AGRA

Senior Finance Officer – REGAIN Funds Flow, Accounting and Reporting

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Job Reference: SFO/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

 Senior Finance Officer – REGAIN Funds Flow, Accounting and Reporting Job Reference: SFO/PMU/02/2025

The Senior Finance Officer – REGAIN Funds Flow, Accounting and Reporting will be responsible for leading program finance through effective program planning, and financial and award management, of all GCF Awards. The ideal candidate will lead the collaboration with the Financial Management team, Financial Accounting team, Grants team, Internal Audit team, HR, Legal, and Program teams to oversee the full implementation of financial policies and procedures supporting AGRA’s administration and management of the Award Agreement and sub-agreements; and the implementation of financial oversight mechanisms to ensure financial integrity and compliance for the REGAIN programs.

 Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Actively contribute to the development and periodic review of the REGAIN program work plans and ensure alignment of the work plan to the regional budget.
• Accountable for ensuring and monitoring delivery against the financial plans through targeted financial analytical reviews and forecasting accuracy.
• Work closely with the project development teams at HQ and in countries to identify, analyze, and execute the most optimum financing solution for the REGAIN program.
• Coordinate with the relevant internal teams on due diligence, term sheets, contracts, negotiations, and documentation.
• Accountable for control of program assets and liabilities, ensuring costs are accurately charged against awards or budgets.
• Support in achieving operational efficiency and in optimizing cost allocation and recovery.
• Review and support proposal Cost estimations; Pricing; RFP Review; Risk Mitigation; and Negotiation.
• Ensure high-quality financial information is provided and analyzed to enable effective decision-making.
• Monitor the project cash flow as reflected in the agreement.
• Carry out monthly fund balance reconciliation to trigger cash flow planning.
• Perform monthly reconciliation of escrow account balances and follow up on any outstanding items.
• Develop and manage detailed program budgets, tracking expenditures against approved budgets, and identifying potential cost overruns.
• Ensure continuous analysis of program funding flows, ensuring compliance with AGRA’s policies and donor requirements.
• Ensure high-quality finance information is provided and analyzed to enable effective decision-making.
• Identify risks associated with partner capacity and compliance with AGRA financial and operations rules and regulations and make recommendations to address these risks.
• Assure soundness of financial management analysis, and that all costs have been provided for financial planning and projections.
• Lead in the project audit process from development of the ToRs to provision of accurate and timely project audit financial information to both external and internal auditors as per AGRA’s policies and donor audit requirements and ensuring amicable closure of audits and subsequent implementation of audit findings.
• Work with Development Cooperation, legal, compliance, and program teams to ensure timely compliance with all condition’s precedents, and other obligations.
• Support senior management of AGRA on program finance analytics and reporting.

Key Qualifications and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance.
• A master’s degree in any relevant field is a strong added advantage.
• Must have a CPA certification.
• Deep understanding of the financial environment within which AGRA is operating.
• Experience in managing projects earmarked or dedicated funds.
• Experience in developing systems that record, track, and report program finances.
• Professional experience in accounting, finance, or financial monitoring
• Knowledge of global, country/government accounting standards
• Demonstrated ability to create and manipulate complex program finance models from scratch using sophisticated techniques, including Visual Basic (VB) and Macro tools in Microsoft Excel, enabling accurate budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis to support strategic decision-making.
• A solid understanding of financial principles, encompassing knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), awareness of business trends, and familiarity with financial accounting statements, enabling effective financial decision-making and analysis.
• Must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of program finance documentation and financial closing processes, showcasing the ability to effectively manage financial closing tasks.
• Knowledge and experience in working with finance regulations, reporting standards, and requirements, ensuring organizational compliance and accurate financial reporting.

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 SFO/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