Program Director at IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative

Your role

• This position will strategically lead and manage the delivery of various IDH programs in the East Africa region. With the scaling of VCT programs in Africa, and in addition to the increased importance of localizing strategic management and delivery, VCT requires more senior roles to be based on the African continent. Besides managing the delivery and implementation of programs together with a team of senior program managers and program managers, the Program Director will be responsible for the alignment of the programs, managing donor relations of the programs, and supporting the programs technically and strategically. Furthermore, to drive impact in African Food Systems, regional and local convening are becoming increasingly important. Convening large off-takers, governments and other key stakeholders is also an important aspect of this role.

Key Responsibilities:

• Effective leadership in the management of various VCT programs in the region, and guarantee their timely delivery and implementation, as well as the quality of the projects.
• Coordinating and aligning cross-learning in different VCT programs for efficiency in the delivery of impact results at the sector and regional levels.
• Provide strategic and technical support for program implementation through innovative, efficient, and effective strategies.
• Senior strategic stakeholder engagement and management guidance is provided in convening and expanding regional Food Systems Transformation Alliances (FSTA).
• Maintaining strong ties with the regional offices of VCT program donors as well as a pipeline of potential program partners.
• Developing program teams to be challenged and motivated to grow in technical capacity, industry networks and leadership roles within the BU and in the industry.

Who you are

• You create impact through analytical, data-driven, and result-oriented approaches to achieve Value chain transformation, sustainable sourcing, inclusive business models and sustainable agriculture. You have a deep understanding of agri-food SMEs and smallholder farming household realities. You possess the ability to drive change in complex processes with multiple stakeholder interests (FMCG / ACGC, off-takers, processors, and SMEs). You come with a strong strategic and tactical approach while having an eye on practical implementation and impact generation through program management. You are a strong people manager and team player working with the VCT team and other Business Units in IDH.

What you bring

• Working and thinking at master’s degree level, in a relevant field preferably in business administration, (agricultural/development) economics, (agricultural) finance, supply chain management, etc
• 15+ years’ experience operating in the interface of public and private sectors, driving sector and value chain development and sustainable sourcing of agricultural commodities.
• A robust network in agriculture private sector, investment and banking, government, and regional governing bodies in East Africa.
• Experience in managing (sector and/or sustainability) coalitions and with international development.
• Experience in tackling social and sustainability issues across supply chains from the private sector perspective and awareness of public and private sector stakeholder interests, needs and positions on the topic.
• Entrepreneurial and professional skills, capability, and tenacity to drive continued business engagement. Including courage to confront the status quo and challenge the private sector to change their business practices (e.g. sourcing, services to farmers, etc)
• Experienced with designing, implementing, and evaluating inclusive business models and local sourcing strategies in Africa.
• Passionate about making a difference to the lives of smallholder agricultural farmers and workers.
• Experience in people management especially within collaboration in cross-organizational self-steering teams.
• Strong communication capabilities at multiple levels (corporate, academic, public sector).
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English. Preferably also locally spoken languages in East Africa.