Country Manager - AGRA

Reporting to the Regional Head, West Africa the Country Manager will represent AGRA in the country and will act as the catalyst for AGRA’s integrated interventions by coordinating activities and building necessary relationships with the government, private sector, donors and other key stakeholders.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead development of country plan on an annual basis in collaboration with AGRA teams
• Coordinate country-level interventions set out in the country plan, working with program teams to deliver innovative intervention models across the value chain
• Convene and build relationships with national and local government, private sector, donors, civil society organizations, and others with a presence in country, to build and nurture country-level partnerships deemed essential to AGRA’s mission in the country
• Represent AGRA in key meetings and forums of the government and its development partners including donor coordination meetings, agriculture sector working group meetings, and joint sector reviews, that contribute to the advancement of AGRA’s investments in the country
• Coordinate, facilitate, and oversee implementation of AGRA-supported investments in country and foster the integration of AGRA’s investments in country
• Oversee country level research required to complete the country plan on a periodic basis, to ensure that country and program objectives are aligned to the national/government goals and objectives
• Identifying and pursuing opportunities to mobilize resources in support of AGRA’s priorities and/or advocating for public and private sector stakeholders to scale AGRA’s demonstrated intervention models in country

• Maintain working knowledge of national agricultural sector development plans in order to identify and pursue opportunities to (i) mobilize resources to support AGRA’s priorities and/or (ii) advocate for public and private sector stakeholders to scale AGRA’s demonstrated intervention models in country
• Relay feedback from AGRA’s partners, especially the government and development partners to other parts of the organization
• In consultation with the Regional Head, convene regular Country Advisory Committee meetings
• Provide day to day guidance, oversight, management, and professional development of Country Team, and oversee the work of AGRA consultants in the country as needed
• Assist program officers to research and develop grantee portfolios dealing with constraints, resources and opportunities for increasing and improving seed and technology supply at farmer levels
• Draw on the expertise of AGRA program officers in the areas of soil fertility, policy, and farmer organizations to enhance the operations of country strategies and link program investments and activities to other AGRA initiatives
• Serve as primary point-of-contact to donors in the relevant countries, furnishing them with required reports, day-to-day communications, and timely insights on program challenges and breakthroughs in a manner which maintains their positive engagement with the program.

Key Qualifications and Experience required:

• Master’s degree in Agriculture, Economics or related disciplines
• A relevant Doctorate degree will be an added advantage.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in agriculture related international development work
• At least 5 years of management experience, particularly over diverse teams working across diverse geographies
• Experience working with a large multinational development agency in a management and coordination role is an advantage
• Experience working on teams with a purview over both domestic-wide and regional activities
• Professional development programs in leadership and management including financial and staff supervision/performance management
• Proficient in program management, program design and M&E.

An attractive remuneration package commensurate with the responsibilities of the position will be negotiated with the successful candidate.