Administrative Officer

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) seeks to recruit an Administrative Officer who plays a critical role in coordinating the day-to-day administrative, operational, and procurement functions of the Country Office, ensuring efficient and compliant office operations. The role provides comprehensive support across procurement and contract management, financial administration, travel and logistics coordination, and general office management to facilitate effective program delivery. The position also supports program teams through coordination, information management, and reporting, while ensuring compliance with organizational policies, proper documentation, and accountability in all administrative and operational processes.

AGRA is an African-led institution that actively supports the drive towards inclusive agricultural transformation and sustainable food systems. We do this by empowering the continent’s 33 million smallholder farming households to transform their agriculture from a struggle to survive to profitable businesses. The continent’s farmers regularly face challenges, and we aspire to provide uniquely African solutions that respond to their agricultural and environmental challenges, leading to increased harvests for reduced hunger and more income.

Working in alignment with the development priorities of our focus countries, we enable farmers to access improved and high-yielding seeds, gain knowledge on sustainable farming, and linkages to profitable markets.

In our work, we aspire to build the alliances, partnerships, and networks required to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation. We work with our partners to create an equitable youth-friendly environment that harnesses the youth dividend on the continent to drive growth and facilitate open employment opportunities for young women and men. We achieve our key objectives through a focus on the following four areas of intervention:

Implementing Our New Strategy Through People

People are the heart of our organization and remain the true drivers of our delivery and our impact. We work with incredible people and partners who have roots in farming communities across the continent combined with an inclusive and diverse workforce from over 24 nationalities. Our commitment to a call to action goes beyond ourselves as we arise to catalyze African Food Systems transformation by being Deeply collaborative, Executing Excellently, Sincerely Constructive and Increasingly Entrepreneurial aligned with our values of (I-RISE; Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Stewardship and Equity).

We are, therefore, looking for people who are passionate about Africa to join our innovative, growing, and multidisciplinary team. Together, we can grow Africa’s food systems improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Want to join us?

An important component in the market development for FL-RS is the provision of smart subsidies that benefit smallholder farmers through availing more affordable products and services. AGRA will (partially) procure FL-RS for further distribution of the FL-RS to smallholder farmers. To ensure impact delivery, the smart subsidies will only be released upon delivery of FL-RS to eligible farmers.

The role will focus on implementing the financing models and improving the bankability and performance of the MSMEs including cooperatives, youth groups, and other market actors. Additionally, the role will focus on stimulating private sector investment and innovation by addressing systemic barriers to finance and business support services, to achieve commercial viability, sustainability, and impact at scale. The role holder will work to strengthen the enabling environment for inclusive finance, foster commercially viable delivery channels for FL-RS, and facilitate sustainable partnerships that reduce market inefficiencies and promote long-term competitiveness across the value chain.

Role Summary:

The Administrative Officer is responsible for managing the end-to-end operational, logistical, and financial administration of the country office to ensure organizational efficiency and compliance. The position holder serves as the lead for all in-country procurement, utilizing the Oracle SCM system to manage vendor prequalification, contract negotiations, and the purchase-to-pay cycle while maintaining a robust framework for cost savings.

The role further acts as a critical link between program teams and support functions, overseeing travel logistics, high-level event coordination, and the maintenance of comprehensive filing and asset management systems. By ensuring strict adherence to AGRA and host-institution (ILRI) policies, the officer mitigates risk, supports audit readiness, and fosters a cohesive communication environment for both internal staff and external stakeholders.

Key duties and responsibilities

A. Procurement & Contract Management

• Procure consultants, goods, and services of desired quality in the country.
• Develop and implement annual Administration and Procurement plans aligned to AGRA’s business requirements, ensuring cost efficiency and savings.
• Compliance with administration and procurement policies and procedures.
• Achievement of administration and procurement lead times and service level agreements.
• Effective utilization of the Oracle SCM system in the processing of procurement requests.
• Participate in bid openings and proposals reviews.
• Conduct negotiations or recommend a negotiating team where applicable and negotiate contractual agreements with suppliers to ensure that service, added value, lowest total cost while ensuring quality is not compromised.
• Sensitize country teams on a regular basis on the administration and procurement process through regular updates and staff trainings.
• Carry out vendor prequalification and maintain a vendor database.
• Establish framework agreements for frequently needed services such as meeting venues and goods and ensure timely renewal of agreements.
• Maintain tender/contract register.
• Enforce the procurement and contracting process and follow up on what’s due.
• Initiate purchase orders (PO) in the oracle system and follow up on approvals, payments, and closure of the POs after services/goods are delivered and paid.

B. Travel, Logistics & Events Coordination

• Providing information on relevant materials, updating information regarding planned travel and meetings.
• Process staff travel requests, approvals, and expense reimbursements in line with organizational policies.
• Coordinate travel logistics including flights, accommodation, and ground transportation.
• Facilitate visa processing, work permits, and related documentation for staff and official visitors.
• Ensure timely reconciliation and proper documentation of travel-related expenses.
• Organizes for administrative and logistical arrangements for visitors, including compiling and providing information or relevant materials required.
• Organizes all in-house meetings and records deliberations of the same
• Coordinate logistics for conferences, workshops, and high-level meetings, including venue sourcing, vendor coordination, and participant management.
• Support preparation of event budgets and track related expenditures.

C. Program Support & Coordination

• Assists in specific administration tasks assigned by the Program Teams.
• Oversees the flow of information between the program and other AGRA functions and offices and follows up on action points as required.
• Identifies, compiles, and extracts information from files, publications, databases, and other sources on own initiatives or as directed by the programs team.
• Maintains a real time record of on-going projects and those in the pipeline.
• Upon request by the Country Director or Programs teams, writes, and disseminates reports of meetings to enhance information flow and sharing among programs staff.
• Attends meetings/workshops on behalf of the country, when assigned and writes a report.
• Organizes for the translations of documents submitted to the program into various AGRA official languages for ease of review by the program team.
• Maintains a robust online filing system of the country/programs activity reports and documentation and follow up actions.

D. General Administration & Office Management

• Assist the office internal and external communications to ensure the running of a cohesive, coherent program.
• Smooth flow of administrative processes in the country to achieve operational efficiency.
• Maintenance of up-to-date records and timely submission of all relevant reports.
• Provides routine/general information on AGRA to external enquiries and redirects as required.
• Organizes and assigns daily task to the logistics assistant and driver.
• Documents all incoming correspondence and documents for the country and presents them for approval as required.
• Draft and review official correspondence including letters, memos, and briefing notes.
• Track and follow up on key action points, deadlines, and approvals.
• Maintains a database of contacts (address and telephone numbers of institutions that the country deals with and any other relevant information).
• Delivers on other duties in accordance with instructions from the Country Director.

E. Human Resources Support

• Support the HRA Team in the implementation of employee engagement activities at the country level.
• Support the HRA Team in onboarding of new hires in-country and provision of tools of trade.

F. Compliance, Risk & Audit

• Ensure all procurement activities are carried out in compliance with laid down policies, rules, and regulations while enforcing transparency and accountability.
• Compliance with AGRA’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) procedures and ensuring no adverse audit findings.

G. Fleet, Asset & Inventory Management

• Oversees efficient vehicle management as per laid down policies and procedures.
• Plans for and assigns vehicles for official travel as required.
• Maintain and regularly update asset and inventory registers, ensuring proper tagging, tracking, periodic verification, and overall accountability of office assets.
• Coordinate maintenance and servicing of office equipment.

Academic and professional qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field
• Relevant professional certification

Experience:

• Six years of relevant experience

Skills:

• Broad/specialized knowledge of methods, techniques and processes

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Grade: HG13

Minimum Base Salary: USD 752 per month.

Terms of appointment: These are National Staff (NS) positions, initial appointment is for two years with the possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and the availability of funding. The ILRI remuneration package for nationally recruited staff in Ethiopia includes a very competitive salary and benefits such as life and medical insurance, offshore pension plan, etc.

Skills Required:

• Customer / Service / Secretarial