Deputy Director - Programs Wanted at AWARD

About our organization:

 

African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) is working towards more inclusive, Agriculture-driven prosperity for Africa. AWARD invests in African women scientists, research institutions, and the agribusiness sector by supporting the development and upscaling of those agricultural innovations with the potential to bridge the gender gap in African Agriculture.

 

Four initiatives form the core of AWARD’s work: 

• The AWARD Fellowship is a 2-year career development fellowship investing in science, leadership and mentoring skills for continent’s leading women agricultural scientists.
• Gender Responsive Agricultural Research and Development (GRARD) supports African research institutions to enhance gender responsiveness within their research priorities and processes.
• Gender in Agribusiness Investments for Africa (GAIA) supports AgTech innovators whose agribusinesses address the needs and priorities of a diversity of both men and women across the entire agricultural value chain.
• AWARD Training builds the capacity of agricultural researchers and leaders and includes courses and workshops focused on building mentoring, leadership, and gender responsiveness skills. 

AWARD is hosted by World Agroforestry Centre, a member of the CGIAR that is headquartered on United Nations Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya.

 

The Position:

 

The ideal candidate will be a compelling leader, able to provide overall leadership in the development, management, strategy, quality, and managed growth of AWARD programs. The incumbent will also be responsible for enhancing AWARD’s performance and credibility as an essential player and expert on gender responsive agricultural research and development by leading AWARD’s engagement on gender in agricultural research with regional and global stakeholders.

 

Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Provide leadership, direction, and technical support to program managers
• Develop program budgets in liaison with the various program leads and oversee the monitoring of account expenditures.
• Develop management reports and share program updates with the relevant internal and external stakeholders.
• Work closely with the M&E and Communications teams to translate data, evidence and learning from AWARD programs into compelling narratives and action points that are shared with key in the agricultural sector in a variety of formats
• Lead AWARD’s engagement with regional and global agricultural research communities on issues of gender in agricultural research.
• Work closely with the M&E team to review and analyze implementation and progress of the various programs to ensure that AWARD’s standards of excellence are maintained as well as to enable continued adaptive management.
• Promote constructive team work between programs team and support units (M&E, Communication and Finance and Administration)
• Support continued capacity development of the AWARD team in the areas of gender in ARD.
• Continually seek out ways to build cohesion among the distinct programs and, where possible, develop integrated programming initiatives.
• Serve as a member of the Management Team participating in strategic positioning and decision-making and working towards a farsighted, efficient and effective leadership for AWARD
• Resolve difficult and sensitive issues related to programs internally and with partners.
• Working with the Director, support resource mobilization initiatives.  

Essential Academic and Professional Qualifications: 

• Advanced degree in agricultural or social sciences (PhD preferred)
• A minimum of 5 years international experience working in the fields of agricultural research, and/or gender in international development and/or organizational change and development.
• Experience managing implementation of complex institutional transformation processes on the African continent
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience working in Francophone Africa will be ad added advantage 

Skills and Competencies: 

• Knowledge of, and experience in program design, management, implementation and donor reporting.
• Excellent leadership, supervisory, planning and organization skills with a collaborative management style.
• Ability to interview, select and supervise staff, as well as delegate work effectively including establishing goals and priorities for staff and evaluating performance.
• Creative, conceptual and analytical thinker with strong written and oral skills
• Ability to forge and maintain effective working relationships with AWARD’s diverse stakeholders.
• Proven ability in publication and communication of program results to a variety of audiences.
• French language fluency and cultural competence working in Francophone Africa
• “Digitally savvy” and familiar with a diversity of tech tools.
• Flexibility and sense of humour. 

Terms of offer:

 

AWARD is hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre and is an equal opportunity employer and offers a collegial and gender-sensitive working environment. We believe that staff diversity promotes excellence and strongly encourage applications from qualified women. This position is remunerated on international terms and will be for an initial period of two (2) years renewable, subject to nine (9) months’ probation period. The position will be based at the AWARD Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

 

How to apply:

 

Go to http://worldagroforestry.org/working-for-icraf/vacancies, complete the application form and attach your cover letter and CV/Resume (as one document – labelled with your First Name and Last Name).

 

Applications will be considered until 13 February 2017. Please note that only short-listed applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.

 

We invite you to learn more about AWARD and World Agroforestry Centre by accessing our web sites www.awardfellowships.org and www.worldagroforestry.org