- Reporting to the Country Programs Lead, the Associate Program Officer will be responsible for supporting implementation of country strategy through grant-making and stakeholder convening, relevant country government relations and policy development and relevant country business development and resource mobilization.
- S/He will support AGRA’s engagement with national government and donors for the implementation of appropriate policies and interventions with the aim of creating an enabling environment for investment by smallholder farmers and agribusinesses.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Identifies, develops, and maintains strong relationships with grantees and other partners working to improve food and agricultural policies.
- Supports the team in identifying potential grantees, beneficiaries and stakeholder Clusters in key agricultural production areas.
- Identifies, supports, and guides efforts that enable smallholder farmers to sell their products and capture value from downstream activities.
- Leads efforts to facilitate economic transactions between value chain players and smallholder farmers in Africa
- Facilitate data and information pipeline to monitor programs across themes, contributing to dashboard development, program standardization, and quality control in collaboration with the country team.
- Ensures quarterly submission of reliable and accurate data from grantees on the AMIS platform.
- Promotes the agricultural transformation agenda with AGRA technical experts to develop appropriate partnerships.
- Collaborates across AGRA to identify and overcome policy-related constraints on technology development, dissemination, and uptake.
- Represents the country office at grantees fora and liaises with project focal staff for areas needing special attention by other program officers.
- Engages the Country Programs Lead and Program Officers to assess and advise on capacity needs and gaps in grantees’ ability to implement projects.
- Networks with broad stakeholders: financial institutions, grantees, universities, other funders, international organizations, beneficiaries.
- Builds and maintains a wide network of stakeholders and contributors to the work.
- Negotiates to bring diverse collaborators together and advocates for their work.
- Identify potential grantees and work with them to develop impactful interventions.
- Oversees and supervises consortiums.
- Reviews grant portfolio to ensure grantees are implementing programs in accordance with the contractual agreement.
- Oversees the grantee actual implementation process and provides relevant backstopping as may be required.
- Devises ways to strengthen national capacities for policy design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
- Engages the Country Programs Lead and Program Officers to assess and advise on capacity needs and gaps in grantees’ ability to implement projects.
- Implements the specified program activities in accordance with approved annual work plans jointly formulated with the beneficiaries.
- Creates regular periodic reports as may be required by the Country Director/Programs Lead.
- Assesses projects to help identify and resolve program issues, ensuring the programs stay on schedule and within budget.
- Work with cross-functional teams in making critical decisions during challenging situations.
Key Qualifications and Experience required:
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as agriculture, agricultural economics, rural development, or business economics
- Experience in grant making and in leading policy-related development initiatives primarily in Africa
- Fluency in English required; ability to communicate in French will be considered an
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- The Gender & Safeguarding Officer will oversee the implementation of AGRAs gender and safeguards policy, strategy and program to protect those we work with from harassment, sexual exploitation and all forms of abuse – to contribute and strengthen the safeguarding culture, and to promote within the teams a better understanding and adherence to AGRA’s values, particularly through the support and coordination of country teams and grantees.
- The Gender & Safeguarding Officer will help deliver AGRAs gender and safeguarding policy, and support in the day-to-day integration of the gender and safeguards policy, principles and priorities into field activities, coordinates and manages relationships with a range of stakeholders in the field, supports field data collection and analysis and provides mechanisms for reporting on breach of safeguards. S/he will build the capacity of country teams, partners, and grantees by integrating gender and safeguard measures at the country levels and working with AGRA teams, consultants, and external partners to help them understand gender and safeguard issues and response measures for AGRA investments.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead the analysis to identify context specific risks and vulnerabilities for youth and women and identify potential areas/concerns for gender and safeguarding plan.
- Develop AGRA’s gender and safeguarding framework in close consultation with the legal unit, develop necessary tools for aligning safeguarding framework with AGRAs programmatic work.
- Leads the development of implementation plan based on findings from the various analyses (gender analysis, youth aspiration analysis, ecosystem mapping and value chain analysis) at country level.
- Identify and develop practical response system towards gender-based violence, harassment, abuse, allegations of harm, exploitation, or misconduct within the agricultural sector and promoting a safe and inclusive working environment for youth and women in AGRA country.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive framework that effectively integrates social safeguard protocols into AGRA Nigeria agricultural development initiatives. Ensure that these protocols are seamlessly aligned with the organization’s overall objectives.
- Ensure that AGRA’s interventions are responsive to the circumstances, needs, aspirations, and priorities of youth and women, and guarantee equal employment opportunities to prevent women and vulnerable groups from being adversely affected by our work.
- Support the application of the Gender and safeguards’ requirements in new grants to local partners and proposals to donors.
- In collaboration with the gender and inclusiveness team, develop training modules and awareness raising materials specific to the region on gender and safeguards principles, including case studies and good practices from the region.
- Organize and implement continuous training programs to AGRA staff, relevant partners, community members and other stakeholders on the application of, and compliance with the Gender and Safeguarding requirements by delivering online webinars and/or in-country training sessions and ensuring these are embedded in or linked with other relevant AGRA programmatic trainings.
- Enforce and oversee health and safety protocols throughout every facet of agricultural projects. Ensure strict adherence to rigorous safety standards, effectively reducing potential risks for workers and stakeholders, whether within private sector operations or workplace engagement.
- Provide reports on gender sensitive and safeguards indicators and share results, and lessons learned during AGRA Program implementation of Gender and safeguarding, to improve the performance of AGRA and maintaining safeguard standards.
- Develop relationships with and promote the active participation of gender and women-focused NGOs, CSOs, government entities working on gender equality and youth to learn and share lessons and magnify impact.
- Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of gender and safeguarding tools and best practices related to youth and women employment in agriculture and making recommendations for improvement.
- Ensure strict adherence to established labor standards, ensuring that ethical work practices are upheld across all projects. Guarantee that labor rights are protected and maintained in line with Nigeria’s labor regulations.
- Take a proactive role in preventing child labor within AGRA Nigeria’s agricultural initiatives. With assistance from the respective institutions and departments enforce strategies that keep child labor at bay, aligning with national and international standards.
Key Qualifications and Experience required:
- A bachelor’s degree or equivalent in gender studies, social science, international development, humanitarian or related discipline.
- Strong knowledge of the existing gender and youth safeguards policies/framework at country and continental level, particularly relating to agriculture and agrifood sector.
- Possesses a good understanding of stakeholders, women and youth organization, collectives, networks and associations at country and continental level which best represent the voices and interests of youth and women employment in agriculture sectors.
- Fluency in English required; ability to communicate in French will be an advantage
- Excellent track record in leading the design of gender and safeguarding evidence-based analyses and action plan and tools development in the field of agribusiness, youth and women employment, entrepreneurship and community development.
- Strong analytical skills and demonstrate ability in stakeholder engagement, and effectively partnership building with government, private sector, peer organizations and local communities.
- Excellent facilitation and capacity building skills.
- Proven skills in team player, ability to work well in an interdisciplinary, multicultural, diverse, and dynamic team environment.
- Ability to work well with multiple donors in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions in a country.
- Strong planning, organization and time management skills and ability to manage multiple tasks.
- Ability to deliver high quality products under pressure.
- Good command of English with excellent writing and analytical skills, a working knowledge of French will be an advantage.
- Ability to organize and prioritize work and meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment with multiple competing demands.
- Strong communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills, and ability to work effectively in a team and independently.
- Experience working in the fields of gender and youth safeguarding practices, preferably with focus on youth and women employment and entrepreneurship in agriculture sector.
- Good knowledge of international and national laws and policies related to safeguarding of women, youth and other vulnerable groups, and strong working experience with governments, international development agencies, local organizations, and authorities in integration of gender and safeguards dimension into agricultural project/program at all levels.
- Solid commitment to promoting gender equality, safeguarding of children and youth and in the agricultural sector, and to upholding ethical and professional standards in the workplace.
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The In-Country Finance Officer is responsible for providing leadership and direction, as well as day-to-day management of the finance and administration function of the assigned country. On financial functions, she/he will be responsible for coordinating and supporting the development and monitoring of budgets and forecasts, liaising with the finance unit in NRB to support timely processing of financial transactions, maintaining of a healthy balance sheet, providing audit support and aligning of processes and procedures.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain financial analysis and reporting activities for assigned country.
- Prepare finance reports and account reconciliation reports according to company policies on a periodic basis.
- Identifies and resolves invoicing issues, accounting discrepancies and other financial related issues for the assigned country.
- Supports the annual financial audit processes through the preparation of standard reports as well as other custom reports as requested within the legal and regulatory requirements.
- Initiates and manages the assigned country budgets and forecasts in line with AGRA policies and respective donor restrictions.
- Maintains an updated fixed asset register and coordinates the annual verification as per the set policies and procedures.
- Provides oversight of any staff providing financial and admin support in the countries
- Creates finance journal entries as required for the assigned country.
- Leads in the management of account payables and receivables activities for the assigned country.
- Collaborates with the finance and HR teams in preparation of financial reports and statements for the assigned country.
- Aligns and reconciles countries and regions monthly general ledger balance, invoices and credit card statements
- Sets guidelines to ensure maintenance of the general and subsidiary ledgers.
- Plans and prepares tax documents for timely filing of company tax.
- Organizes and maintains all countries and regions financial records and files as per the company policies.
- Organizes the administration processes for all payroll activities as well as oversees vendor payments etc.
- Plans for all bill payments and customer invoicing as per the deadlines with the countries and regions.
- Sets ways to streamline/improve the processes and procedures for operational efficiency of finance reporting and budgeting systems within the assigned country.
Key Qualifications and Experience required:
- A bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance, or equivalent work experience
- A Professional certification will be an added advantage
- Strong analytical, data mining ability
- Understanding of auditing techniques to help ensure countries and regions financial operations remain in compliance.
- Computer proficiency in spreadsheets, presentations and reporting software
- Ability to work independently in a diverse environment
- Experience in working with similar organizations or institutions will be an added advantage.
- Thoroughly familiar with and experience in working with finance regulations and reporting standards and requirements
- Evidence of the practice of a high level of confidentiality
- Strong ability to influence positively both upwards and downwards
- Deep understanding of the financial environment within which AGRA is operating
- Highly organized, results and detail orientated with a very hands on approach
- Knowledge of global, country/government accounting standards
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The Policy & State Capability (PSC) Officer will be responsible for driving AGRA’s government and public sector engagement efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the AGRA’s Integrated Government Program in the country. This program involves all government related work across all AGRA’s business lines, and across all our four routes to impact: primary value chains for end-to-end development, secondary value chains, national ecosystem strengthening and coordination and delivery of the country’s CAADP 3.0 aligned with National Agrifood Systems Investment Plan (NAIP).
The role involves ensuring ‘political economy-smart’ programming and involves building the capacities of governments and its related agencies to deliver their mandates. The role includes supporting governments on quality sector visioning/ strategies and facilitate implementation of key policies and flagship initiatives. This should be done in a way that strengthens the government’s institutional capacity and supporting the government to align and mobilise development partners around its priority agri-food agenda, and with AGRA’s work in-country.
It also requires fostering healthy coordination and mutual accountability between the government, private sector actors (including anchor firms and farmers) and non-state actors around the priority agenda. Hence the role must work very closely with all other programmatic officers in other business lines in the country team.
S/He should be able to work excellently with government and other public actors, while understanding the role of governments in developing inclusive market systems, and has an institutional capacity building lens and outlook.
S/He will serve as the lead person to guide, advise and lead the implementation of AGRA’s overall government engagements in country, support agriculture line ministries to build their delivery capability, and drive the design and implementation of programs that translate strategic priorities into action.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Co-own P&SC programs with the Country Director and Country Programs Lead and set annual workplans and targets.
- Lead in updating and implementation of AGRA’s Integrated Government Programme in the country, to ensure it moves the needle on transformation impact and NAIP implementation in the country.
- Prioritize policies, programmes and flagship projects that are critical for AGRA’s country change narrative in the country.
- Serve as the country focal point for P&SC and liaising with the P&SC team at the center to align positions, request technical support, and share lessons
- Be responsible for ensuring the country’s approach to programming is politically-economy smart, by understanding the politics of government and the political economy between government and the private sector that shape market systems.
- Lead healthy intra-ministerial coordination and public-private coordination (especially with anchor firms and farms identified by IMTF, CASAR, GYI and CESSA teams) around the prioritized implementation of the NAIP.
- Support ministries, and agencies to co-design and prioritize impactful flagship initiatives under the NAIP, when they meet the flagship definition as per AGRA’s flagship playbook
- Represent AGRA with the Country Director in policy dialogues and public forums and prepare briefs and talking points.
- Drive program advocacy and alliance building with government and development partners to align technical assistance and financing to agreed flagships.
- Convene public sector coordination platforms at national and provincial/county levels with clear terms of reference, schedules, and action trackers.
- Maintain operational partnerships with government to coordinate implementation of investment-linked initiatives.
- Ensure healthy implementation of the country’s Integrated Government Program.
- Run country P&SC program delivery with the Country Programs Lead and team, managing workplans, budgets, procurements, risks, and reporting.
- Lead support efforts for relevant ministries to operationalize their work through formal sector working groups and coordination mechanisms.
- Drive performance measurement and tracking: policy and regulatory decisions issued, budget allocations secured and released, adoption of systems and standards, service-delivery outputs, and on-time implementation against milestones; running reviews and reporting results.
- Work with the Private Sector Delivery Officer to co-create solutions to address regulatory blockers for specific initiatives/transactions.
- Work very closely with the program officers from each business line in the country office to ensure their government-related needs are addressed in our integrated government programme.
- Monitor policy and market change and flag risks early to the Country Director and update the workplan.
- Apply AGRA compliance requirements in all government engagements and maintain accurate records and timely reports.
Key Qualifications and Experience required:
- Master’s degree in public policy, public administration, economics, agriculture, agricultural economics, law, or a related field.
- Project management certification is desirable.
- Experience delivering policy and state capability programs with African governments in agriculture or allied sectors.
- Concrete experience supporting the actual implementation of government policies and programmes
- Proof/certification of high-impact projects/programs/flagships designed/coordinated
- Experience working on high-level events organized/coordinated with engagement of Government/Ministries, development partners and private sector actors.
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