About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips more than 4 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase her income and assets on supported land by more than 40 percent, while permanently improving her climate resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 8,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

Our Kenya program, founded in 2006, is our second largest. We operate under the farmer brand Tupande, serving over one million farmers and employing 2200 staff. We aim to transform every farming community in Kenya by delivering sustained food security and pathways to prosperity. tupande.co.ke.

About the Role

As a Market Access Strategy and Operations Associate, you will be an essential part of the Kenya Tupande team and part of one of the largest social enterprises in Africa. You will contribute to the design and implementation of our market access program for current and new value chains with a focus on involving youth, fostering their growth, and ensuring their voices are heard. You will report directly to the Market Access Director.

Responsibilities

• Develop new value chains: 
  • Develop and implement a comprehensive market access strategy for one or more new value chains aimed at improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by facilitating their entry into markets. 
  • This will include establishing strategic partnerships (e.g. with local buyers and processors) to create reliable market channels and building the capacity of farmers through training initiatives so that they can adhere to quality control measures.
• Team management: 
  • Recruit and mentor a team of market access employees (e.g. buyback officers), providing clear direction, setting goals, and conducting regular performance evaluations to ensure the team's success and to foster a collaborative work environment. 
• Youth engagement strategy development:
  • Develop a comprehensive youth engagement strategy aligned with market access program objectives. This includes Identifying youth outreach channels to reach out to potential youth participants in targeted value chains.
  • Identify goals and important metrics for measuring the effectiveness of youth engagement efforts.
• Youth empowerment and training:
  • Design training programs that equip youth with the skills needed to participate in the market access program.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• 5+ years of work experience in any of the following fields: agriculture, youth programming, rural development, project management, grant management
• Experience working on or managing rural development programs 
• A Bachelor’s degree. Post-graduate degree preferred. 
• Language: English and Swahili

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Nairobi, Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya

Application Deadline

29 January 2025

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here ([email protected]), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.