Job Description
One
Acre Fund runs a robust R&D program, spanning over half a dozen countries
and including trials with tens of thousands of farmers every year. As a
data-driven organization, our R&D program is the beating heart of many of
the strategic decisions; these decisions directly affect the wellbeing of
hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers every year. The Agriculture
Research Manager will be responsible for ensuring that One Acre Fund’s R&D
programs develop highly impactful trainings, and successfully account for the
complexity of smallholder farming systems in order to better target and tailor
products and trainings, resulting in higher adoption and greater impact for
farmers. Specifically, this includes the following inter-related categories of
work:
Acre Fund runs a robust R&D program, spanning over half a dozen countries
and including trials with tens of thousands of farmers every year. As a
data-driven organization, our R&D program is the beating heart of many of
the strategic decisions; these decisions directly affect the wellbeing of
hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers every year. The Agriculture
Research Manager will be responsible for ensuring that One Acre Fund’s R&D
programs develop highly impactful trainings, and successfully account for the
complexity of smallholder farming systems in order to better target and tailor
products and trainings, resulting in higher adoption and greater impact for
farmers. Specifically, this includes the following inter-related categories of
work:
- Farmer
trainings R&D – One Acre Fund’s
core programs impact could be increased by at least $20 million per year
through improved client uptake of crop management recommendations, such as
optimal planting configurations, or fertilizer application rates. The
Agriculture Research Associate/Manager will develop and coordinate the
implementation of (i) research tools to enable R&D teams to explore
the underlying drivers for relatively low uptake of recommendations, and
(ii) processes to develop, test and improve marketing and training content
in order to increase farmer uptake of crop management recommendations. - Technology
adoption research – Increased
farmer adoption of products already offered to farmers by One Acre Fund
could increase the program’s impact by over $30 million per year. The Agriculture
Research Associate/Manager will be responsible for developing research
tools and protocols to ensure each stage of the research pipeline
maximises opportunities to understand likely immediate and longer-term
rates of farmer adoption of products. They will also develop approaches to
integrate models of technology diffusion and adoption with product impact
models to inform strategic decision-making and prioritisation around
product development, scale-up and marketing based on data-driven estimates
of long-term adoption trends. - Farming
systems research – One Acre Fund’s ability to
identify new products and trainings that have high impact potential
depends on an intimate understanding of farmers’ key needs and constraints.
The Agriculture Research Associate/Manager will refine and scale
tools One Acre Fund has developed to enable R&D teams to effectively
characterise and understand farmers’ livelihoods and farming systems, in
order to generate insights on key opportunities for new high-impact
products and obstacles to farmer adoption of existing products and
recommendations. This work could include surveys or participatory research
methods e.g. to understand typical labour and organic matter
availability within farming households, and where those resources are
typically directed at different points in the season in order to identify
opportunities to help farmers optimise their resource allocations to
increase soil health, yields and overall farm productivity. - Internal
consulting on agriculture and research
– The Agriculture Research Manager will work within the Agriculture
Research Team, which regularly provides support to various teams within
One Acre Fund in dealing with technical agricultural questions or challenges.
This work includes providing rapid responses to urgent technical
questions, desk-based research to inform strategy development, production
of decision-support tools to enable teams to operate more independently,
and ensuring that knowledge is effectively shared between research teams.
Past examples of this category of work include creating guidance on
monitoring and IPM for Fall Armyworm, and developing maize fertilizer and
planting configuration recommendations for a project pilot in a new region
through desk research.
Career Growth and Development
One
Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. Your manager
will invest significant time in your career development. We provide constant,
actionable feedback delivered through mentorship and through regular management
consulting-style career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings,
where we listen to and 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. This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. Your manager
will invest significant time in your career development. We provide constant,
actionable feedback delivered through mentorship and through regular management
consulting-style career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings,
where we listen to and 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. This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Qualifications
We
are seeking an exceptional professional with 3-5+ years of agriculture or rural
development research extension experience, preferably in sub-Saharan Africa.
Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:
are seeking an exceptional professional with 3-5+ years of agriculture or rural
development research extension experience, preferably in sub-Saharan Africa.
Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:
- Strong
experience with qualitative and quantitative research on smallholder
agriculture, ideally with a farming systems emphasis and preferably
including some work around agroforestry or livestock. We are looking for
candidates with a proven track record of tackling complex agriculture
research challenges in a systematic and efficient way. - Prior experience
with research and extension project design and management, ideally
including participatory methods, on-farm trials, surveys and focus groups.
- Proven ability
to simultaneously manage several projects at a time, effectively
prioritising to meet short- and long-term deadlines. - Postgraduate
degree in agriculture, rural development or a related field strongly
preferred. - Applicants are
expected to have at least basic proficiency in statistical analysis
(preferably in R), and comfort with Excel and other professional programs. - Ability to
easily explain complex technical concepts in plain language - Passion for
collaborating with and training others, with strong experience in
contributing to capacity building and professional development of
colleagues. - Humility. We
have a fantastic and likeable team. We are looking for passionate
professionals who combine strong leadership skills with good humor,
patience, and a humble approach to service. We place a lot of value on the
ability to proactively respond to open and frank feedback in order to grow
as individuals and a team. - A willingness to
commit to living in East Africa for at least two years. This is a
long–term, career–track role. - Willingness to
travel – the role may require up to ~30% travel for at least the first
year (the travel requirement is likely to reduce over time). - Language:
English required; French and or Kiswahili highly desirable
Preferred Start Date
As
soon as possible
soon as possible
Compensation
Commensurate
with experience.
with experience.
Benefits
Health
insurance, immunizations, flight, room, and board.
insurance, immunizations, flight, room, and board.
Sponsor International Candidates
Yes
East
Africans highly encouraged to apply.
Africans highly encouraged to apply.
How
to Apply
to Apply
Interested
candidates are required to click here to apply
candidates are required to click here to apply
