Global Lead - Integrated Pest Management

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 percent 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

Your focus will be to develop programs and training content to maximize adoption of integrated pest management amongst smallholder farmers. You'll report to the Global Director of R&D, and work within the Global Impact team. This team combines agronomy, data science, qualitative research and SBC & social marketing skillsets to develop adoptable recommendations, and support country programs to effectively communicate and train farmers on them for maximum uptake.

You will develop evidence-based IPM extension, promoting approaches that are proven to reduce pest pressure and increase yields, through training and extension approaches that are informed by instructional design principles, adult learning and SBC theories. You will develop and test training, extension and decision-support tools using HCD methodology, then scale these and validate impact through measured improvements in farmer knowledge, attitude and adoption.

Responsibilities

• Research
  • Oversight over surveys to characterize farmers' pest challenges and adoption of IPM practices
  • Literature reviews, rapid evidence assessments, expert consultation etc. to identify impactful pest prevention and control technologies.
  • There may also be opportunities to work on innovation projects around pest diagnostics, threat forecasting and surveillance, and on-farm experimentation to evaluate novel pest management technologies
• Extension
  • Develop IPM recommendations. Translate research-based IPM approaches and into simplified recommendations and protocols that empower smallholder farmers with limited resources to meaningfully reduce pest pressure and increase yields.
  • Test and improve scalable IPM training and decision-support tools through design workshops and piloting with extension workers and farmers
• Strategy
  • Develop IPM extension / communications strategies that integrate print, audio, digital and in-person training and communication tools to maximize reach and cost-effectiveness.
  • Define indicators to monitor and evaluate the scale and quality of IPM strategy implementation (e.g. in terms of farmer uptake of IPM, pesticide usage), and generate recommendations for improvement.

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:

• 3-5+ years' experience in agriculture training and extension service design and implementation, ideally working with farmers with low and mixed literacy and digital access.
• Strong technical knowledge agronomy and IPM, ideally for IPM for maize, potato, legumes in particular
• Research skills and experience with literature reviews, survey design and analysis. Experience managing on-farm trials a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with a range of audiences - from non-technical colleagues to external experts. Ability to understand complex technical concepts and translate into concise, accessible language
• Strong project management skills
• Experience driving projects towards results, working within a matrix management model.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kigali, Rwanda or Nairobi, Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.

Application Deadline

28 April 2024

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, color, 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.