Special Assistant to the President at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Job description

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Office of the President and Executive Committee Support

Work with the Chief of Staff to ensure an efficient and effective Office of the President. Lead on the preparation, execution, and follow up for Executive Committee meetings and retreats and all staff meetings, retreats, and social events with the Executive Officer and Executive Assistants. Lead on the President’s internal/employee communications with the Chief of Staff, HR, and Communications.

• Leadership Information Support
  • Work with the Chief of Staff to develop, manage, and maintain mechanism for information flow to and from the President to support efficient decision-making and communication throughout the institution and with external stakeholders.
  • Develop and maintain process for managing information coming to the President, including triage or delegation, monitoring follow-up, and at time, responding on behalf of the President or Chief of Staff. Manage tracking system for incoming invitations to ensure requests and decisions are managed and tracked for current decision-making and historical record keeping. Understand complex, cross-cutting requests from a variety of stakeholders across AGRA and from external partners.
  • Draft and manage President’s external correspondence that’s non-trip related.
• Project and Initiative Management
  • Manage or engage in initiatives or projects that are top priority to the President or Chief of Staff. For example, lead task forces solving a specific problem or create materials needed for the President’s or Board’s activities.
  • Lead strategic programmatic projects for which the President is taking direct ownership/co-ownership.
  • Manage a small grant/contracts portfolio through the Catalytic Fund or Office of the President budget on behalf of the President, as requested.
• President’s Engagement Planning and Implementation
  • Manage and execute all trips, events, and engagements (external and internal) for the President.
  • Partner with teams to develop recommendations, understand complex, cross-cutting requests, determine strategic alignment and intersections, develop and present recommendations, identify staffing needs, and trade-offs. Manage all aspects of trips, both internationally and within Kenya, including working closely with internal and external stakeholders to shape the trip.
  • Lead directly on briefs, talking points, and follow up as needed.
• Annual Planning
  • Facilitate process to compile prioritized requests for the President and develop strategic recommendations for internal/external profile and annual plan.
  • Manage and vet new internal/external opportunities arising through the year not included in plans.
  • Includes assessing and analyzing prioritized requests from stakeholders across AGRA and ensuring alignment and consistency with use of time and voice of other AGRA leaders.
  • Partner with the Chief of Staff, Communications, Policy & Advocacy, and Program teams to develop recommendations for the President’s and Vice Presidents’ annual plans.
• Profile Building and Media Engagement
  • Lead the work to develop and build the President’s profile and media engagement in partnership with our Communications team, particularly through the use of social media channels.
• Partner Relationship Management
  • Work with the President and internal relationship management stakeholders to help them build and maintain high quality relationships with top priority grantees and partners in the field, facilitating routine interactions and clear and consistent communications.
  • Project manage and execute VIP delegations, events, and activities sponsored by the President as needed.