Agroforestry Director

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 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across eight core countries in Africa, we help farmers succeed by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers' homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. This work is bolstered by an agroforestry program with over 2,500 rural nurseries run by local entrepreneurs.

To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.

About the Role

Smallholder farm families are at the nexus of several of this century’s defining challenges: extreme poverty, climate change, and biodiversity loss. The challenges of subsistence farming are compounded by an volatile climate and declining ecological health. As stewards of the land, smallholders can help end the cycle of degradation if they are equipped with the right tools, support, and motivation.

You will help us address this challenge through agroforestry and Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). Specifically, you will improve existing programs that currently serve more than 2 million farm families and produce over 70 million seedlings per year. You will also have ample opportunity to innovate new approaches to generate positive change for farm families and the environment.

The Director of Agroforestry will directly supervise a dedicated international agroforestry team, will co-lead embedded agroforestry teams in each country program in collaboration with senior program leaders, and will report to the Impact Director

Responsibilities

Build vision and implement impactful FLR programs, aimed at planting 1 billion trees by 2030 in a way that generates meaningful impact:

• Work with leaders and teams across 10 markets to develop and refine the strategy in each country to maximize impact (outcomes for landholders and the environment) from our tree planting programs.
• Assess the main levers for reaching primary goals including scale (1 billion trees by 2030), cost-effective impact (SROI), climate resilience, and ecological restoration.

Lead engagement and build relationships to accelerate scale and impact:

• Lead external engagement related to our agroforestry work. You will help us build our network in the agroforestry and the climate sector. You will work with senior leaders to expand our network of funding partners and secure funding to grow operations.
• Explore new programmatic and/or technical partnerships to expand our network of farmers, improve the quality of our programs, and identify new opportunities. 

Develop and Oversee New Initiatives to Broaden and Deepen Impact for Farmers and the Environment:

• Identify, pilot, and scale new investments to improve program impact and reach.   You could bolster our growing Payments for Ecosystem Service programs, explore additional economic opportunities associated with non-timber forest products, or launch entirely new programs.

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:

Experience in Agroforestry and Landscape Restoration

• 5+ years of leadership and demonstrated results in agroforestry, restoration, or related domains in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• University or advanced degree in agroforestry, ecology, restoration, or related fields.
• Familiarity with nature-based carbon projects, including implementation and certification.

External Relationships 

• Exceptional written and verbal communication to engage a range of audiences, including rural farmers, internal staff, external partners, and organizational leadership.
• History of collaboration with primary actors in the forestry and landscape restoration sectors, including implementers, technical resources, and policy-makers.
• Experience launching new programs or building successful partnerships.

Management Skills

• Experience managing high-level team members and coordinating complex and scalable programs.
• Penchant for data-driven decision-making with structured analysis and fact-based recommendations.
• Experience with multi-year, multi-project budgeting and planning.

Other

• Willingness to travel within the region up to 25% of the time.
• English Fluency. Other preferred languages include Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Chichewa, Amhar.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kigali, Rwanda (flexible within our countries of operation) 

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.

Application Deadline

29 February 2024

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.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

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.