Gorvernment Relations & Partnerships Lead at One Acre Fund

About The Role

• The Government Relations & Partnerships Lead plays a strategic role in shaping One Acre Fund Nigeria's external engagement, building partnerships, and ensuring policy alignment at national and sub-national levels.
• You will lead the organisation's relationship with government institutions, donors, and external partners to drive compliance, collaboration, and long-term program sustainability. This is a senior leadership role with direct managerial responsibilities for the Government Relations and Communications teams.
• You will report directly to the Country Director. This role is based in Abuja, Nigeria and is onsite.

Responsibilities

Drive national level strategy

• Develop external relations strategy (at national level, state level ) and lead the execution of complex streams of work, including establishing and maintaining relationships with key players in the agricultural sector such as Ministries of Agriculture, NGOs, local authorities, research institutes and others to unlock opportunities and de-risk the program.

Business Relations & Partnerships

• Build a pipeline of institutional donors, both domestically and globally to raise funds necessary to support One Acre Fund Nigeria's growth goals
• Ideation, proposal and scoping for potential commercial and government partnerships that further One Acre Fund Nigeria in the areas of impact, scale and sustainability
• Risk tracking and overseeing relationship health management across existing business partnerships

Policy and Intelligence work

• Drive organizational risk management on key issues related to political and regulatory trends. E.g. election monitoring and advise program leadership on course of action
• Build expertise on agriculture related, non-profit, social enterprise and microfinance policy issues (i.e. subsidy programs, extension, market access, etc.) that are relevant to One Acre Fund Nigeria's operations, and design strategies to respond to both opportunities and future risk.
• Support program expansion through relationship management with relevant authorities in new or targeted areas of operation.

Compliance

• Monitor legal and regulatory changes at national and state level, and provide advisory and update reports to senior management.
• Secure relevant permits and licenses for our products and services, and ensure that the program is fully compliant with relevant government policies and regulations
• Cultivate relations with regulators and government contacts for information gathering and troubleshooting purposes
• Liaise with One Acre Fund's legal, immigration, and finance departments on key contracts and compliance issues, as required

Strategic communications

• Be the main external communicator for One Acre Fund Nigeria
• Develop and execute One Acre Fund Nigeria's media relations and PR, including managing press relations and staff training
• Produce communications materials to engage key contacts and keep them informed of our work, including reports, briefing notes and official written correspondence.
• Drive participation in agricultural shows and other external events
• Work with the Field Operations and Innovations teams to develop communications strategies and products to drive field-facing targets
• Coordinate closely with other internal teams on other specific projects, such as with the Business Development team on fundraising, as required

People Management

• Manage and coordinate the activities of the department's staff across our regions of operations. Deliver training on work planning, strategic thinking and provide mentoring for the team.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• 6+ years of experience working with governments, policy institutions, or development organizations, including experience managing people and multi-stakeholder initiatives.
• Proven experience analyzing policies, legislation, and regulatory frameworks to generate actionable insights and strategic recommendations.
• Demonstrated success in developing and managing multi-year public or private partnerships from concept through execution.
• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred in Public Policy, Political Science, Public Administration, Law, International Development, or Business.
• Strong technical knowledge of government engagement, compliance management, and partnership development.
• English required; proficiency in Hausa is an added advantage