AGRA

Senior Knowledge Management and Learning Officer

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Job Reference: SKM/MEL/04/2024

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.

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 are 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

Senior Knowledge Management and Learning Officer Job Reference: SKM/MEL/04/2024

The Senior Knowledge Management & Learning Officer role positions AGRA as a thought leader in African agriculture by overseeing and coordinating the organization’s learning and development initiatives, and knowledge-related processes including the management, capturing, sharing, and accessibility of knowledge assets. The role liaises with internal and external stakeholders to convene actors, scale models, and utilization of knowledge, enhancing AGRA’s visibility and contribution to the wider knowledge ecosystem.

The ideal candidate will be responsible for designing, implementing, and evaluating various learning programs to enhance the skills knowledge exchange, and learning as well as coordinating organizational learning processes. This includes external engagement and profiling of AGRA as a thought leader in African agriculture. The position holder will work closely with the Monitoring & Evaluation, and the Data & Analytics Teams to achieve this goal.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the formulation of strategy, policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines geared at encouraging learning, development, and knowledge sharing across AGRA.
• Oversee and/or manage, design, develop, organize, and facilitate related learning and development activities using a variety of methodologies (workshops, distance learning, e-learning, and/or training courses) and platforms.
• Manage/oversee the development of written materials, guides, job aids, manuals, etc. to be used for training/learning/staff development purposes and oversee the maintenance of learning materials (modules) and/or learning platforms related to learning program management, which involves coordinating the work of support staff, consultants, and coaches, to maintain the quality and relevance of materials.
• Lead the development and operationalization of AGRA KM strategy and learning agenda, in liaison with the line manager, M&E, and business line leads.
• Work with the Director, Strategy, M&E, and Learning to identify strategic interests and information needs of AGRA’s target stakeholder groups for scaling demonstrated agricultural models across AGRA and externally.
• Coordinate the identification of knowledge gaps and mapping of knowledge assets and sources in the organization to meet the knowledge requirements of target stakeholders.
• Strategically disseminate findings, knowledge, and guidance through various avenues, including but not limited to: communities of practice, virtual or on-site workshops, conferences, and webinars, at global, regional, or country-specific levels.
• Design and implement effective learning activities to scope and implement appropriate and effective knowledge capture and sharing activities.
• Collaborate with VPs, Directors, heads, and subject matter experts to identify learning needs and develop comprehensive learning programs aligned with organizational goals.
• Promote collaboration and knowledge sharing in the organization by engaging units, offering training required, and facilitating seamless exchange and use of knowledge with both internal and external parties.
• Work with technical experts in the organization to develop and disseminate regular publications and white papers on topics of interest in the agriculture sector to attract potential partners for AGRA and increase AGRA’s voice in critical discussions on African agriculture. This includes the African Agriculture Status Report (AASR)
• Oversee design, creation, use, and maintenance of the learning system and web-based tools and applications, in collaboration with the ICT team allowing stakeholders to explore data and evidence relevant to AGRA programming.
• Coordinate the creation of AGRA success stories and documents detailing evidence of successful models, in collaboration with AGRA Divisions/Units and AGRA focus countries working closely with the Communications and Monitoring and Evaluation team.
• Coordinate the creation of compelling stories and innovative models demonstrated by AGRA, their benefits, and their outcomes.
• Sharing institutional knowledge in formal and informal ways including through asynchronous and synchronous communities of practice.
• Responsible for knowledge management planning, content design and production, strategic dissemination, outreach, and targeted engagement. Tasks will focus on designing resources and visualization tools needed to make data and findings accessible to targeted audiences. This will include infographics, graphs, charts, one-page snapshots and/or summaries of findings, and other user-friendly products.
• Coordinate collection and documentation of evidence of demonstrated models used across agricultural value chains by AGRA grantees.
• Manage and oversee Knowledge Management support staff and short-term technical assistance.
• Serve as project technical lead on all matters related to knowledge management.
• Publish reports, highlight success stories, and communicate program impact/overall results.

Key Qualifications and Experience Required:

• University or post-graduate degree holder in International Development, Knowledge Management, Applied Research, Knowledge Mobilization, Social Impact, Communications, or Information Technology.
• Certificate holder in human-centered design, design thinking, user experience, business analysis, instructional design, graphic design, and or project management.
• Experience in Learning Management, Knowledge Management, documentation, Data curation, and Report writing.
• Experience at a senior level in an international development organization coordinating the knowledge management function.
• Managing complex projects while leading matrixed teams and external partners.
• Leveraging KM techniques including taxonomy, lessons learned, and change management.
• Integrating context-specific and enterprise knowledge management solutions, and implementing KM solutions in Africa, and ideally at an organization with social impact.
• Demonstrated understanding of knowledge management principles and capacity to deliver knowledge management and/or organizational learning activities.
• Ability to link content development and engagement strategies that facilitate timely, useful delivery of information through project learning platforms and activities.
• Demonstrated track record of success in managing communications activities and campaigns, including developing excellent collaborative working relationships with partners and other stakeholders.
• Excellent facilitation, program/activity management, and written and oral communication skills.
• Creative problem-solving and ability to work under tight deadlines.
• Fluency in English is required, fluency in French is highly desirable.
• Collaboration and networking, knowledge sharing, and learning.
• Understanding information and records management best practices and technology.

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 May 2, 2024. Due to the large volumes of applications we usually receive, we will only be able to contact those candidates who are shortlisted.

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

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer