Director, Agriculture & Climate Action at Mastercard Foundation

THE OPPORTUNITY

• Reporting to the Executive Director, Pan African Programs, the role will be responsible for building the Agriculture and Climate Action unit  within Pan-African Programs, by  designing the strategic direction, recruiting a team and  overseeing a portfolio of multi-country programs that will accelerate the  Foundation’s commitment to enable dignified and fulfilling work for young women and men.
• The successful candidate will be based in any of our listed offices in Africa (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria).

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

• Contribute to the consolidated Pan African Programs Strategy.
• Design the Agriculture and Climate Action strategy and roadmap.
• Identify the opportunities for the Foundation to establish strategic partnerships and deliver impact at scale at pan-African level to support the transformation of agriculture in Africa.
• Work with the Foundation’s leaders and resources to articulate and draft the agricultural and climate action roadmap.
• Lead the scoping, incubation, design, and delivery of all programs within Agriculture and Climate Action thematic area.
• Provide oversight of the programme’s activity portfolio, including work plans, budgets, implementation, and ensuring that reporting requirements and impact targets are met.
• Oversee agriculture and climate action programs delivery across the continent.
• Ensure strategic cohesion, coordination of programming efforts, and knowledge sharing within the agriculture and climate action thematic area while also collaborating with the Foundation’s Advisors.
• Manage risks related to agriculture and climate action thematic area and propose respective mitigation plan to the Executive Director for resolution.
• Engage and maintain relationships with the relevant stakeholders including institutions of interest, peer funders and others that have relevance to the Foundation’s work in the field of Agriculture and Climate Action.
• Convene thematic expertise and advance thought leadership externally and across the Foundation.
• Cultivating relationships and facilitating engagements (e.g., roundtables, forums) with external thought leaders, experts and innovators to advance the Foundation’s agriculture and climate action thought leadership.
• Serve as focal point for the Foundation in continental and global agriculture and climate platforms that can scale and accelerate the Foundation’s programs.
• Promote a culture of innovation and agility that facilitates the ideation of new programs.
• Promote collaboration and information sharing within Agriculture and Climate Action thematic area both inside and outside of the organization.
• Identify and help support cutting-edge research on agriculture and climate action across the full value chain and across the continent in conjunction with the research team.
• Interface with Foundation business partners across other functional areas to test/refine and deploy the most efficient operating model.
• Build and Lead a team in embedding operational excellence in day-to-day prioritization of work within Agriculture and Climate Action thematic area.
• Oversee team resourcing and delegation to align to business partner processes, performance management input for business partners.
• Interface with Country Directors in the design and delivery of Programs that have overlapping themes.
• Integrate the various programming across the Foundation linked to the Pan-African agriculture and climate action agenda.
• Provide linkages in programming at the country-level.
• Model and reinforce the Foundation’s values in behaviors and interactions across the teams.
• Coach direct reports across the team to support their productivity in the consistent excellent delivery of program KPIs.

WHO YOU ARE

• Master’s degree in social sciences, agronomy, agriculture, including gender/women’s/youth studies, education related field from a recognized university; or another relevant professional qualification is required.
• Minimum of 15 years’ relevant experience in a similar organisation setting with 5 at senior management level.
• Experience and knowledge of/with the landscape of local, national, regional, and pan-African organizations and networks as well as knowledge of the country-specific social, economic and political contexts.
• Experience in agriculture and/or climate action at Pan African level.
• Extensive experience of agriculture and/or climate action strategy and program design and implementation in Africa.
• Experience in leading organizational policy development and delivery and ensuring its effectively delivery across a global organization.
• Ability to be flexible within a fast paced, changing environment.
• Experience working with organizations that elevate Gender initiatives within the agriculture and climate action space.
• Mastery of Microsoft Office suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel).
• Strong coordination and project management skills.
• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills; demonstrated attention to detail and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Exposure to systems thinking with an ability to understand and engage with stakeholders in different ecosystems and design programming that addresses root causes and critical needs.
• Substantive knowledge of key issues and emerging trends and barriers in youth and work across Africa.
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills, proofreading skills with a high attention to detail.
• Demonstrated strategic-acumen and thinking skills.
• Demonstrable influencing skills at a senior leadership level and with high profile stakeholders.
• Proven success in developing and leading a global team.
• Strong inter-personal and influencing skills, able to manage conflict and handle sensitive issues, particularly in cross-cultural and cross-departmental contexts.
• Creative and solution-focused attitude.
• Proven people management skills and team-building skills.
• Experience in program design.
• Excellent inter-personal skills and experience of working in a multi-cultural team.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• Demonstrate a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.