New Program Growth Associate at One Acre Fund

One Acre Fund, founded in 2006, supplies smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms more productive. We provide quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural trainings to improve harvests. We measure our success by our ability to make farmers more prosperous: On average, farmers harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund. We serve more than 800,000 farm families in Eastern and Southern Africa, with more than 7,500 full-time staff, and we aim to serve 1 million farm families by 2020.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: New Program Growth Associate

Location: Zomba, Malawi
Preferred Start Date: As soon as possible
Duration: Full-time job

Job Description

• In your role as the New Program Growth Associate, you will work with the IV Lead in co-strategising on new, compelling pathways and build field performance structures. You will lead strategy development and execution of program activities to dramatically improve our impact per farmer, de-risk our path to rapid build a strong field team and culture in the long term.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Impact strategy and execution – With support from the M and E department, be the lead in conducting research to identify and roll out new compelling products. Examples of what this might look like include:

• Conduct species variety trials to identify new tree varieties to add to the program portfolio or,
• Identifying new services the program can add that would increase the impact on our farmers.

Scale strategy and execution- Use scouting data to build robust scale strategies and provide direction to rapidly scale the program across multiple districts in the next couple of years ensuring scale targets are hit. This would involve:

• Spending amounts of time in the field scouting new possible areas of expansion
• Identify risks and mapping out possible measure and
• Build a clear execution calendar for expansion

Field team advancement – Invest a significant amount of time understanding field team members and building their development plans, tailoring training material to suit their needs and creating/ improving management tools. This would include:

• Create tailored field trainings for multiple activities and
• Improve Measurement tools for field teams

Career Growth and Development

• We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance.
• We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications
We are looking for one exceptional professional with 5+ year(s) of work experience and a demonstrated passion for our mission. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• Strong educational background; Master’s degree in Rural Development, International Development, Business Administration, Environmental Economics, preferred
• 5+ years of relevant work experience which includes qualitative and quantitative research on smallholder agriculture, with an emphasis on adoption of improved technologies or new business models, preferably including some work around agroforestry.
• Experience working in Extension Services, or implementing development programmes in rural locations preferred.
• Leadership experience at work, or outside of work, and enthusiasm for learning.
• Build teams and collaborate with colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
• Language: English required. Chichewa – advantage(but not required)
• Experience with research and extension project design and management, including participatory methods, on-farm trials, surveys and focus groups
• Strong interpersonal skills to collaborate work with multiple teams
• easily explain complex technical concepts in plain language
• Manage the complexity of our products, regions, calendars, to meet all of our deadlines
• Identify impact opportunities
• Passion for collaborating with and training others, with strong experience contributing to capacity building and professional development of colleagues and direct reports
• Humility. We have a fantastic and likable team. We are looking for passionate professionals who combine with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service.

Remuneration

• Compensation: Commensurate with experience
• Benefits: Health insurance, paid time off
• Sponsor International Candidates: Yes; Malawi country nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.

Application Closing Date
6th February, 2020.