Officer – Enterprise Risk & Compliance at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

 The Position

 Officer – Enterprise Risk & Compliance Job Reference: ERC/OPS/10/2025

 The Enterprise Risk and Compliance Officer will play a key role in ensuring AGRA operates within a sound risk management and compliance framework. The officer will provide technical expertise in enterprise risk management, compliance with donor regulations, and adherence to corporate governance best practices. This role involves monitoring AGRA’s enterprise risk register, supporting the implementation of risk mitigation measures, and ensuring compliance with donor regulations on procurement, contracting, financial management, and sub-granting.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support the development and implementation of AGRA’s enterprise risk management framework.
• Implement and monitor AGRA’s risk management framework, ensuring risks are identified, assessed, and mitigated.
• Maintain and review a consolidated register of risks across the institution, ensuring regular reviews and timely updates.
• Compile quality and timely risk and compliance reports and updates for review by the Senior Officer, Enterprise Risk and Compliance.
• Provide support to risk owners in articulating key risk indicators, effectively managing and monitoring associated risks, and ensuring the development and successful implementation of control frameworks.
• Support the design and delivery of AGRA’s consolidated compliance framework.
• Facilitate/attend risk committees, working with the Senior officer, ERC, and Risk owners
• Develop and periodically revise AGRA’s compliance plan to ensure alignment with evolving risks and donor requirements.
• Ensuring that at the start of new awards, implementation teams have a donor contract management plan with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, understanding of compliance requirements.
• Support AGRA’s own policies and procedures for restricted funding, and compliance with relevant regulatory and statutory requirements.
• Ensuring that at the conclusion of every award, AGRA teams have a clear understanding of the terms and conditions for contract close-out out including submission of final reports, award-specific audits, appropriate record storage, systems specifications, and asset disposal.
• Recommend appropriate policy changes to ensure AGRA’s ongoing compliance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements, donor compliance, and best practices for the sector.
• Frequently provide suggestions to AGRA systems, controls, and conduct of business; to align with the relevant donor policies and standards.
• Support new business development/resource mobilization efforts in the generation of new proposals, budgets, and identifying matters of risk for management attention.
• Support Finance unit processes associated with financial fiduciary reports and institution audits.
• Review and implement applicable Enterprise Risk and Compliance training programs to ensure the strengthening of a risk and compliance aware culture in AGRA.
• Provide training, capacity support, document review, and technical assistance to staff at head office and country offices to ensure operationalization of donor compliance, donor awards/ contract management, efficient donor reporting, risk management, and restricted funding considerations as applicable.
• Engage and train/guide grantees were appropriate to communicate the program’s risk management requirements and build the capacity of grantees to meet risk reporting standards.
• Design and implement quantitative and qualitative research approaches as appropriate to support evidence-based responses to critical risk areas faced by AGRA.
• Create data collection and analysis to capture lessons at both programmatic and operational risk incidents and near misses, facilitating continuous feedback into Enterprise-wide risk management.
• Keep abreast of current issues and developments in the relevant sectors to bring an informed perspective to the risk management and compliance processes.
• Providing a help desk function to provide expert advice in areas such as donor-compliant budgeting, financial management when using development funds, different donor procurement of goods and services considerations, partner sub-granting, anti-terror finance, and other areas of donor compliance, depending on the nature and source of restricted funding.
• Support the Implementation of risk mitigation measures together with other divisions and units on areas of concern in relation to compliance and risk management matters
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of Enterprise risk management training modules to support capacity building.
• Support the Unit’s Advocacy role for AGRA’s compliance with the rules and regulations and contractual mechanisms.
• Provide advisory services on enterprise risk management and compliance best practices.
• Collaborate with teams to implement internal controls that mitigate risks and enhance operational efficiency.
• Collaborating with the program leads to ensure compliance with donor award requirements.
• Engage with finance and procurement teams to ensure grant-making and procurement processes align with compliance standards.
• Influence AGRA’s compliance culture by advocating for continuous improvement in internal controls.
• Work with HR and other departments to integrate compliance training into AGRA’s learning and development initiatives.
• Collaborate with external experts and donors to stay updated on compliance with best practices.
• Advises on the mitigation of compliance issues that may arise in the life of the Project.
• Advocates compliance within the organization through continuously educating the key stakeholders at AGRA on key regulatory and compliance requirements.
• Influences compliance with statutory obligations, corporate policies, procedures, and systems
• Ensure timely identification and mitigation of operational, financial, Compliance, and strategic risks.
• Conduct risk assessments and provide recommendations for strengthening AGRA’s risk posture.
• Ensure compliance policies and procedures are consistently implemented across AGRA.
• Conduct periodic compliance reviews to ensure grant awards adhere to donor regulations
• Provide technical advice on risk exposure and mitigation strategies to senior leadership
• Support risk mitigation initiatives by providing insights into regulatory trends and compliance obligations
• Advises on the mitigation of any compliance issues that may arise in the life of the Project.
• Achieves good corporate governance through formulating and developing risk strategies and plans to ensure the policy guidelines are implemented and adhered to
• Delivers on other support functions as deemed necessary by the Senior Advisor and the Unit.

Key Qualifications and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Risk Management, or related field, and/or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Professional Accountancy qualifications (CPA, ACCA, CFE, CIMA, etc.) or Risk-related professional qualifications (CRMA, IRM, etc.) will be a plus.
• Minimum 3 years’ experience working in finance, accounting, audit, or risk management, preferably with international organizations in the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), International Development Organization (IDO), Not for Profit sector (NFP).
• Experience working/interacting with various institutional and private charities and private foundations with the same
• Experience working with major donors, including USAID, CIDA, DANIDA, BMGF, Rockefeller Foundation, KfW, BMZ, and IKEA Foundation.
• Knowledge of ERM frameworks (e.g., COSO, ISO 31000) and application to risk management practices in organizations.
• Experience in the application of best corporate risk governance and compliance practices within an international donor-funded organization.
• An understanding of risk and compliance in the context of development organizations operating in Africa.
• Experience in making risk-based decisions in a complex operating environment with multiple competing demands.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, multi-cultural, and fluid environment.
• Ability to take a broad view of organizational issues and objectives and to evaluate operational risks in the context of other risks.
• Results-oriented, accountable, with proactive leadership skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with individuals and groups of people.