About One Acre Fund
Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. Our 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across six core countries in Africa, we make farmers more prosperous by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. On average, the farmers we serve harvest 50 per cent more food after working with One Acre Fund.
To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.
About the Role
Smallholder farm families stand at the nexus of several of this century’s defining challenges: extreme poverty, deforestation, and climate change. By 2030, the World Bank predicts that 9 out of 10 of the world’s dollar-a-day poor will reside in sub-Saharan Africa, predominantly in rural areas. While struggling with the profound impacts of pervasive poverty, these farm families simultaneously bear the brunt of the planet’s ecological and climate crisis.
Any effort to end this cycle must be both pro-environment and pro-farmer, recognizing the challenges smallholders face, and their vital role as stewards of the land. With the right incentives and tools, mass numbers of Africa’s smallholders can be mobilized to reverse the continent’s trends of poverty and land degradation.
You will help us address this acute challenge. We are focused on making investments which generate positive change for farm families and the wider environment. In particular, we are making investments in tree planting to support farmers to plant over 75 million trees in 2023 and to plant at least 1 billion trees by 2030. Planting a context-appropriate and diverse portfolio of tree species to improve farmer incomes, family nutrition, soil health and carbon sequestration is one of the most efficient actions to generate impact for rural families and improve the local environment.
You will coordinate our agroforestry work and launch and oversee additional initiatives to positively improve rural families and the environment. The Director will work with the most senior leaders in the organization to explore opportunities to achieve our goals and pilot new initiatives, and report to the Program Director
Responsibilities
Build Vision and Coordinate Operations to Plant 1 Billion Trees by 2030
- You will work with leaders and teams across 9 markets to develop and refine the strategy in each country to maximize the impact of our tree-planting operations.
- You will use numerical analysis and modelling to determine the main levers for reaching primary goals including scale, SROI, climate resilience, soil health, etc
- You will identify the main risks and explore new opportunities to keep us on track to achieve our 1 billion goals. For example, to manage long-term costs, you could explore program improvements to increase our program and financial efficiency. This could involve creating a pipeline of possible improvements, modelling out gains from these improvements, and working with other leaders to design a pilot program to test out the leading innovations you identify. An example of such a pilot program could be to partner with a national government to leverage the extension system to more rapidly reach a country-level scale at a lower cost.
Lead Engagement and Build Relationships to Accelerate Scale and Impact.
- You will lead external engagement related to our Billion Tree Campaign. You will help us build our network in agroforestry and the climate sector. You will work with senior leaders to expand our network of funding partners and secure funding to grow operations.
- You will also oversee the exploration of new programs and technology partnerships to expand our network of farmers, improve the quality of our programs, and identify new opportunities.
Develop and Oversee New Initiatives to Broaden and Deepen Impact on Farmers and the Environment
- You will work with other senior leaders to identify, pilot, and scale new investments to accelerate the scale and deepen impact through the adoption of technologies and practices that reward farmers for climate mitigation and other ecosystem services. Examples of possible projects include: (i) overseeing a pilot program to link farm families with carbon markets; (ii) overseeing a trial to develop innovations to improve degraded land; and (iii) overseeing a trial to link farmers planting fruit and nut trees to international markets.
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
Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:
Experience in Forestry and Climate
- Demonstrated results working in forestry, agroforestry, or climate systems
- Passion for sustainable development and scaling ideas to help people and the environment
External Relationship and Management Skills
- Great collaborator and team member who can engage with different people, from rural farmers to high-level executives
- Experience managing high-level team members and coordinating complex and scalable investments
A leader with a Track Record of Success
- Experience launching new investments or building successful partnerships
- You will identify opportunities and leverage the right partners towards a vision
- Experience using data to make decisions
- Comfortable working in a dynamic and fluid work context
- Experience working with budgets
Others
- 5+ years of experience at the Director level in a similar position (Climate or Forestry)
- University or advanced degree in relevant fields
- Comfortable travelling within the region up to 25% of the time.
Preferred Start Date
As soon as possible
Job Location
Nairobi, Kenya or Kigali, Rwanda
Benefits
Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits
Eligibility
One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals (or those with an extensive professional background and work history) in our countries of operation are preferred
Application Deadline
29 June 2023.
One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.
