Program Manager - FuFan at TechnoServe

TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries. We are a non-profit organization that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital, and markets. Our work is rooted in the idea that given the opportunity, hardworking men and women in even the poorest places can generate income, jobs, and wealth for their families and communities. With more than four decades of proven results, we believe in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Manager - Future Farming Nigeria (FuFaN)

Requisition Number: PROGR004430
Location: Abuja
Employment Type: Full-Time
Job Category: Programs
Project: Future Farming Nigeria (FuFaN)
Reports to: Deputy Country Director

Job Summary

• The Program Manager - Future Farming Nigeria (FuFaN) will work under the supervision of the Deputy Country Director/Program Director to provide overall project leadership to the Future Farming Nigeria team in Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Niger States and the goal is to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through regenerative agricultural practices.
• This goal will be achieved primarily through upskilling Maize, Sorghum, and Soybean farmers in regenerative agricultural practices.
• The Program Manager will also provide technical support to facilitate farmer behavioral change from conventional agriculture to regenerative and climate adapted agriculture.
• In addition, s/he will gather market intelligence, monitor performance, and provide guidance while managing relationships with donors, implementing partners, and sub-awardees to achieve project objectives.
• The tasks outlined below are the key responsibilities of the employee, however, s/he will be expected to perform other tasks that are necessary within the context of the evolving needs of the project.

Program / Practice / Department Overview

• TechnoServe’s Future Farming Nigeria Project (FuFaN) aims to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions through regenerative agricultural practices and at the same time develop an inclusive, sustainable, scalable, and adaptable regenerative agriculture solution to help smallholder farmers (SHFs) and local SMEs (aggregators) more resilient and produce low-carbon grains in Nigeria.
• The three-year project will provide a guaranteed structured market for farmers to produce high-quality grains yearly, with a significant quantity of grains produced from environmentally sustainable practices.
• The project aims to impact up to 30,000 SHFs directly as beneficiaries of the program.
• Importantly, FuFaN will sustain and scale up the successful elements of the regenerative agriculture pilot of the recently concluded Developing Inclusive Grain Value Chains in Nigeria (DIGVCN) project.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

• Takes full ownership of the FuFaN project and drives the delivery of targets.
• Ensure efficient and effective implementation of project activities, output, and outcomes as laid out in the executed contract.
• Optimize team performance and ensure that members are adequately capacitated to conduct their respective project activities and upskilled in critical areas of the project such as carbon credit calculations.
• Lead the development of a project work plan and ensure timely and quality delivery of project Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Ensure timely preparation of donor reports according to prescribed guidelines and format.
• Support HR in the recruitment and onboarding process of the project team,
• Develop training curriculum for farmers and coordinate all required training, including training-of-trainers (ToTs), and ensure all training manuals are updated throughout the life of the project.
• Enhance strong stakeholder engagement with government, private sector, business associations, community associations, and financial institutions as needed.
• Manage and mitigate potential program risks; develop and continuously review project risk management measures.
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) specialist to ensure proper and timely reports of the program for internal communication and action. Oversee the sharing of best practices and lessons learned from the project and lead program communication activities.
• Manage project budget to ensure that burn rate targets are achieved.
• Understand, respect, and promote TechnoServe’s values, vision, and strategy in the implementation of assigned duties.
• Any other tasks that may be assigned about the evolving needs of the project.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Agronomy, or relevant Social Sciences / Humanities disciplines.
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience working with communities living on less than $2 a day to improve their livelihoods.
• Alternatively, a Master’s degree with 5 years’ experience.
• Demonstrated experience of working with a corporate donor for at least 5 years.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions reduction through regenerative agriculture practices, especially for the production of grains i.e., maize, soyabean, sorghum, cowpea, and ii) carbon credits and markets.
• Demonstrated experience in leading technical studies such as environmental impact assessment, baseline, and endline evaluation studies, and so on.
• Demonstrated experience in report writing.

Preferred Qualification:

• Ability to engage and advise senior-level stakeholders, including senior management of private sector companies, donor representatives, and others.
• Ability to manage budget as assigned and aligned with the donor requirements.
• Demonstrated experience in data collection and analyses, especially in the areas of agriculture and project key performance indicators.
• Required Languages: Excellent communication skills in written and spoken English
• Travel: 40%.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experienced in writing excellent reports in English.
• Must have strong interpersonal skills.
• Proven skills with Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and Google Workspace. Knowledge of the use of software platforms for field data collection such as CommCare, and KoBoCollect will be an advantage.
• Excellent communication skills in written and spoken English.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Regenerative Agriculture Advisors, Project Administrator, Sub-Award Specialist, and MEL specialist.

Benefits

• Flexible work-from-home arrangement
• Hands-on experience in digital marketing for a brand with diverse service offerings
• Potential for growth and learning in social media marketing
• Potential for future employment with the company
• Letter of recommendation upon successful completion of the internship.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• This position is contingent upon full confirmation of award.
• We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.