Description
Most of the world’s
poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor
people in the world, yet they are badly under-served. One Acre Fund is a
fast-growing NGO in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi that is innovating a new way of
helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving
handouts, One Acre invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm
income. We provide farmers with a “market bundle” that includes
education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is
proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and record more
than 100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser-like focus on
generating better lives for the people that we serve.
We are growing
quickly. In seven years, we have grown to serve 135,000 farm families with more
than 1,400 full-time field staff. In three more years, we will at least triple
in size, while adding several new countries. Our approach has won widespread
validation, winning grants from the highly competitive Echoing Green and Skoll
Foundations, and the global Financial Times/ IFC award for “basic needs
financing” in 2010 and 2011. Website: www.oneacrefund.org
Job
Description
One Acre Fund stays
in regular contact and collaborates with the Ministries of Agriculture in the
countries where we work. There is significant programmatic benefit from
maintaining regular contact with ministry officials. We also believe that there
exist powerful opportunities to partner with the Ministries to both shape
policy, and also implement effective policy, coordinated together with our
significant field presence.
We are seeking a
policy director to be based in East Africa, to help manage our increasing
African government-facing organization. This person would collaborate together
with our overall Policy and Outreach director, based in New York.
There are
several major duties:
Staff hiring/
growth, management, and professional development:
– We currently have
two national-level government relations analysts, and six local-level
government relations analysts. This staff meets quarterly with well over 100
government officials, to keep them engaged in our work and to hear their
feedback.
– In the next three
years, we expect to at least double our staffing. The director will lead the
search and selection process, to build a staff underneath them.
– We wish to
re-invest in the day-to-day mentorship and career development of all of our
government relations staff. The director will lead efforts to continually
develop our staff.
– Management: we
also hope to put additional structure and organization around our efforts, as
our government work grows more complex over more countries.
Strategy setting and
High-level conversations:
– The director will
work with both our Policy and Outreach Director and our government relations
analysts to set policy and risk management priorities for each country.
– The director will
get personally involved in high-level conversations with important officials.
– The director will
possibly help to support new country launches, and work closely with new host
governments to establish good relations from the beginning.
Scope expansion:
– The Director will
lead potential scope expansions. One idea is the possible expansion of regular
networking to a broader network of policy-relevant civil society actors.
Another idea is deeper government collaboration on a day-to-day basis, in the
actual implementation of policy.
Career
Growth and Development
One Acre Fund
invests in building management and leadership skills. We provide actionable
feedback delivered through weekly mentorship and through regular career
reviews. We also have regular one–on–one meetings, where we discuss career
goals, and work collaboratively to craft roles that each person can be
passionate about. Because of our rapid growth, we constantly have new
high–level roles opening up and opportunities in many functions and countries.
This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Qualifications
We are seeking an
exceptional professional with 4 to 8+ years of work experience. We are looking
for truly extraordinary candidates that have a demonstrated passion for policy
work. This is a competitive posting for a career–track role, and only 3% of
applicants make it to a phone screen.
We seek:
- Experience
managing and developing a team of people. - Strong
work experiences. We are looking for a former policy professional,
economist, management consultant, or finance professional. Entrepreneurial
and unstructured work experiences are also helpful - Leadership
experiences at work, or outside of work - Top-performing
undergraduate background (please include GPA and test scores on your
resume) - Humility
and personal stability. We are looking for passionate professionals that
combine strong leadership skills with good humor, patience, and a humble
approach to service - Professional/technical
skills – very high levels of proficiency with PowerPoint, Excel and other
software programs. - Language:
English required; French highly desirable.
Location: East African capital city,
preferably Nairobi
Preferred
Start Date:
Flexible
Compensation: Starts very modest and lower
than the “traditional development” salary scale. However, this is a
career–track role with fast raises for performance, paying a sustainable salary
for long–term placement in developing nations
Benefits: Health cover, immunizations,
two home flights per year if applicable
Career
development:
Bi-annual management consulting-style career reviews, and significant
investment in career development. Your manager will invest significant time in
your career development.
How
to apply
To Apply
Email cover letter
and resume to jobs@oneacrefund.org
(Subject line: East Africa Policy Director Search + name of the site that
referred you)
