Associate Program Officer - Agribusiness And Agri-services

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) seeks to recruit an Associate Program Officer - Agribusiness and Agri-services who plays a critical role in enhancing the productivity, sustainability, and resilience of youth‑ and women‑led agri‑enterprises. The role will support youth groups and young women agri‑preneurs in developing climate‑smart and nutrition‑sensitive agribusinesses within vegetable value chains. It will focus on strengthening their capacity in seed and input systems, business development, and access to technologies and advisory services. By catalyzing youth‑driven agribusiness innovation, the position will contribute to reducing postharvest losses, enhancing climate resilience, and advancing inclusive participation in Ethiopia’s green economy.

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 Agribusiness and Agri-services Associate Program Officer is responsible for designing, implementing, and monitoring initiatives that align with AGRA's objectives for youth and women empowerment, gender integration, and enterprise development. This role provides strategic guidance to the country team, ensuring that youth-led agribusinesses and climate-smart services receive high visibility and are effectively promoted within the YEFFA Ethiopia program.

The position holder facilitates the professionalization of young agri-preneurs by providing hands-on business management training and fostering a "farming-as-a-business" approach among young women. Key responsibilities include strengthening aggregation models for climate-smart inputs, scaling digital extension services through public-private partnerships, and improving access to affordable postharvest technologies. Furthermore, the Associate Program Officer leads "green skilling" initiatives and develops knowledge-sharing products to position AGRA as a pioneer in sustainable job creation within the green economy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support youth groups and young women agri-preneurs in healthy seed/ seedling production, handling, and marketing.
• Establish or strengthen existing groups on the aggregation of demand for input and climate-smart services.
• Partner with youth-led agro-input suppliers in prioritized value chains to increase the supply of climate-smart, nutrition-dense varieties, fertilizers, and other inputs.
• Provide hands-on small business development (e.g., agro-dealership, service provision) and agri-business management training.
• Provide tailored support (through awareness creation, green skilling, and creating a network of policymakers & practitioners to work together with youth for greater involvement in the green economy sector) to young women and men on green job opportunities, green business development, and management.
• Partner with public and private actors to scale the provision of digital climate and extension advisory services to young women and men farmers across priority value chains.
• Support the youth in accessing postharvest (PH) technologies through partnerships with appropriate (cost-effective, affordable) PH technology suppliers.
• Implement business development programs that adopt the best practices and contribute to improved competitiveness of youth agri-preneurs.
• Support young women’s farming ventures by promoting a farming-as-a-business approach.
• Support the development of robust youth agri-preneur performance monitoring system in consultation with the M&E unit, business unit lead, and country staff.
• Develop knowledge-sharing products and events to position AGRA as an innovative practitioner in job creation for youth group and young women.
• Proactively support country teams and AGRA in the implementation of the Youth Employment for the Future of Agriculture (YEFFA Ethiopia) program.

Academic and professional qualifications:

Education:

• Masters degree or PhD in Agronomy, Agribusiness, Rural development or a related Field.
• Relevant professional certification

Experience

• Nine years of relevant experience with a master's or two years of relevant experience with a PhD
• Professional experience in seed systems, agribusiness, agricultural extension, or crop agronomy.
• Demonstrated experience working with youth and women groups in agriculture, particularly in seed/seedling production, other on-farm engagements and marketing.
• Proven ability to design and deliver capacity‑building programs in agribusiness management.
• Track record in establishing or strengthening farmer groups, cooperatives, or youth‑led enterprises.
• Hands‑on experience in small business development training, agro‑dealerships, or service provision.
• Practical experience in climate‑smart agriculture practices and nutrition‑sensitive value chains.
• Experience in partnering with public and private actors to deliver agricultural inputs, services, or digital advisory solutions.

Skills:

• Strong understanding of vegetable value chains, seed systems, input supply chains, and postharvest technologies.
• Excellent skills in writing (e.g., ToRs, grant proposals, knowledge documents) and communication (e.g., conducting webinars, chairing meetings, panel moderation).
• Fluency in English required
• Ability to deliver high quality products under pressure.
• Good command of English with excellent writing and analytical skills
• Ability to organize and prioritize work and meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment with multiple competing demands.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills, and ability to work effectively in a team and independently.

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Grade: HG16

Minimum Base Salary: USD 2,339 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, an offshore pension plan, etc.

Skills Required:

• Agricultural / Studies