Burundi Programs Manager

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1.6 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms more productive. Our 10,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across ten African countries, we make farmers more prosperous by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers' homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. On average, the farmers we serve earn 40 percent more profits on the land they enroll with One Acre Fund. To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.

Established in Burundi in 2012, we are a rapidly growing organization with over 1100 employees nationwide. As of 2024, we serve over 290,000 homes in 7 provinces; Muramvya, Gitega, Kayanza, Mwaro, Ngozi, Muyinga, and Ruyigi. To learn more about our work, look at our Burundi program blog.

The One Acre Fund Burundi program primarily focuses on delivering our core set of services to smallholder farmers:

• Distribution - One Acre Fund collects orders from and distributes inputs and quality of life products to farmers at the village level. This distribution of thousands of tons of fertilizer, seed, and other products across Burundi profoundly increases farmers’ ability to access these goods as they need to travel less than 30 minutes walking distance to receive them.
• Credit - The inputs and products we distribute are given to farmers on credit, which increases farmers’ ability to access them even more. Instead of needing to pay all at once, farmers have the flexibility to repay little by little over the course of 5 months in the case of inputs or over the course of multiple years in the case of an expensive product like a solar home system.
• Training - One Acre Fund offers training in modern agriculture techniques that support farmers to grow their harvests and grow themselves out of poverty. These interactive trainings, which cover techniques from land preparation to post-harvest storage, are delivered in the field by our excellent Field Officers who are hired in the villages where they work.

In addition to those core services, One Acre Fund Burundi offers an increasing number of services related to Market Access which allow farmers to increase the value of their harvests. Finally, the Burundi program also offers services related to agroforestry and fruit tree distribution in order to further improve farmers’ assets and resilience to climate change.  

The Burundi program has massive growth potential. With a current budget of around $5 million in annual spending and a working capital budget of over $20 million, we already serve a large portion of Burundi's farmers. With massive farmer demand and a brand that farmers rely on, the Burundi program has a realistic plan to serve more than one-third of farming households across Burundi by 2030.

About the Role

Rotational Leadership Opportunities

A typical track would involve plugging into a progression of high-priority leadership roles, followed by the opportunity for a permanent posting or taking on a leadership role, depending on the candidate’s interests and performance:

• First 12-24 months: Rotate between several 3 to 6-months long management posts across different parts around the organization. These posts would consist of:
• Quickly taking on the responsibility for a specific project or several projects within the department/s assigned. Examples would include:
• Rolling out standard procedures to improve operational excellence
• Plan and execute a major transition in backend data systems
• Implementing a new performance management policy in a key department
• Lead specific high priority initiatives that are to One Acre Fund Burundi, and whose execution would benefit from a strong owner
• Demonstrate excellent team management skills with an ability to quickly develop talent
• Take charge of the whole life cycle of the project, from planning and budgeting, implementation, to monitoring and reporting
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills in solving issues that arise
• Ensure strong stakeholder management and collaboration across multiple departments
• Subsequently: Permanently fill a role of particular interest for the candidate and priority for the organization, or in the case of a particularly strong employee, to join the leadership team in Burundi to oversee a division.

Strategy and Leadership Support

As you continue demonstrating your capacity as a leader, you may support the leadership on strategy and take on the following responsibilities:

• Leadership of annual participative OKR creation process
• Facilitation of quarterly OKR review process and review meetings
• Leadership of steering committee agenda setting, pushing for quality agenda topics/pre-reads, and steering committee knowledge management
• Development of ad-hoc deliverables such as memos, concept notes, and presentations
• Support leadership in financial modeling, reporting and fundraising activities

Internal stakeholder management

• Enforce accountability by key leaders and monitor progress to keep execution aligned to strategy
• Coordination with Global team leads to ensure adequate support and alignment for Burundi team goals
• Development of internal communication strategy
• Creation of content for JL9+ team, and full team that drives motivation, aligns work with vision, and highlights achievements, and updates progress towards goals
• Coordination, material preparation, meeting logistics, and follow up on key next steps for JL9+ team meetings, All Department Meetings, and Q&A forums

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.

Required Conditions and Qualifications

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

• 5+ years of professional experience
• 2+ years experience managing staff. Proven strong team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching/mentoring skills
• 2+ years working in a development or humanitarian setting
• Excellent strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound decisions under pressure.
• Strong relationship management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in applying tailored approaches to each relationship.
• Presentation and meeting-facilitation skills
• Proactive, resourceful, and results-oriented
• Track record of comprehensive work planning and project organization
• Capacity to drive toward results in dynamic and fluid work context
• Capacity to identify risks and develop thoughtful mitigation strategies
• Data analysis skills for decision-making
• Capacity to both develop high-level strategies and work with others to develop detailed operational plans
• University-level degree 
• Advanced proficiency in English

Preferred qualities

• Graduate-level degree in relevant fields (Public administration, Nonprofit / NGO / International organization management, Business administration, International development / Humanitarian work, Development economics)
• Intermediate proficiency in French

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

75% Muramvya, 25% Bujumbura, Burundi

Benefits

Housing allowance, Retirement benefit, Comprehensive Health cover, Child Benefit and paid time off

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.