Job
description
Organization
Description
Most of the world’s
poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor
people in the world. One Acre Fund is a start-up 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 measure 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 five years, we have grown to serve 130,000 farm families with more
than 1000 full-time field staff. In three more years, we will at least
quadruple 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
We are seeking
exceptional professionals with 4-6 years work experience for our program
manager role, and demonstrated interest and experience in international
development (i.e. 1 year+ living in a developing nation). They will serve in a
career-track position that combines both field and management experience in
Africa. As a young organization, we are ready to hand over large responsibility
for specific, well-defined work modules, with similar structure to an
operations consulting role.
Projects will be focused
on improvements to One Acre Fund’s program model – as opposed to day-to-day
operations, which are operated by our country staff. The typical program
manager leads several major projects, and several smaller ones – typically
projects with higher degree of difficulty. Example projects include:
- Operations
projects. One Acre Fund may set up a bean-seed production company, an area
we have identified as a major humanitarian opportunity in East Africa. A
program manager in Rwanda pioneered the protocols associated with starting
a bean seed production company, and is investigating possible scale-up. - Middle-management
training series. As we rapidly expand our field operation, we need to
recruit and develop a large number of middle managers. A program manager
in Kenya developed a unified training series, rolled out some sample
trainings with fifteen managers, revised, and worked with our Kenya
director to deliver the trainings. - Financial
processes. We have a program manager who is leading up an effort to
rationalize our financial processes. As a result of his work, we will now
have monthly data on actual expenses vs. budget across all budget line
items and three different districts. He will gradually hand this off to
two office staff that he is managing. Having this data will lead us into
the next phase of the work, which is to design and implement a wide
variety of cost-cutting programs.
Qualifications
We are looking for
somebody truly extraordinary for the program manager role. This is an extremely
competitive posting for a business/ management-style position. Fewer than 5%
make of applicants make it to a phone screen. Therefore, please only apply if
you fit these criteria:
•*Demonstrated
interest and experience in international development, requiring at least one
year of living in a developing nation.
•*A willingness to
commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least two years, minimum.
This is a permanent, career-track role with no anticipated return to your home
country.
•Top-performing
undergraduate background (include GPA and test scores on your resume)
•Strong work
experiences. Examples include professional work experience, or some kind of
successful entrepreneurial experience (e.g. starting a field program in a developing
country, leading a conference, starting a business, peace corps)
•Leadership
experience at work, or outside of work
•No ego or drama. We
are all stable people who are fun to be around. We are looking for others that
combine strong leadership skills with a humble approach to service
•Nice to have:
Kiswahili a plus; Kinyrwandan or French required for Rwanda. English required.
•Ability to cook/
laugh/ extraordinary patience – all desirable
PLEASE DO
NOT APPLY FOR PROGRAM MANAGER, IF YOU DO NOT FIT THESE CRITERIA. WE HAVE OTHER
OPEN JOB POSTINGS AVAILABLE, SUCH AS PROGRAM ASSOCIATE.
Preferred
Start Date:
Flexible
Compensation: Starts very modest. However,
this is a career-track role with fast raises for performance, eventually paying
a real and livable salary for a long-term placement in developing nations.
Benefits: Health cover,
immunizations, flight, room and board.
Career
development:
Quarterly management consulting-style career reviews, and significant
investment in career development. Your manager will invest significant time in
your career development.
Sponsor
International Candidates:
Yes
How
to apply
To Apply
- Complete
this form. - Email
cover letter and resume to jobs@oneacrefund.org
(Subject line: “Program Manager (Kenya and Rwanda) Search” +
name of the site that referred you). - If you
are a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), please submit a copy of your
Description of Service (DOS).
