2 Job Positions at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Modernizing Agriculture Activity: (Deadline 17 March 2023)

2 Job Positions at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Modernizing Agriculture Activity: (Deadline 17 March 2023)

Climate and Resilience Advisor at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Modernizing Agriculture Activity: (Deadline 17 March 2023)

Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Wunguke

Climate and Resilience Advisor

CNFA

CNFA is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to stimulating economic growth in the agricultural sector by nurturing entrepreneurship, private enterprise, and market linkages. CNFA specializes in fostering private sector investments in training, new technologies and marketing as a means to increase the overall competitiveness of agricultural value chains and rural development, to increase people’s incomes, to develop skills in the rural workforce, and to facilitate exports.

Program Description USAID/Rwanda Hinga Wunguke Activity:

The purpose of the five-year, USD $29.75M Hinga Wunguke Activity is to support increased agriculture productivity and income, access to finance and markets, and access and consumption of nutritious food products in Rwanda, while increasing the resilience of the agriculture and food systems to the changing climate. To achieve this goal, the Activity will sustainably increase agricultural productivity, increase access to finance for farmers and agribusinesses, improve producers’ nutrition and market outcomes, and strengthen the enabling environment to foster market-driven outcomes in agriculture.

Position Description

Reporting to the Director of Agricultural Productivity, the Climate and Resilience Advisor is a team member of the unit that will identify and shape public and private sector partnerships that drive climate resilience. The Advisor will work with other technical staff in the unit and across teams to facilitate interventions that support farmers to increase their use of climate information, or implement risk reducing actions, and increase their climate resilience. The Climate and Resilience Advisor will be based in Kigali.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties of the Climate and Resilience Advisor include, but are not limited to:

• Collaborate with Hinga Wunguke staff and facilitate other stakeholders to promote the adoption of improved inputs such as climate smart-seeds, fertilizers, compost, agro-chemicals on Hinga Wunguke targeted value chain crops.
• Strengthen the capacity of GoR extension staff (trainers), FFS Facilitators, Farmer Promoters and other extension service providers such as agro-dealers, youth, other private sector players to address climate smart agriculture (CSA).
• Explore opportunities to collaborate with universities and institutions to support integration more content & practical, hands-on training on climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture into standard curricula.
• Work with public and private actors and Hinga Wunguke team to develop strategies that promote smallholder uptake of improved management practices or technologies that promote improved climate risk reduction and/or natural resources management for the increased resilience to climate change.
• Collaborate with market actors to organize and supervise the establishment and management of demonstration plots to coach farmers on good agriculture practices (GAP) including CSA & NSA practices.
• In coordination with the Hinga Wunguke team, facilitate technical meetings and workshops with partners and stakeholders from GoR, private sector, NGOs, donors, civil society and academia; to improve program activities and brainstorm solutions.
• Contribute to developing annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly work plans and reports as per the requirements of Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), USAID and/or stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the Climate Finance Advisor to create deal flow for financial institutions and investors.
• Assist with budget projection, financial management, and MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning) of activities related to the scope of this assignment.
• Collaborate with the Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor to ensure approaches are inclusive of women, youth, people with disabilities, and other groups.
• Coordinate with the Nutrition and SBCC (Social Behavior Change Communication) Unit ensure that nutrition and SBCC approaches are integrated into extension and climate smart agriculture related activities.
• Undertake other assignments or tasks at the request of the Chief of Party or Ag Productivity Director or their designates.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Climate Science, Climate Change, Agronomy, Agricultural Economics, International Development or related area of study or equivalent work experience, with a Master’s degree preferred;
• At least five years of work experience in climate smart agriculture, capacity building, and/or project design and planning related to climate change and adaptation;
• Demonstrated experience with resilience approaches and concepts;
• Understanding and experience working with or collaborating with the private sector;
• Experience in USAID-funded or donor-funded climate program(s), preferably in Rwanda;
• Demonstrated ability to interact and communicate with wide range of stakeholders both verbally and in writing;
• Ability to manage tasks independently and as part of a team;
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate, willingness to innovate and ability to think systematically;
• Proven experience in managing multiple and competing tasks while maintaining quality of deliverables within deadlines;
• Advanced oral and written communication skills in English required; Fluent Kinyarwanda required, good French skills are considered an asset.

Application Instructions

All interested and qualified Candidate can send their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates and references) documents to: ModAg@cnfarwanda.org not later than 17 March 2023 at 6:00 PM.  Please quote the job title in the subject and title your CV file with YOUR NAME, POSITION APPLIED.

Only candidates selected for interview will be contacted.

Grants Manager at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Modernizing Agriculture Activity: (Deadline 17 March 2023)

USAID/Hinga Wunguke Activity

Grants Manager

CNFA

CNFA is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to stimulating economic growth in the agricultural sector by nurturing entrepreneurship, private enterprise, and market linkages. CNFA specializes in fostering private sector investments in training, new technologies and marketing as a means to increase the overall competitiveness of agricultural value chains and rural development, to increase people’s incomes, to develop skills in the rural workforce, and to facilitate exports.

Program Description USAID/Rwanda Hinga Wunguke Activity:

The purpose of the five-year, USD 29.75M Hinga Wunguke Activity is to support increased agriculture productivity and income, access to finance and markets, and access and consumption of nutritious food products in Rwanda, while increasing the resilience of the agriculture and food systems to the changing climate. To achieve this goal, the Activity will sustainably increase agricultural productivity, increase access to finance for farmers and agribusinesses, improve producers’ nutrition and market outcomes, and strengthen the enabling environment to foster market-driven outcomes in agriculture.

Position Description

Reporting to the Director of Finance and Operations, the Grants Manager is responsible for operationalizing public and private stakeholder partnerships through the Activity’s grants and contracts funds. The Grants Manager will support Activity technical staff to identify appropriate mechanisms (grants or contracts) to co-fund partnerships with the private sector. S/he will be responsible for the solicitation, review, selection, management, and closeout of all grants, service agreements, and contracts with Activity partners in partnership with technical staff. S/he will contribute to the development and contribution to relevant project manuals (grants, operations, etc.) as well as ensuring grant and contract activity (milestones, procurement, and technical assistance) comply with the manuals and USG and CNFA policies. The Grants Manager is based in Kigali.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties of the Grants Manager include, but are not limited to:

• Responsible for the solicitation, review, selection, management, and closeout of all grant and contract agreements under partnerships with correct procurement documentation;
• Manage a grant and contracts portfolio focused on using grants as a tool for market systems development to facilitate private-sector co-investment into the Rwandan agricultural sector;
• The Grants Manager will advise Component Leads and other technical staff on properly developing and implementing grants and contracts to achieve both the Activity’s and grantees’ goals;
• Responsible for developing the project Grant Manual and contributing to the development of other relevant manuals;
• Ensure grant and contract activities (milestones, procurement, and technical assistance) comply with the manual and USG and CNFA policies;
• Guide technical staff on how to operationalize opportunities to facilitate co-investment opportunities with public and private sector stakeholders, including banks and other lenders, especially in the areas of agricultural production, processing and distribution through grants and contracts.
• Collaborate with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team to monitor compliance and assess achievements of private sector partners, identify challenges and provide viable solutions as needed;
• Directly supervise an Officer and four Coordinators, and provide staff training, as required;
• Triangulate with local partners and conduct site visits to ensure effective implementation of grants and contracts and provide compliance training, as required;
• Coordinate with relevant component leads and leads in the field and the Kigali-based Technical and Administrative Management units to ensure smooth implementation of grant activities;
• Collaborate with the Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor to ensure annual program statements, calls for expression of interest, and other procurement mechanisms are inclusive of women, youth, and other groups;
• Ensure quality information management through regular maintenance of grant and contract files and coordination and preparation of documents and files for internal and external audits;
• Undertake other assignments or tasks at the request of the Chief of Party or designated representative(s).

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in accounting, business, public administration or a related field;
• At least five years progressively responsible work experience in managing grants and/or contract portfolios for complex donor-funded project(s) related to agricultural finance, value chain development, agricultural investment, private sector investment management, and/or access to finance;
• Minimum of three years of experience in USAID-funded program(s), and demonstrated knowledge of USAID rules & regulations (FAR, AIDAR, ADS 303);
• At least 3 years of experience in the private sector preferred;
• Excellent management and administrative skills; ability to negotiate budgets, reviewing financial vouchers, and expense reports;
• Administrative experience with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and NGO procedures;
• Demonstrated ability to interact and communicate with wide range of stakeholders both verbally and in writing;
• Effective at collaboration; willingness to innovate and ability to think systematically;
• Proven experience in managing multiple and competing tasks while maintaining quality of deliverables within deadlines;
• Advanced oral and written communication skills in English required; Fluent Kinyarwanda required, good French skills are considered an asset.

Application Instructions

All interested and qualified Candidate can send their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates and references) documents to: ModAg@cnfarwanda.org not later than 17 March 2023 at 6:00 PM.  Please quote the job title in the subject and title your CV file with YOUR NAME, POSITION APPLIED.

Only candidates selected for interview will be contacted.