Climate-Smart Agriculture Associate

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 7,000+ 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, our farmers 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

We are looking for someone with 2 or more years of agroforestry, rural development, climate change, or rural extension experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

• One Acre Fund is committed to transforming our 1-million-farmer core program into a force against climate change. The Climate-Smart Agriculture Associate will identify, prototype, and scale behavior change interventions to improve farmer adoption of practices that enhance net agricultural carbon sequestration. As part of the Global Impact team, you will report to the Global Impact Lead.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Improve climate-smart extension – You will develop and coordinate the implementation of (i) research tools to allow R&D teams to explore the causes for the adoption of carbon-sequestering practices, and (ii) processes to develop and test marketing and training to increase farmers´ climate-smart practices adoption.
• Behavior Change Research – You will develop research tools and protocols to ensure the carbon sequestration trial pipeline maximizes opportunities to understand and monitor farmer adoption/compliance with perennial farming systems (e.g. alley cropping) and soil carbon enhancing practices (e.g. residue retention).
• Barriers Analysis and Farming Systems Research – One Acre Fund’s ability to promote carbon sequestration depends on understanding farmers’ needs and constraints. You will refine tools to ensure R&D teams to characterize and understand farmers’ livelihoods and farming systems, to produce insights on opportunities for improved interventions. This work includes surveys, barriers analysis, and participatory rural appraisal research.
• Support Compliance, Intervention Design, and Testing – You will provide support to multiple teams within One Acre Fund, support on innovation, intervention design, and testing. You provide rapid responses to urgent technical questions, desk research, strategy development, creation of decision-support tools for independent teams, design creative intervention prototypes, incentives, and ensure knowledge sharing across teams.

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:

• 2+ years experience with research on smallholder agriculture, with a farming systems emphasis and including work around climate-smart agriculture or agroforestry.
• 1+ years of experience with research and extension project design and management, including participatory methods, rural appraisal, human-centered design, surveys, and focus groups.
• A postgraduate degree in agriculture, climate change, rural development, or a related field is an advantage.
• Experience with rural extension services, prototype, and testing or marketing is an asset.
• You will be asked to have at least basic proficiency in statistical analysis, and comfort with Excel.
• Humility. We place a lot of value on open and frank feedback in order to grow as a team.
• A willingness to commit for at least two years. This is a long–term, career-track role.
• The role may require 25-50% travel for at least the first year (reduced over time)
• Language: English required; French or Kiswahili desirable.

PREFERRED START DATE

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, start dates can vary significantly by role. We are adapting rapidly to Covid-19 and most of our team is now working remotely. Given the changing environment, we will appreciate your flexibility in confirming a start date.

JOB LOCATION

Kigali, Rwanda

BENEFITS

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

SPONSOR INTERNATIONAL CANDIDATES

Yes, East Africans are strongly encouraged to apply.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

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.

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.