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 six 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
One Acre Fund is increasingly exploring opportunities to work together with the Ministries of Agriculture in the countries where we work. We believe that there exist very powerful opportunities to partner with the Ministries to both shape policy, but more importantly to implement effective policy, coordinated together with our significant field presence.
We are seeking Africa Government Officer(s) to work closely with the Ministries of Agriculture of countries where we operate, to implement special policy initiatives. There are two different possible job configurations:
Special Project Partnership:
- One Acre Fund is in a position to partner with African governments on increasingly exciting special projects. Examples of this include the restructuring and implementation of entire countries' fertilizer subsidy programs, or restructuring and implementation of entire countries' agricultural training programs. These are projects where we may be able to play a role in helping to shape strategy, but more importantly want to have a hand in the effective implementation of strategy.
- We are seeking professionals who would be partially based within a country's Ministry of Agriculture but would also draw heavily upon One Acre Fund field knowledge and extensive staff network to implement high-quality policy for entire countries.
Staff Secondment:
- One Acre Fund also believes in the mission of promoting high-functioning government. We are seeking professionals who could be seconded to interested ministries of agriculture, to serve as a humble member of their staff on well-defined, high-value projects.
Career Growth and Development
One Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. We provide constant, actionable feedback delivered through weekly mentorship and through regular 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 and countries. This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Qualifications
We are seeking exceptional professionals with 2 to 5+ years of work experience. We are looking for truly extraordinary candidates that will help governments to achieve the next levels of impact. This is not a short stint in Africa – this is a competitive posting for a career–track role. Only 3% of applicants make it to a phone screen. Therefore, please only apply if you fit these criteria:
- Strong work experiences. We are looking for a former management consultant, finance professional, policy professional, or economist. 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
- A willingness to commit to living in East Africa for at least two years – this is a long–term, career–track role. The ideal candidate will have at least one year demonstrated experience working in the developing world, although this is not a strict requirement.
- Professional/technical skills – very high levels of proficiency with PowerPoint, Excel and other software programs.
- Language: English required; French highly desirable.
Location: African capital city
Preferred Start Date: Flexible
Compensation: Starts very modest. However, this is a career–track role with fast raises for performance, paying a meaningful 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: "AG Officer" + name of the site that referred you).RPCVs should also include a copy of their DOS.
