurement framework agreements, routine procurements activities such as consultancies, meeting venues, and management of the asset inventories and disposal processes where required. The ideal candidate will work closely with the operations and programming teams to process all grant and procurement activities of the REGAIN Program. In close collaboration with procurement colleagues, he/she will support identifying, supporting, and implementing transformational strategies related to grant-making, procurement infrastructure, and execution

 Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensure procurement best-practices are followed by using the detailed guidelines as provided in AGRA’s Procurement Policy and Procedures.
• Coordinate country procurements and ensure that the teams are adequately trained, vendors prequalified, and overall compliance with the procurement policy and procedures manual.
• Liaise with the Lead – Program Management Unit and the Head of Procurement in the preparation of annual procurement plans, ensuring that the plan is followed, including quarterly meetings with the Operations Heads to update the plan.
• Review procurement requests and initiate procurement procedures for office and project equipment, supplies, and services transparently and cost-effectively.
• Prepare and distribute invitations to pre-qualify, pre-qualification documents, invitations to express interest, requests for proposals (RFPs) incorporating terms of reference (TOR), or requests for quotations (RFQs), and statements of work.
• Receive and safeguard applications to pre-qualify, expressions of interest, proposals, and quotations.
• Coordinate country teams to ensure efficient turnaround on grant processes such as identification and selection of partners, disbursements, and review of reports.
• Liaise with the Lead Program management Unit and technical officers on the RE-GAIN Program to develop and manage the grant pipeline.
• Coordinate the timely reporting of grant activities across all RE-GAIN programs.
• Coordinate and update all grant-related data in AGRA’s grants system.
• Coordinate and manage requests for concept notes and requests for PROPOSALS.
• In liaison with the Lead – Program Management Unit, determine the purchasing needs and specifications related to the REGAIN Program.
• Sensitize staff regularly on the procurement process through regular updates and staff training.
• Support In-Country Grants Officers on capacity-building training, e.g., grantee onboarding orientation, and AMIS training as appropriate.
• Coordinate and peer review with In-Country Grants Officers on grantee monitoring and portfolio performance health checks for countries.
• Participate in bid opening(s) and proposal(s) reviews.
• Provide oversight and guidance in technical and financial evaluations.
• Conduct negotiations or recommend a negotiating team where applicable and negotiate contractual agreements with suppliers to ensure service quality, added value, and the lowest total cost.
• Maintain tender/contract register.
• Continuously develop and manage supplier relationships to deliver breakthrough performance in cost, service, and quality.
• Contribute to success stories or other communications that seek to highlight the positive impact of AGRA’s procurement operations.

 Key Qualifications and Experience Required:

• A bachelor’s degree in supply chain management from a reputable institution or any other degree with additional qualification in public procurement.
• Certification in grant-making and management will be an added advantage.
• Certification from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply or Institute for Supply Management, American Purchasing Society, International Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Institute, The International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management is an added advantage.
• Membership to a professional procurement association.
• Knowledge and experience of donor and government procurement processes and procedures.
• Knowledge of ERP systems such as Oracle SCM system and other ICT applications including Excel.
• Experience in a multi-program International NGO.
• Experience and knowledge in the procurement of consultancy services.
• Relevant experience in a grant-making environment.
• Ability to develop comprehensive annual procurement plans, maintain strong supplier relationships, execute vendor prequalification processes, conduct evaluations and market research, and analyze data to inform procurement decisions, drive continuous improvement, and optimize procurement performance in cost, and service.
• Demonstrate the ability to effectively monitor grantee budget utilization and maintain accurate records while analyzing grant-related data to identify trends and insights, ensuring transparent communication and accountability through comprehensive reporting on grantee progress, achievements, and compliance.
• Exhibit capability in managing the bid process by preparing and distributing invitations for bids, proposals, and quotations ensuring the confidentiality and security of received applications, conducting negotiations, or recommending negotiation teams to secure favorable contractual agreements that enhance service quality and reduce costs.
• Capable of engaging staff in the procurement process through training sessions.

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 PROC/PMU/02/2025 in the subject line of the application e-mail.

 Applications must be received on or before 14^th March 2025. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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

 AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer