Kenya People Innovations Associate at One Acre Fund

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

Acts as a point of contact for all members and prospective members to provide timely assistance

Ensure that membership benefits are delivered, and contribute to an excellent member experience.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. We provide quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural trainings to improve harvests. We measure our success by our ability to make farmers more prosperous: On average, farmers harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund.

We are growing quickly. We currently serve more than 800,000 farm families in Eastern and Southern Africa, with more than 7,500 full-time staff, and we aim to serve 1 million farm families by 2020.

JOB DESCRIPTION

One Acre Fund began in Kenya and Kenya is now one of our largest and fastest-growing countries of operation. Our vision for 2030 is to end hunger in Kenya and provide a pathway to prosperity for every farm family in the nation. One Acre Fund Kenya is transitioning from a start-up to a mature operation – and we need additional high performing staff members to continue our strong growth trajectory. Working with our Kenya team presents the opportunity to build upon our strong operational foundations and explore new ways to impact our well-established network of hundreds of thousands of farm families.

The People Innovations Associate’s responsibilities would include, but not be limited to:
Strategy & Vision

• Together with global and Kenya leadership, contribute to setting a clear vision and set of priorities for team culture, diversity, and inclusion within the Kenya program.
• Gather team feedback on ways we can make One Acre Fund an exceptional place to work. Turn that feedback into a clear project pipeline to help ensure we are meeting our career promises to all staff and driving forward career opportunities across our team.
• Drive forward the results of two our key objectives for the long-rain 2019 season:
• We have a clear, shared vision for team culture and are actively working towards it.
• Every staff member at every job grade knows how they are performing against expectations in their current role.

Project Management

• Scope and implement high-priority projects relating to team culture, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and People Ops.
• Create and maintain a key set of team metrics to measure our impact on staff satisfaction, culture, and D&I.
• Work with key stakeholders to execute and monitor projects, ensuring successful outcomes in creating a more positive, inclusive team culture.

• Some initial projects the People Innovations Associate will work on include:

• Standardized pay grade definitions: Work closely with department heads to ensure pay grade definitions clearly articulate the scope and responsibilities of roles at each level. Work with leadership to create plans for introducing the updated definitions to their teams.

• People support hub: Create a People support hub for all staff which links to all HR, Training, and Corporate Operations policies, tools, and documents.

• Onboarding review: Review how new staff are onboarded in Kenya. Create a more robust onboarding to ensure all new staff: 1. have clarity on OAF’s approach to career growth and professional development, 2. know how to access key project and management tools, and 3. are able to effectively contribute to OAF’s shared vision of culture.

• Build career clarity across the Kenya program: The People Division will play an important role to ensure there is career clarity for all staff, at all levels. For example, this could include rolling-out an updated performance review system, ensuring managers are meeting minimum standards, and implementing strategies for increasing career conversations across the organization.

Communication

• Proactively and effectively communicate up to country leadership, down to departments, and across to other colleagues.
• Be the key point person for all global D&I and culture initiatives, ensuring a Kenya perspective is included in project scoping as well as initiatives are rolled-out successfully in-country.
• Deliver regular culture, diversity, and inclusion communication to the Kenya team, ensuring your message is clear and the wider team aligns around key goals for these areas.
• Write and lead trainings related to culture and D&I to create positive behavior change across the team.

Team & Culture

• Serve as a leader and role model to the Kenya team at large. Model the One Acre Fund values, invest in people, and engage across the team.
• Manage and create feedback channels to ensure all staff groups can be heard and receive clear communication from country leadership. Keep pulse on team feedback and concerns.
• The ideal candidate will be able to relate well to staff at all levels, mediate conflict, and discuss staffing issues effectively with leadership.

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

We are seeking an exceptional professional with 2+ years of work experience and ideally a demonstrated passion for international development. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• At a minimum, a Bachelor’s degree is required for this position with strong demonstrated previous work experience.
• Leadership experience at work, or outside of work.
• A willingness to commit to living in Kakamega, Kenya for at least two years.
• Language: English required, Kiswahili fluency a plus.

PREFERRED START DATE

As soon as possible

COMPENSATION

Commensurate with experience

LOCATION

75% Kakamega, 25% Nairobi or location of your choice

BENEFITS

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

SPONSOR INTERNATIONAL CANDIDATES

Yes. East Africans are strongly encouraged to apply.

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.

• Membership support
  • Oversee membership applications, and undertake all aspects of data entry relating to members in accordance with the agreed data for collection requirements.
  • Conduct key membership tasks including creating invoices and receipts, processing membership invoices and payments, and keeping membership fee payment tracking files up to date.
  • Ensure that all responses to membership enquiries are immediate and to a good standard.
  • Facilitate joint planning and review with producer organizations and ensure timely gathering and distribution of information to producer organizations.
  • Contribute to the development of the memberships strategy
  • Deliver a seamless experience to the members as well as providing support and assistance to team members where needed.
• Reporting and Communication
  • Lead in preparation of all field level reports on progress of implementation of membership activities
  • Ensure effective two-way communication between producer organizations and field staff
  • Regularly make follow ups and collect feedback/information from producer organizations for monitoring & evaluation of services received to inform continuous improvements
  • Clearly communicating membership benefits
• Administrative Support
  • Support provide logistical support to the organization for events and workshops
  • Maintain and develop strategies for the administration of individual membership;
  • Develop and use annual and quarterly work plans to guide work and deliver results that support FTA members.
  • Follow up with POs for membership fulfilments related payments
  • Represent the FTA at meetings, events/forums, and conferences in and outside the country

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Knowledge and understanding of the concept of “membership” and experience working with such networks;
• Adept at MS Office, particularly Excel, Access, Word and PowerPoint
• Self-starter, action-oriented and results driven;
• Highly organized and methodical
• Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills, including demonstrated ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing;
• Ability to work to deadlines and cope with pressure, multi-task, demonstrate flexibility;
• Flexible team player, with awareness of and sensitivity to the multi-cultural environment in which the FTA operates;
• Mastery of English is essential; proficiency in additional languages in the region is highly desirable