Program Manager at FIPS Africa

Purpose of the role

• The Program Manager leads FIPS Africa's part of AgEMERGE (Agricultural Enterprise-led Market Ecosystems for Resilience, Growth and Equity), a consortium program with TechnoServe and Wageningen University & Research funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The role oversees FIPS' grassroots Village-Based Advisor (VBA) delivery model, keeps it aligned with the corridor teams' work, and is accountable for FIPS' results, budget, people and partnership with the consortium.

Duties & Responsibilities 

Objective 1: Programs Management: Lead FIPS' Delivery of AgEMERGE

Key activities & responsibilities to achieve this objective:

Plan, Do, Review, Report … the program management cycle

• Lead FIPS' delivery of its AgEMERGE activities, in particular strengthening and expanding the VBA and agrodealer network in the six FIPS counties, including the “test before you invest” approach, Farmer Learning Networks and Farmer Research Networks
• Translate the AgEMERGE logframe, work plan and FIPS sub-contract deliverables into annual and seasonal work plans, and manage the Senior Program Coordinator and team in planning against program, donor and FIPS objectives
• Keep FIPS' grassroots delivery aligned with TechnoServe's corridor teams, so VBAs and agrodealers connect to the commercial demand and anchor buyers those teams develop
• Ensure regular progress updates on implementation, and timely, accurate flow of data against the Theory of Change and logframe
• Meet consortium, EKN and FIPS reporting timelines with quality narrative and well-analysed data that clearly express impact, progress, challenges, key learnings, innovations and emerging trends
• Feed program results into M&E, continuous learning, and Fundraising & Partnership Development systems
• Lead FIPS' contribution to the six-month inception phase: team recruitment and onboarding, the MEL plan, baseline methodology, templates and the kick-off workshop

Objective 2: Consortium Leadership, Partnership Development and Sustainability

Key activities & responsibilities to achieve this objective:

• Represent FIPS on the AgEMERGE Program Management Unit as agreed, and prepare FIPS' input to the Internal Steering Committee and the Extended Advisory Committee
• Build a strong, trusting working relationship with the Program Director, Inclusive Agri-Food Systems Manager and MEL Manager at TechnoServe, and with WUR
• Help agree, then follow, the partner roles, decision rights and financial management protocols set at inception
• Notice lessons and opportunities from implementation and convert them into program design, concept notes and new partnerships, and contribute to brainstorming sessions during concept development
• Work with the Partnership and Technical lead to blend sustainability models into the program and budget for them, and agree the learning agenda with WUR and other partners
• Support the progressive shift from direct project support to commercial and local actors managing and financing successful networks

Objective 3: Financial Management of the AgEMERGE Sub-contract

Key activities & responsibilities to achieve this objective:

• Strategic, proactive input into budget design, revision and forecasting, feeding back prior implementation outcomes into new budget processes
• Budgets fully understood and conveyed appropriately to the Senior Program Coordinator and other budget-line holders
• Spending generally on track on all budget lines and deliverables, with intelligent and timely response on reallocation or adjustment needs
• Work with the Finance Manager so milestones, invoices and financial reports under the deliverables-based sub-contract are accurate and on time, and advances are liquidated on time
• Compliance with donor and consortium financial requirements

Objective 4: Inclusion, Evidence and Learning

Key activities & responsibilities to achieve this objective:

• Ensure delivery reaches the program's inclusion targets for women and youth, building on the 55% of existing FIPS VBAs who are women through intentional recruitment and retention of women VBAs and first-mile entrepreneurs
• Guide the Youth & Social Inclusion Officer in building entrepreneurship pathways that connect youth and women's groups to technologies, inputs, financing and markets, with peer-to-peer coaching and mentorship
• Use MEL data and the Field Monitoring Officers' spot-checks for adaptive management, and hold regular review meetings with the program team
• Work with the MELA Manager to align FIPS data collection with the consortium MEL plan and EKN indicators
• Document and share evidence, learning and case studies across FIPS and the consortium

Objective 5: Management and Development of Directly Reporting Leads & Teams

Key activities & responsibilities to achieve this objective:

• Manage supervisors and help them manage their teams to support a thriving team, growing in their own roles, with well thought-out succession and development planning at all levels
• Regular and meaningful interaction at all levels of supervision with HR for support in people development, performance management, corrective action, documentation, compliance, and tools and systems that support effective work
• Quality, timely feedback at all levels, including formal appraisals
• Effective delegation and follow-up processes

Objective 6: FIPS Organizational Leadership at Senior Management Level

Key activities & responsibilities to achieve this objective:

• Proactively contribute at both strategic and practical levels to positive donor and funder relationships, and feed learning from AgEMERGE into Fundraising and Partnership Development to identify new funders, donors and partners
• Represent FIPS externally as needed, professionally, enthusiastically and effectively
• Contribute to Board of Directors meetings with substantive and well-analysed learnings from programs
• Notice, flag and suggest interventions for any “problem” issues that could threaten or undermine FIPS' success and reputation, including safeguarding (SEAH) concerns
• Act as a role model and leader in transparent, accountable but also firm leadership

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in agriculture, agribusiness, development, economics or a related field.
• 7+ years in agricultural development program management.

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of market systems development, inclusive business and last-mile / VBA-type extension models
• Experience managing donor-funded programs using logframes and Theory of Change (plan-do-review-report)
• Budgeting and financial management of sub-contracts, forecasting and reallocation
• Able to use MEL data for adaptive management and to turn data into clear narrative reporting
• Stakeholder and partner management, including county governments and private-sector actors
• Experience in a consortium or with European donors (e.g. EKN) reporting requirements
• Gender equality, youth and social inclusion (GESI) programming
• Knowledge of climate-smart or regenerative agriculture and nutrition-sensitive approaches
• Use of digital tools for farmer data and service delivery
• Knowledge of Meru, Makueni, Kitui, Machakos or Kilifi counties