Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) – Senior Strategy Officer. 

Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led and Africa-based institution that puts smallholder farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives. Together with our partners, we are working to sustainably grow Africa’s food systems.

AGRA strengthens seed systems, develops and promotes sustainable farming practices, helps unlock trade and markets, and supports governments who lead their countries’ development. We work with farmers to adapt to climate change, increase soil health, and protect the environment.  AGRA believes deeply in the urgency of reducing the inequality that women face in agriculture, and to unlocking the power and innovation of youth.     

To support this vision, AGRA is seeking an experienced Senior Strategy Officer. 

Senior Strategy Officer – Job Reference: SSO/SS/03/2022

The role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Why AGRA? 

At AGRA we believe Agriculture is the single greatest opportunity to deliver inclusive economic growth, jobs, and health to the African continent. An alliance led by Africans with roots in farming communities across the continent combined with an inclusive and diverse workforce from 24 nationalities. Our values of (I-RISE; Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Stewardship and Equity.) espouse our commitment to a call to action to go beyond ourselves as we arise and transform Africa’s Agriculture.

When you join us, we present you with intellectually stimulating assignments and structured career advancement with 30% of open roles being filled internally through promotions and transfers, and a Leadership commitment for this ratio to increase. This is after setting you up for success with a World Class Onboarding for new hires where a bespoke induction trains on all aspects of the role that you will need to succeed. You will gain a full understanding of our lofty ambitions to transform African agriculture, and how you can contribute to an amazing employee experience.

We are looking for people who are passionate about Africa, curious and collaborative to join our innovative, growing, and multidisciplinary team.

For more information on AGRA, applicants can visit www.agra.org

The Position

Reporting to the Head, Strategy & Analytics, the Senior Strategy Officer will be responsible for complex strategy design and analytics; project/team/contract management; client/partner relations management; and institutional engagement and mobilization. S/He will also support the Head on Strategy Model Evolution and contribute to ongoing evolution and improvement of the Strategy team operating model, performance assessment, and strategic planning. The role also supports strategy development, execution, and adaptation; performance management; and structured analytics to ensure AGRA’s interventions are grounded in a robust agriculture transformation Theory of Change and geared towards catalyzing results in AGRA’s focus countries and across the continent. 

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop new strategic approaches in priority areas identified by the Senior Leadership.
• Analyze the annual strategy through conducting an analysis of progress to date, lessons learned, evolving context and recommendations of adaptive strategies and emerging priorities.
• Design strategic frameworks, models, tools, and processes to track and critically analyze delivery of the strategy; recommends adaptive strategies based on results/evidence, lessons learnt, and insights gained, in the face of changing ecosystems.
• Design and roll-out new strategic initiatives as identified by the Executive Management of AGRA – examples include efforts such as the refinement of a country plan for a priority country; the development of a strategy around youth in agribusiness; or the development of a Fellows program to embed support staff within partner ministries.
• Advocate for the institutional strategic planning process and drives AGRA’s strategy performance management.
• Advise the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) team on improving their decision making and performance through the development of effective country and institutional level performance tracking tools; and critical analysis of results to tease out relevant and actionable recommendations.
• Collaborate with key operational units to ensure strategic alignment, business efficiency, resource allocation, internal capacity building etc. are effected.
• Advise in-country teams and technical teams on strategic planning and roll-out, as well in-depth analytics on agriculture transformation pathways and country progress towards this goal.
• Collaborate with Regional / Country leads and technical teams (the Program Development and Innovation team, the Partnerships team and the Policy and State Capability team) to develop and support execution of high-impact country-level strategies and implementation plans.
• Advise and provide analysis support to the in-country teams to support evidence-based decision making; strategic selection of initiatives; credible engagement with governments and other partners; and assessment of the progression of country agriculture transformation.
• Lead work streams and manages cross-functional teams for institutional or in-country-level strategic initiatives.
• Advocate for knowledge management and thought leadership in AGRA through identification of impactful strategic content, and support for its production and dissemination via appropriate channels.
• Engage with the resource mobilization team, technical teams, and in-country teams to support development, structuring, and occasional implementation of strategic partnerships.
• Implement the new strategy development and adaptive strategies.
• Deliver on strategic priorities by reviewing AGRA’s organizational strategy and Theory of Change for transformation based on emerging results from executing strategic priorities.

Relevant Experience

• Minimum 5 – 7 years’ experience working within a management consulting environment or managing medium-to-large projects/programs, in the broad field of strategy and/or other related areas (business efficiency, performance improvement, organisational change, business and sector intelligence, stakeholder engagement etc.).
• Deep knowledge of, and experience in, strategy development, execution, and review at institutional and territorial level, as well as design and roll-out of analytical frameworks, tools, processes, and other documents to facilitate the strategic planning process.
• Experience in driving the annual strategic planning process for large organizations, in particular framing emergent issues and incorporating lessons learnt and key insights to strengthen the design process.
• Demonstrated ability to extract appropriate data to convey complex information through the use of supporting tables, graphs and other visual representations.
• Demonstrated ability in structured problem solving, yet comfortable with unstructured and ambiguous situations and tasks; ability to learn new content quickly, identify connections and second-order implications and demonstrate competence with internal/external teams.
• Superior delivery and leadership capacity – can synthesize strategic intent into tangible deliverables that drive institutional progress; proactively motivates team performance and productivity.
• Experience in developing and managing strong partnerships and relationships inside and outside the organization, managing conflicts, and building consensus. Comfortably engages with senior decision makers within organization and constructively challenges colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
• Experience of end-to-end project management, including scoping and design, resourcing, risk management and quality assurance.
• Excellent oral, facilitation, and written communication skills; works well in diverse teams, with efficiency and diplomacy.

Academic and Professional Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in Business Administration, Public Policy, Development Economics/studies or related field. Relevant work experience may be considered in lieu of this.

If you believe you are the right candidate for this position, kindly submit your application with a detailed CV (including your e-mail address and telephone contacts to recruit@agra.org noting to quote the job reference number in the subject of your email)

To be considered, applications must be received on or before 6^th October, 2022.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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