THE OPPORTUNITY
Reporting to the Director, Agrifood Systems, the Head for Agrifood Systems will be responsible for the development and implementation of transformative programs for the Foundation’s Pan-African Programs team. A multi-faceted strategy, the Foundation’s Agrifood Systems strategy, for Pan African Programs, aims to unlock millions of sustainable, dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for young women and men in Africa, in the sector, in line with the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy.
WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE
Strategic Implementation
- Interpret and cascade the agrifood systems strategy roadmap of the Foundation to enable the successful execution of Pan African Programs’ portfolio in support of the Young Africa Works strategy.
- Develop new regional and Pan-African partnerships with a variety of organizations, beyond the established, to create systemic impact in the sector for youth to thrive.
- Partner with the Country Program teams to provide timely and context aligned support for the implementation of agrifood systems, agribusiness, climate and related country portfolios.
- Lead in the creation of collaboration platforms and networks relevant to enabling the scaling and acceleration of agrifood systems and agribusiness programs.
- Play a key role in driving the Foundation’s thrust on agrifood systems, agribusiness and climate resilience.
- Support country teams to regularly collect and collate learnings from the programs under implementation
- Synthesize, socialize, and integrate learnings from country and regional programs to feed into future development/co-creation processes.
- Ensure country and regional teams have tangible access to technical expertise in agrifood systems.
- Co-lead management of the community of practice in agrifood systems & Climate to aid the learning agenda internally and externally.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Represent the Foundation as a senior spokesperson at key conferences, workshops and media events and build relationships with senior figures within donors, foundations, private sector and governments to build awareness and strengthen the brand and public profile of the Foundation and its programs.
Leadership and Collaboration
- Lead, manage, motivate, and develop staff within the agriculture thematic team and ensure they have clear objectives and accountabilities against which individual and team performance is regularly assessed.
- Provide functional leadership to agrifood systems staff in country programs, ensure they have a complete understanding of objectives and approaches aligned with the enterprise- level agriculture strategy of the Foundation.
- Collaborate with colleagues across functions and countries to deliver the Foundation’s work in agrifood systems.
WHO YOU ARE
- Minimum twelve (12) to fifteen (15) years of experience in agricultural sciences, agribusiness, agrifood systems, nutrition, rural development, climate-smart agriculture, or a related sector, with at least seven (7) years of experience leading and managing teams.
- PhD or Master’s degree in agricultural sciences, agricultural Economics, or a related field.
- Demonstrated expertise and established networks across agriculture, agrifood systems, value chain development, private sector engagement, and inclusive market systems development in Africa.
- Experience in program development.
- Experience with initiating large, complex programs, preferably in the agriculture and agribusiness space. Experience in youth empowerment and agri-preneurship is an added advantage.
- Proven experience in effectively engaging and collaborating with high-level government officials, key partners, media, business leaders, and other network influencers.
- Experience with public speaking at conferences and other forums, including media interaction. Formal media training would be an asset.
- Exposure to systems thinking, with the ability to understand and engage diverse stakeholders across agricultural ecosystems and design programs that address root causes, market barriers, and opportunities for scale.
- Substantive knowledge of key issues, emerging trends, and barriers in agriculture, agribusiness, agrifood systems transformation, climate resilience, and youth employment across Africa.
- Strategic thinker with strong influencing skills and the ability to translate enterprise-level agriculture priorities into practical portfolio strategies and implementation approaches.
- Ability to interact with diverse and senior stakeholders.
- Strong commitment to advancing dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for young people, especially young women, through inclusive development of agricultural value chains.
- Working knowledge in translating agriculture programming into dignified and fulfilling work, enterprise pathways, market systems, and scalable employment outcomes across value chains
- Demonstrated strong organizational skills with excellent prioritization and attention to detail.
- Fluency in English with working knowledge in French and/or Portuguese would be an added advantage
- Comfortable and highly effective when faced with ambiguity and/or complexity. Able to formulate and develop new or creative ideas and approaches.
- Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
- You have a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.
The Mastercard Foundation values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone.
Completion of satisfactory business references and background checks are essential conditions of employment.
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