Global Youth Engagement Lead

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

One Acre Fund has an organizational priority to more effectively serve young farmers, by layering new youth-focused interventions on existing program channels. We seek a Youth Engagement Lead to help coordinate this work across our countries of operation, integrating youth learning and programming into One Acre Fund’s program design. This is a new role, and an exciting opportunity for a motivated expert with both technical and on-the-ground experience to co-design our youth strategy with leadership by providing data- and experience-driven guidance on new youth-focused products and services.

You will report to the Gender Partnerships Lead and collaborate with senior leadership across the Global Impact, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Business Development teams to develop a long-term youth engagement strategy, and to embed a youth focus into One Acre Fund’s programmatic decisions. You are expected to collaborate across multiple departments both at the global and in-country levels to advise on the implementation of evidence-based programming targeted at young farmers.

Responsibilities

• Research, Compile and Enrich One Acre Fund's Youth Learnings -
  • You will work with the Monitoring & Evaluation and HCD teams to gather learnings on the demographics, socio-economic status, farming systems, and daily lives of young smallholder farmers - through surveys, focus groups, and formative research.
  • You will generate and compile insights into young farmer priorities, barriers, needs, pain points and aspirations.
• Inform One Acre Fund’s Youth Strategy and Programming -
  • Based on research and learnings, you will help to inform and scope new products and services to pilot, which are attractive and impactful for young farmers.
  • You will support on evaluation of pilots, with a focus on impact, cost-effectiveness and scalability.
  • You will facilitate conversations between in-country and global leads on how to best apply research and trial learnings.
  • Over time, you will propose and co-design clear and practical recommendation for scale-up of initiatives aimed at addressing the barriers and opportunities faced by young farmers.

Building these learnings and developing youth-focused programming will take time. This is an ongoing, iterative process as we learn, pilot, and - eventually - begin to scale proven innovations. Your role is to help steward the evolution of - and ongoing improvements to - our youth strategy over the long-term.

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:

• Minimum of Bachelor’s Degree in the social sciences or any related field
• Minimum of 5 years of experience working on design and implementation of youth-focused programming or system changes, in the context of smallholder agriculture.
• Preference will be given to candidates with:
  • Experience using data to support decision-making with senior leadership and implementing teams.
  • Experience developing communications, marketing, or training strategy and materials.

Please note that the listed requirements are not exhaustive. If you think that you have the skills, passion and determination to co-design and report on One Acre Fund's youth strategy and programming, feel free to apply, even if you don't meet all the specified criteria. We welcome your application!

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

22 December 2024.Please note that we hire on a rolling basis which means that applications are reviewed and processed on a continuous basis until a hire is made.

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.