The role of the Country Director is pivotal in providing strategic leadership for defining and achieving AGRA’s Strategic Plans in Kenya. This role acts as the Public Face of AGRA in the country, establishing, maintaining, and enhancing crucial relationships with the government, private sector, donors, and other key stakeholders. Furthermore, the Country Director oversees and drives the program technical team and operational support roles in-country to ensure effective day-to-day operational and program delivery, and leads the process of identifying and exploring potential options for funding.
This role represents AGRA in the country and acts as the catalyst for AGRA’s integrated interventions, under the guidance of the VP Program Delivery and respective Regional Director. The Director is mainly responsible for coordinating activities, building necessary relationships, actively managing country strategies, and maintaining close linkages with the Centre of Technical Expertise Division and relevant support services from the headquarters. S/he will lead the country team in liaising with the government and donors and will be viewed as the expert on needs in the country, providing feedback to technical teams, and leading in identifying grantees and the right avenues for making AGRA’s investments effective.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Develops the country strategy, change narrative, and annual work plans in collaboration with relevant teams at the center and regional level.
- Provides strategic oversight for quality program execution in line with government priorities, as well as AGRA’s goals, vision, and reputation the institution aspires to.
- Identifies and pursues opportunities to mobilize resources in support of AGRA’s priorities and/or advocating for public and private sector stakeholders to scale AGRA’s demonstrated intervention models in the country.
- Supports the Country Programs Lead in directing program officers to research and develop grantee portfolios dealing with binding constraints, resources, and opportunities for increasing and improving program delivery.
- Support country teams to strengthen collaboration, accountability, and stronger decentralization with support from regional and central technical/operational teams.
- Works closely with the Centre of Technical Expertise (CTE) in implementing the strategy through established collaboration instruments, such as deal teams, action guides and playbooks.
- Convenes and builds relationships with national government, private sector, donors, civil society organizations, and other in-country stakeholders, with the aim to build and nurture country-level strategic partnerships deemed essential to AGRA’s mission.
- Leads in representing AGRA in key meetings and forums of the government and its development partners including sector coordination platforms that contribute to the advancement of AGRA’s investments in the country.
- Leads in supporting and advancing national agricultural sector development plans to identify and pursue opportunities to (i) mobilize resources in support of AGRA’s priorities and/or (ii) advocate for public and private sector stakeholders to scale AGRA’s demonstrated intervention models in country.
- Advises and relays feedback from AGRA’s partners, especially the government, development and implementing partners to other parts of the organization.
- Engages donors in-country furnishing them with required reports, day-to-day communications, and timely insights on program challenges and breakthroughs in a manner which maintains their positive engagement with the program.
- Enables talent management and development of existing staff, acquiring new staff as necessary and managing team dynamics to ensure high performance and positive employee experience.
- Fosters a collaborative and inclusive work environment by upholding the AGRA values and behaviors.
- Provides strategic leadership and directs and provides coaching to relevant technical and operational teams and strengthens the quality of the country team to be fit for purpose.
- Oversees country-level interventions set out in the annual work plan, in close collaboration with program teams to deliver innovative and integrated intervention models across systems and value chain.
- Ensures a robust integrated Government programming; and a robust approach to AGRA’s 3 routes to impact (end-to-end value chain development, anchor firms in secondary value chains and national ecosystem, and government agenda implementation).
- Builds on the expertise of AGRA program officers in selected strategic business lines and other key thematic areas of intervention to enhance the operations of country strategies and link program investments and activities to other AGRA initiatives.
Key Qualifications and Experience Required:
- At least a master’s degree (MBA/MSc/MA) in agriculture, Agriculture Economics or related disciplines.
- Professional development programs in leadership and management including financial and staff supervision/performance management.
- Demonstrated capacity to mobilize partners and be a good partner to the relevant respective in-country Ministry, and experience engaging with various senior Government players.
- Experience engaging with various agriculture private and development players in-country.
Behavioral Competencies:
- Ability to drive collaboration through inclusive and agile teaming, breaking siloes, sharing information celebrating joint successes.
- Ability to execute excellently by delivering high-quality work at speed, committing to decisions and plans, and increasing accountability to deliver impact at scale.
- Ability to be sincerely constructive in interactions with others by demonstrating trust, sincerity, and care, in recognition of our joint purpose.
- Ability be increasingly entrepreneurial by breaking hierarchies, embracing learning and innovation to unlock the potential of diversity and ideas.
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