Career Opportunities at ACDI/VOCA - 10 Positions

The Director of Enterprise Development will report to the Chief of Party and will oversee the technical leadership for activities related to business development and advisory services for project-affiliated SMEs including identification of potential SMEs, financial analysis, business plan generation and revision, market analysis, building market and distribution channels, and accessing finance. 

• Reporting to the overall KIM Chief of Party, this position will lead the SME Development Component, providing technical and managerial oversight and leadership on business development and advisory services to KIM’s target SMEs in order to improve entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and investment-readiness within the project’s key economic sectors.
• Provides technical leadership for activities related to business development and advisory services for project-affiliated SMEs, including identification of potential SMEs, financial analysis, business plan generation and revision, market analysis, building market and distribution channels, and accessing finance.
• Designs and oversees all strategic business and financial planning and business skills advisory services and trainings for project-affiliated SMEs.
• Leads development and implementation of strategies to strengthen private sector investment in agricultural enterprises.
• Works closely with project staff, entrepreneurs, relevant partners, and line ministries to enhance and engage private sector engagement and investment in project-affiliated SMEs.
• Oversees day-to-day and long-term planning, design and operations of technical business development unit to ensure effective project implementation.
• Assess the impact of financial products and pilot efforts on target SMEs and make adjustments as needed to expand increase uptake of products by SMEs.
• Design and implement technical assistance interventions to investment attraction and facilitation, commercial partnerships, and trade expansion.
• Consider, understand, and address the obstacles to acquiring financing faced by women and youth-led businesses, and ensure activities are designed and implemented to be inclusive of these groups.
• Make recommendations to senior leadership for creative solutions to problems, new lines of work and promising partnerships, scaling up or scaling down interventions as a result of continuous learning, and regularly contribute to strategic planning, problem solving, and collaboration across components.  

• Minimum of Bachelor’s degree in business, management, finance, or economics required; Master’s degree preferred. 
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in providing consulting or business development services to small and growing businesses (B2B services). Multi-sector experience preferred.
• Experience designing and managing business skills training for micro- and SMEs.
• Evidence of creative solutions to financing constraints for SME agribusiness companies and their diverse (often rural) clients/supply chain partners   
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical assistance and advisory services to a range of financial service providers
• Collaborative, creative team player with minimum 3 years of leadership experience
• Fluency in English

The Finance and Investment Director will report to the Chief of Party and will supervise the project’s efforts to leverage capital and expertise from investors and asset management firms that can evaluate, manage, and implement investment transactions with both impact (increased revenues and jobs) and financial return mandates. This includes working with firms, organizations, and individuals with the resources and expertise to i) create and implement financial products tailored to SMEs and/or, ii) structure, capitalize, and manage an investment vehicle (comprised of local or off-shore capital) to finance SMEs. The project ultimately intends to offer a financially sustainable solution to provide necessary capital to a “missing-middle” of SMEs that are not presently served by banks, microfinance or international financial institutions.

• Reporting to the overall KIM Chief of Party, this position will lead the anticipated Finance and Investment Component and team of staff, providing technical and managerial oversight and leadership, contributing to the design and implementation oversight of annual work plans and strategies, and ensuring that interventions respond to identified market opportunities and create sustainable development outcomes.
• Design and implement activities to increase financing and investment for longer-term SME lending and working capital, including for processors, manufacturers, equipment providers, leasing companies, service providers, etc.
• Design and implement activities in partnership with investors, banks, and financial service providers that expand investment, increases the flow of financing, and supports the overall competitiveness of targeted SMEs. As part of this, facilitate partnerships and collaboration to leverage resources for investment in target SMEs and economic sectors.
• Recommend finance-related solutions to constraints identified by other project components and the ongoing market analysis by senior leadership.
• Support private sector partners to improve mechanisms that address finance-related constraints, such as reliable market information and SME-friendly financial products.
• In collaboration with the project’s Director of Enterprise Development, strengthen capacity of start-ups and SMEs to produce the financial documents and business plans required to attract increased lending and equity investments. 
• Assess the impact of financial products and pilot efforts and make adjustments as needed to expand the outreach of finance providers to underserved markets
• Design and implement technical assistance interventions to investment attraction and facilitation, commercial partnerships, and trade expansion.
• Consider, understand, and address the obstacles to acquiring financing faced by women and youth-led businesses, and ensure activities are designed and implemented to be inclusive of these groups.
• Make recommendations to senior leadership for creative solutions to problems, new lines of work and promising partnerships, scaling up or scaling down interventions as a result of continuous learning, and regularly contribute to strategic planning, problem solving, and collaboration across components.  

• A Bachelor’s degree or similar qualification in Finance, Business, Marketing, or Economics is required. A Master’s degree or similar qualification is desirable.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in finance, banking, and/or investment (preferably for SMEs), with a strong knowledge of the financial sector and investment climate in Kenya and the region
• Demonstrated experience designing products, services, and/or public-private investment partnerships that expand financing for clients and companies, as well as contribute to advancing social and economic development objectives
• Experience structuring investment vehicles and with private equity funds is a plus.
• Evidence of creative solutions to financing constraints for SME companies and their diverse (often rural) clients/supply chain partners   
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical assistance and advisory services to a range of financial service providers
• Collaborative, creative team player with minimum 3 years of leadership experience
• Fluency in English

The activity will address innovative solutions to sustainable economic growth, enhancing private sector growth through small and medium enterprises (SMEs), expanding investment opportunities, and supporting small and medium business owners to efficiently utilize finance in order to support business growth”. The project’s anticipated focus will be to mobilize financing for investment in agriculture value chains, clean energy, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activities in Kenya to enhance inclusive, sustainable economic growth while advancing USAID’s priorities in SMEs, county-led development, cross-border trade, youth, and entrepreneurship. The activity will work to facilitate an enabling environment for private sector financing through policy reform, including investment policies under Kenya’s devolved governance structure. Finally, the activity will manage and provide oversight of the DCA portfolio to increase its utilization by participating Kenyan financial institutions 

• Provide overall vision, leadership and guidance of the project’s implementation for project staff in Kenya, partnering organizations, host government, other donors, and stakeholders.
• Serve as KIM’s external face and internal leader for project implementation.
• Lead a multi-component project team of approximately 80 staff in strengthening SME competitiveness in targeted economic sectors throughout Kenya.
• Lead strategic development and oversight for leveraging capital to foster business development and promote entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Knowledge of and experience implementing projects using a broad range of financial instruments; such as debt, equity, and various forms of concessional/subsidized capital
• Oversee monitoring of project key performance indicators (KPIs), regularly evaluate project results, and guide project implementation to achieve maximum impact.
• Oversee management of subcontracts/grants with international and local organizations to ensure full project integration and that deliverable targets are met.
• Oversee the preparation and submission of annual work plans, regular progress reports, and achievement of activity results to USAID.
• Oversee the activity’s financial compliance and procedures, ensuring compliance with established ACDI/VOCA’s accounting principles and USAID regulations. Serve as an ACDI/VOCA signatory on expenses up to certain thresholds.
• Effectively liaise and plan with Government of Kenya officials at national and local levels, as well as with USAID and other donors.
• Provide frequent oral presentations to USAID and other requested stakeholders on progress and achieved results.
• Coordinate regularly with ACDI/VOCA’s headquarters office in Washington, DC, and represent the organization at relevant events and meetings with government officials and the donor community.

• A minimum of 12 years of experience in consulting, development finance, corporate strategy and planning, impact investing, international development, small business development, or a combination of the above.
• Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, finance, marketing, business administration, agribusiness, or related area.
• Previous experience as a COP, Project Director, or similar senior management position for projects with similar magnitude and complexity in developing countries is preferred.
• Experience with USAID programs and knowledge of USAID rules and regulations desired.
• Previous experience working in Kenya or East Africa strongly preferred.
• Ideal candidates will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the business and investment challenges and opportunities that emerging markets present, and a passion for using innovative approaches to solving complex development problems.
• Knowledge in the following thematic areas: business advisory services, investment readiness, transaction advisory services, fund management, mobilization of public capital , investment pipeline development
• Ability to show progressive advancement in his/her career.
• A positive attitude and willingness to adaptively manage projects and partners in complex environments.
• Excellent writing and communication skills.
• Fluency in English required

The M&E Director will oversee design and implementation of M&E strategies and will work with the Chief of Party, M&E Director, technical staff, USAID, and project partners. He/she will develop systems to track overall project and subaward activities, outputs, and results to ensure they are on track to meet the annual and life of project benchmarks and targets.

• Provide technical leadership for M&E to the project team to ensure USAID and Feed the Future M&E requirements are met on timely basis and guides data collection, management of the data, and display of the results. This includes data analysis, reporting, and dissemination, building capacity of M&E and technical staff in these areas, and ensuring compliance.
• Design and lead implementation of efficient and accurate data collection system that includes efficient processes for collecting data and ensuring data quality.
• Provide general oversight of the M&E database, using it to track progress and trends, generate reports per USAID requirements, and conduct data quality checks.
• Coordinate and facilitate the refinement of the Theory of change, logical framework and DIP.
• Supervise M&E staff and oversee implementation of all M&E activities, including annual surveys, case studies, and stakeholder workshops to refine approaches.
• Prepare data analyses for PREPs, Annual Results Reports and other required documents.
• Oversee strengthening of M&E capacity of local organizations.

• Master’s degree in economics, agricultural economics, statistics, bio-statistics, nutrition or other relevant subject with strong quantitative background.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in progressively increasing M&E responsibility in international development projects.
• Strong conceptual knowledge about theories of change, logic model, food and nutrition security indicators, M&E plan, data quality assurance, data utilization, and gender integration into M&E.
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in developing and operationalizing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan.  
• Familiarity with USAID M&E requirements strongly preferred; knowledge of Feed the Future M&E system desired.
• Strong quantitative background and demonstrated expertise in designing annual monitoring surveys including probabilistic sampling strategy and analyzing quantitative data.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing qualitative studies, interviews and interactive tools to generate qualitative information and analysis.
• Experienced in developing data quality assurance strategies, data management, and data visualization.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. 

The Nutrition Specialist will be required to work across the targeted value chains and develop approaches that ensure program interventions are nutrition sensitive. Location for this position is TBD.

• Address priorities related to nutrition education activities such as the promotion of good care practices, initiation and frequency of feeding for children, nutritional quality of food being consumed, diet diversity, and food preparation and safety methods.
• Provide technical assistance and monitoring for agricultural activities and services, ensuring that nutritional messages are incorporated and integrated throughout.
• Facilitate communications with the donor community on issues of integrating nutrition into agriculture development and cooperation.
• Coordinate with relevant staff in regional offices as needed.
• Apply gender-sensitive best practices to develop innovative approaches to address barriers to female participation and/or marginalized groups and to increase male understanding of the need of improved nutrition for the family’s health.
• Provide technical assistance to ACDI/VOCA staff members and partner organization staff in the utilization and management of nutritional training tools.
• Represent ACDI/VOCA interests during meetings related to nutrition and other subjects with USAID Mission personnel, host-country government officials, international organizations, indigenous and international NGOs, international donors, and others interested in ACDI/VOCA activities.
• Prepare and conduct trainings on nutrition for staff and beneficiaries, collaborating with other trainers to ensure nutrition is appropriately integrated and addressed in all trainings.

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, international agriculture, food security or other relevant field.
• Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible experience working on large projects focusing on nutrition, hygiene, food security or other related technical areas.
• Demonstrated successful experience in implementing programs aimed at increasing the competitiveness and inclusiveness of agricultural value chains.
• Demonstrated history of providing highly effective technical and managerial leadership on projects of similar size and scope.
• Understanding of Kenyan nutritional and agricultural context.
• Experience with USAID is preferred. 
• Willingness to travel required. Applicants may be expected to relocate to regional offices depending on solicitation requirements.
• Fluency in English required.

The Grains and Horticulture Value Chain Director is expected to lead the development and management of all interventions across the grain and horticulture value chains, including leading programming on feed production and marketing. This position will be required to lead a team of technical advisors. The location for this position is TBD.

• Serve as the senior field-level manager and representative with primary responsibility for coordinating, planning, and implementing technical interventions across the selected grain and horticulture value chains.
• Support the Chief of Party in all aspects of program management including ensuring integration and coordination across consortium teams and the establishment of a “one team” approach to implementation.
• Lead design of program interventions that identify and develop new market opportunities that seek to upgrade the potential of selected grain and horticulture value chains.
• Develop value chain strategies for working with producers and enterprises to develop their capacity to identify and respond to business opportunities in the selected grain and horticulture value chains. These strategies should facilitate private sector engagement and investment among various levels of agriculture value chains including but not limited to producer, trader, processor, and wholesaler levels.
• Ensure that program strategies facilitate strategic, commercially viable partnerships between value chain actors, especially within women and youth.
• Manage a team of technical advisors that provide technical leadership in areas related to improved aggregation, post-harvest handling and storage; market linkages; business enabling environment; and other interventions that promote value chain competitiveness and food security.
• Promote strong relationships with USAID, the Government of Kenya, other donor, multi-lateral, and non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

• 10 years’ international experience with successful value chain development projects with significant management responsibility. Familiarity with grains and horticulture in Kenya is preferred but not required.
• 10 years’ experience on projects with similar magnitude and complexity in developing countries.
• Past supervisory experience is required.
• Demonstrated success in implementing projects aimed at increasing the competitiveness and inclusiveness of value chains using facilitation approaches.
• Experience working in or providing capacity building services to the private sector is desired.
• Master’s Degree in a field relevant to agricultural development such as: agricultural economics, marketing, post-harvest handling, agribusiness management or related fields.
• Willingness to travel required. Applicants may be expected to relocate to regional offices depending on solicitation requirements.
• Fluency in English required. 

Director of Operations, Kenya

ACDI/VOCA is currently seeking a Director of Operations for the anticipated USAID funded Kenya Feed the Future Crop and Dairy Market Systems Development Activity Program. This anticipated FTF-funded Activity will have a strong focus on sustainable, private-sector driven market development in the dairy, horticulture, and grain value chains. The Director of Operations will be expected to provide overall financial and administrative management, including ensuring that interventions comply with USAID and Kenyan laws. This position is expected to be located in Nairobi.

• Manage and oversee multiple project offices including Nairobi.
• Develop and refine operational systems and processes, and organize appropriate operations training and orientation systems for all staff. Conduct periodic reviews of operations processes to identify opportunities for improvements.
• Maintain communications with the Chief of Party (COP), Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) and regional managers in order to understand project operational needs and status, so as to serve as a point of contact for project operations information.
• Assure that the project is in compliance with the most recent USAID and ACDI/VOCA regulations and procedures.
• Provide direction and guidance to local staff and subcontractor staff on compliance agreement compliance issues, procurement standards/requirements, as well as related ACDI/VOCA policies and USAID regulations.
• Oversee transaction and procurement activities including those that directly benefit grantees. Ensure the prompt implementation of financial and contractual reviews and approvals for project activity.
• Oversee the establishment and closing of field office operations and the training of field office operations staff to monitor field-based vendor performance.
• Serve as liaison with ACDI/VOCA’s contracts administrators; manage and track the program’s requests to ACDI/VOCA’s Contracts Office to ensure an efficient and productive process.
• Coordinate logistical guidance and provide operational support for both the headquarters in Nairobi and field offices to ensure a smooth functioning of program activities including support for field office/program set-up and close-out, ongoing operations, field staff, and staff and consultant travel.
• Supervise the finance, operations, and grants staff. Conduct regular operations team meetings to establish quality working relationships between the operations team members and to refine operations processes.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business or Economics required, Master’s degree preferred. 
• 7 years of experience managing similar projects of similar size and scope is desired, of which 5 years was on a USAID funded project. 
• Demonstrated management, administrative, reporting, and representation skills.
• Willingness to travel required.
• Fluency in English is required.

The Dairy Value Chain Director is expected to lead the development and management of all interventions across the dairy value chain. This position is will be required to lead a team of technical advisors. The location for this position is TBD.

• Serve as the senior field-level manager and representative with primary responsibility for coordinating, planning, and implementing technical interventions across the dairy value chain.
• Support the Chief of Party in all aspects of program management including ensuring integration and coordination across consortium teams and the establishment of a “one team” approach to implementation.
• Lead design of program interventions that identify and develop new market opportunities that seek to upgrade the potential of the dairy value chain.
• Develop value chain strategies for working with producers and enterprises to develop their capacity to identify and respond to business opportunities in the dairy value chain. These strategies should facilitate private sector engagement and investment among various levels of agriculture value chains including but not limited to producer, trader, processor, and wholesaler levels.
• Ensure that program strategies facilitate strategic, commercially viable partnerships between value chain actors, especially with women and youth.
• Manage a team of technical advisors that provide technical leadership in areas related to improved aggregation, post-harvest handling and storage; market linkages; business enabling environment; and other interventions that promote value chain competitiveness and food security.
• Promote strong relationships with USAID, the Government of Kenya, other donor, multi-lateral, and non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

• 10 years’ international experience with successful value chain development projects with significant management responsibility. Familiarity with the dairy value chain in Kenya is required.
• 10 years’ experience on projects with similar magnitude and complexity in developing countries.
• Demonstrated success in implementing projects aimed at increasing the competitiveness and inclusiveness of value chains using facilitation approaches.
• Experience working in or providing capacity building services to the private sector is desired.
• Master’s Degree in a field relevant to agricultural development such as: agricultural economics, marketing, post-harvest handling, agribusiness management or related fields.
  Willingness to travel required. Applicants may be expected to relocate to regional offices depending on solicitation requirements.
• Fluency in English required.

The Gender Specialist will be required to work across the targeted value chains and develop approaches that ensure program interventions are gender sensitive. Location for this position is TBD.

• Ensure gender mainstreaming across all project activities and ensure the FTF project upholds ACDI/VOCA's commitment to gender equity.
• Oversee/Conduct project gender analysis of gender relations and develop gender-sensitive messaging and training materials.
• Deliver trainings on gender-sensitive extension and market approaches to local stakeholders using ACDI/VOCA’s GenderFirst approach.
• Using results of gender analysis, other program assessments and the USAID/Kenya gender strategy, lead the development and integration of a project gender strategy.
• Prepare and lead gender-focused training sessions for staff to ensure gender is appropriately addressed in all project activities.

• Bachelor's degree in sociology, anthropology, women’s studies, or other related discipline, master's degree preferred.
• Minimum eight years' experience in food security, nutrition or agriculture, including three years concentrating on gender and development issues.
• Ability to write coherent and analytical reports is required.
• Clear understanding of gender roles in Kenya is required.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written, strong negotiation, diplomacy, and team work skills required.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation, conducting focus groups and surveys is preferred.
• Prior experience with USAID projects, procedures, policies, reporting requirements is preferred.
• Willingness to travel required. Applicants may be expected to relocate to regional offices depending on solicitation requirements.
• Fluency in English required.

The Director of CLA is a critical position within the project, and will have responsibility for facilitating cross-project and cross-component learning and collaboration, overseeing the functions of communications, training, behavior change, knowledge management and M&E, and leveraging these various functions to improve technical implementation, effective use of resources, and sustainability.

The CLA Director will carry out the following responsibilities:

• Design the project’s Learning Agenda including surveys, case studies, and other tools to evaluate project impact, trends, and other learnings. Provide comprehensive analysis of learning outcomes to inform project interventions.
• Lead the CLA unit, which will encompass the LWA’s communications, knowledge management, and M&E functions providing a centralized point for analysis, strategic planning.
• Collaborate closely with the Chief of Party, M&E Director, technical staff to ensure quality control, provide input into the development of the PMP, and alignment between performance monitoring efforts and the strategic information needs of the LWA and the donor.
• Oversee, and as needed develop and implement the knowledge management and communications functions of the LWA, ensuring overall quality control and responsiveness of these efforts to the technical teams’ needs, and facilitating integration of these efforts throughout the LWA.
• Work directly with the associate awards leadership team to plan, design, and or/manage specific CLA strategies and activities, such as supporting incorporation of technical, contextual and experiential learning into technical strategies, interventions, and processes.
• Leverage a mix of informational sources and research methods – project M&E data, observations from staff and partners, primary and secondary market research to develop a learning agenda and apply that learning into improved work planning and project activities.
• Participate in regular senior management planning meetings, and recommend how activities should be adapted to incorporate learnings across associate awards.
• Lead developing, capturing, sharing, and testing methods, models, and tools to advance the learning objectives.

• Master’s degree in international development, social sciences, communication, education, or related field.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience in knowledge management, communications, M&E, organizational learning and/or strategic learning in an international development context.
• Familiarity with the concept of adaptive management/CLA, and demonstrated experience using a mix of informational sources and research methods to analyze project progress, communicate findings to a range of external and internal stakeholders, and apply learning to work planning.
• Experience providing leadership, supervising staff, managing multiple complex project components, and convening people across technical teams to build consensus and achieve an outcome.
• Experience contributing to the design and implementation of a development project’s strategic communications strategy required.
• Superior, demonstrated writing, reporting, and oral presentation skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken in English required.