| Position | Youth Engagement and Agripreneurship Mobilizer |
| Reporting to | Director Resource Mobilization |
| Grade | NPS-C |
| Location | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Contract Period | 1 year |
Organisational Context
AATF and Michigan State University (MSU) through its WorldTAP program is in the process of developing a youth initiative focusing on agripreneurship that will be implemented across Africa.
About AATF
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation. (AATF) is a not-for-profit technology transfer organisation that embraces a mission of making available, to smallholder farmers, agricultural technologies that were previously not accessible to them.
AATF facilitates public-private partnerships and works in 23 African countries with the governments, private and public technology owners and developers, seed companies, other value chain players and African farmers to identify, access, adapt and commercialize technologies that address farmers’ key problems and empower them to generate wealth and health for their families and communities.
AATF has developed the Youth in Agribusiness and Smart Agriculture (YASA), which is an intentional, pro-social approach that identifies and develops youth in agribusiness for employment creation, food and nutrition security and income generation in Africa.
About MSU WorldTAP
The World Knowledge and Technology Access Program (WorldTAP) is a training, outreach, technology transfer, and capacity strengthening program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. WorldTAP draws upon expertise from Michigan State University and around the world to offer short-term and long-term training programs, advisory services, and technical consultations in diverse areas of agricultural research and development. WorldTAP helps strengthen human and institutional capacities, provides access to global information resources, and facilitates technology transfer to enhance agricultural productivity, food and nutritional security, and livelihoods globally.
About the Agribusiness Youth Initiative
Africa’s population will double by 2050 to reach over 2 billion people. The current demography indicates that over 70% of the African population is under 30 years of age yet the average farmer age on the continent is about 60 years. Agriculture remains the engine of economic growth in most of the African countries. With the population rising rapidly, the pressure to enhance agriculture productivity in a sustainable manner is constantly increasing and youth employment will be an increasing issue in the future. The amount of arable land available to farmers to produce food in Africa is decreasing. Therefore, science, technology and innovation will play a critical increasing role in enhancing food production. Job creation throughout the agriculture value chain will further continue to be important in the future.
AATF and MSU WorldTAP are collaborating to develop an agripreneurship program to address the above challenge to create job opportunities and attract youth to participate in agriculture. This program will also support the broad YASA initiative.
Job Overview
AATF seeks to hire a qualified coordinator to provide technical and managerial leadership in the development of all aspects of the initiative including to mobilize partnerships, coordinating the work of the implementing partners, and ensuring timely and high-quality delivery of activities and reporting. The position will be based at AATF’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya however a hybrid role is also possible.
The position is to help licensed seed companies in Nigeria to create awareness and promote TELA hybrid maize for adoption by farmers. The position will be based at ECOBasic, Kaduna to facilitate linkages for foundation seed demand between ECOBasic and TELA Maize Licensed SME Seed Companies.
Functions / Key Results Expected
- Mobilize African and international partners towards the initiative.
- Coordinate/support the building of a consortium of major partners that will commit and support scaling of the initiative.
- Coordinate resource mobilization initiatives to raise funds/seed money to launch the initiative.
- Identify appropriate events where the initiative can be presented/marketed to potential partners and funders including side events and conferences in agricultural and youth forums
- Organize an AATF-MSU joint forum with potential donors and partners to seek funds to expand the programs and the resource network.
- Carry out any other duties as may be assigned.
Competencies
- Strong communication skills including effective public relations.
- Strong diplomatic and negotiation skills and nimble to changing environments and relationships.
- Good networking skills and ability to build and sustain relationships with key partners.
- Ability to write/edit good reports, impact stories and minutes of meetings.
- Ability to build and sustain relationships with key constituents (donors, research institutions, media, government institutions, etc.)
- Ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment.
- High-level interpersonal and cross-cultural skills including ability to build alliances and collaborative relationships with sensitivity to diversity.
- Ability to maintain high standards of integrity; establish straightforward, productive relationships; treating individuals with fairness and respect.
| Qualifications | |
| Education: | The candidate should have an advanced graduate degree in Business Development or related from a recognized university. |
| Experience: | A minimum of 10 years of professional work experience in agribusiness, youth programming, partner mobilization and coordinating of youth initiatives or accelerator programs. Relevant work experience in project management, especially in youth or agribusiness will be an added advantage. Experience in leading projects that are involved in public-private partnerships. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French (desirable). Demonstrated ability to write concepts notes, reports and craft promotional materials. Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and multi-cultural environment. |
| Language Requirements: | Fluency in written and spoken English. A working knowledge of French would be an added advantage |
AATF is an equal opportunity employer; committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious and ethnic backgrounds and any other diversity groups to apply and become a part of our organization.
Submission of Applications
Qualified candidates are invited to send their applications on or before 11 October 2024 to aatf-hr@aatf-africa.org and clearly indicate on the email subject: Youth Engagement and Agripreneurship Mobilizer. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
