Regenerative Business & Resilience Lead at TechnoServe: (Deadline 23 January 2025)

Regenerative Business & Resilience Lead at TechnoServe: (Deadline 23 January 2025)

Regenerative Business & Resilience Lead

Job Title: Regenerative Business & Resilience Lead, ReGenerate Rwanda

Reporting to the: Senior Program Manager

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Grade: 9

About TechnoServe: Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of businesses and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics, and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing…when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

Program Overview:

ReGenerate Rwanda is a program funded by the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and implemented by TechnoServe in Rwanda. The program is set to run over five years, from 2023 to 2027.

Our Goal: We aim to sustainably increase the income of 30,000 individuals (70% of whom are women and youth) living in poverty in the Western and Southern regions of Rwanda.

Our Approach: Utilizing a market systems development strategy, the program is dedicated to identifying, catalyzing, and scaling systemic solutions.

We collaborate with private sector partners to:

• Develop business solutions that meet the unmet demand for essential products and services in the target regions.
• Prioritize inclusivity by integrating women and youth as central to this transformative growth.
• Transition toward regenerative economic models.

By addressing the needs of the most remote and vulnerable households, the program aims to foster new local business opportunities and stimulate job creation.

Job Summary:

TechnoServe seeks a highly qualified Regenerative Business & Resilience Lead responsible for ensuring ReGenerate Rwanda program interventions build the resilience of market actors and ensure that as market systems develop, they do not have detrimental environmental outcomes.

 S/he will engage with partners and stakeholders (in coordination with Market System Managers) to support regenerative business and resilience action. Based in Kigali with frequent travel to Western and Southern Rwanda, the Regenerative Business & Resilience Lead will define, iteratively update, and advance strategies that promote environmentally sustainable, regenerative business solutions and approaches for market systems/sectors prioritized for ReGenerate Rwanda support.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement Regenerative Business and Resilience Strategy: Collaborate with the Program Director, Senior Program Manager, Market Systems Managers, and Gender & Youth Lead to implement accordingly and adopt a comprehensive strategy on Regenerative Pathways.
• Intervention Design: Assist the Market System Manager in scoping and designing interventions with a focus on regenerative and resilience principles.
• Environmental Mainstreaming: Offer guidance and input to all workstreams to ensure that environmental concerns are consistently incorporated.
• Field Visits and Monitoring: Conduct regular field visits to oversee intervention activities related to regenerative and resilience practices, and communicate any changes needed and lessons learned.
• Gender and Youth Inclusion: Work closely with the Gender & Youth Lead to ensure thoughtful and consistent integration of gender and youth inclusion within ReGenerate Rwanda’s portfolio of MSD interventions, adhering to the Do No Harm principle.
• Intervention Guide Updates: Assist Market System Managers in keeping intervention guides current, with a focus on regenerative and resilience indicators.
• Portfolio Expansion and Strategy Development: Contribute to the expansion and strategic development of the portfolio around regenerative and resilience.
• Case Studies and Advisory Materials: Develop a repository of case studies on regenerative business and resilience, drawing from local and regional best practices, along with advisory talking points to help the team navigate trade-offs between short-term beneficiary priorities and long-term community, sector, and environmental impacts.
• Capacity Building: Enhance the capacity of the ReGenerate Rwanda team and private sector actors to understand the business case for environmentally sustainable, regenerative business solutions, gender equality, and unconscious bias.
• Technical Assistance: Provide technical support to partners in building inclusive, regenerative business solutions that promote living incomes, social well-being, reduced emissions, and strengthened biodiversity, in collaboration with Market System Managers and Partnership Officers.
• MEL Activities Participation: Actively engage in program monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities, including tool creation, results reviews, and learning exchanges.
• Technical Input for Plans: Offer relevant technical input for program work plans, budgets, and MEL Plan, including the Learning Agenda, as needed.
• Environmental and Climate-Risk Assessments: Lead ongoing assessments, research studies, and stakeholder consultations to inform program strategies and approaches in regenerative business and resilience, the MEL and Learning Agenda, and adaptive management.

Basic Qualifications and Competencies:

• Bachelor’s Degree + 7 years of experience, Master’s Degree + 5 years of experience in Environmental Sciences or Resource Management, Social Science, Public Policy, Economics, Business Management/Administration, or related fields.
• Over 3 years experience working in the private sector in management consulting, market research, banking, or related fields, or in an NGO/government role with an orientation towards sustainable private sector development in Rwanda; experience in implementing development assistance programs aimed at strengthening regenerative business, environmental conservation, and resiliency considered an asset, but not required.
• Demonstrated understanding of regenerative business models and practices.
• Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically with various populations, partners, and stakeholders (often with different perspectives and priorities) land with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity; must possess professional poise and strong negotiation and interpersonal skills to effectively persuade, motivate, and influence others to adopt new strategies and practices.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills in a multicultural environment, including experience building relationships and managing conflict with people from diverse backgrounds; commitment to engaging with low-income populations with a high degree of humility.
• Demonstrated orientation toward innovative thinking with a strong ability to generate creative ideas/solutions and predict possible outcomes.
• Ability to work with tight deadlines while managing multiple tasks and programs.
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Fluency in Kinyarwanda

Required Languages:

• Fluency in English with excellent oral and written communication skills required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Detail orientation, including strong organizational, analytical, and quantitative skills.
• Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other administrative applications.
• Strong private sector market orientation, entrepreneurial and innovative thinker.

Supervisory Responsibilities: 

• Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams is desired.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe’s vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability, and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact Human Resources at [email protected] or call +1 202 785 4515.

Application Link

Deadline: 23rd January 2024

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