AGRA

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Job Reference: SFO/FIN/01/2024

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. 

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.

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?

The Position

Senior Finance Officer, Program Finance, Job Reference: SFO/FIN/01/2024, Based in Nairobi, Kenya with frequent travel, approximately 30% .

The  Senior Finance Officer, Program Finance is responsible for the overall financial management of AGRA’s program/awards. S/he will lead collaboration with the Financial Management team, Financial Accounting team, Grants team, Internal Audit team, HR, Legal and Program teams to oversee financial policies and procedures supporting AGRA’s administration and management of the Award agreements and sub-agreements; and the implementation of financial oversight mechanisms to ensure financial integrity and compliance with donor requirements across the programs. S/he will serve as the financial liaison to donors and will represent AGRA at any donor and project partner meetings. S/he will lead on resource mobilization and donor contract management; through development of proposal budgets in conjunction with program teams and Development Cooperation team, donor awards budget monitoring and financial reporting and leading in  program specific audits. S/he ensures accuracy and alignment of the institutional annual budget to available award budgets. S/he will ensure creation of award budgets, financial reports, strong tracking of awards budgets and expenditures, continuous analysis of project cash flow, ensuring compliance with AGRA’s policies and donor requirements. S/he will support the institution in achieving operational efficiency and in optimizing cost allocation and recovery.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Prepare comprehensive financial models for various programs to deliver cash flow forecast, scenario analysis, risk assessment and return analysis.
• Work closely with the project development team to identify, analyze and execute the most optimum financing solution for AGRA programs (including debt and equity).
• Coordinate with finance providers on due diligence, term sheet negotiations and documentation
• Work with legal, compliance and program teams to ensure timely compliance with all conditions precedent and other obligations.
• Support senior management of AGRA on various program financing related matters on an ongoing basis.
• Ensure high quality finance information is provided and analyzed to enable effective decision making.
• Identify risks associated to partner capacity and compliance to AGRA rules and regulations and make recommendations to address these risks.
• Assure soundness of analysis, good business judgment, compliance with policies and procedures, adequacy of results and that all costs and reasonable fees have been provided for.
• Strong grasp and application of generally accepted accounting principles and an in-depth working knowledge of US GAAP. 
• Support Proposal Preparations including Bid – No Bid requirements; Cost Estimating; Pricing; RFP Review; Risk Mitigation; and Negotiation.
• Talent management and development of existing staff while managing team dynamics to ensure high-performance and positive employee experience.
• Communicates results through presentations, written and verbal communication.
• Program & Finance functions, including Basis of Estimate (BOE) preparation; Budget preparation, reporting and management; Cost & Variance Analysis; Cash Management/Working Capital; Forecasting; Contractual Reporting, Cost & Pricing, Risk Management; Audit preparation and management; and Program Review preparation.
• Provide leadership, and manage the performance, growth, and development of staff under the Program Finance function, ensuring they meet their objectives and support the organization strategy.

Key Qualifications and Experience required:

• 10 years’ experience in finance field and 5 years in similar program finance role
• Professional experience in accounting, finance, or financial monitoring.
• Knowledge of global, country/government accounting standards.
• A bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance, or equivalent work experience.
• A master’s degree in any relevant field would be a strong added advantage.
• Particularly strong financial modelling skills, capable of building from scratch sophisticated “program finance” financial models.
• In-depth understanding of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
• Knowledge or familiarity with donor contract types and donor regulations such USAID and FCDO among others will be an added advantage.
• Experience with general ledger functions and the month-end/year-end close process.
• Proficiency in ERP systems, with a strong track record of successful implementation and utilization.
• Computer proficiency in spreadsheets, presentations and reporting software.

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 2nd February 2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer