JOB DETAILS:

TechnoServe seeks a Program Director to provide overall technical and administrative leadership and expertise over the program.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Leadership and Program Delivery

• Provide overall strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for successful delivery of HortiMAP 2.0.
• Ensure program implementation is rooted in participatory-planning driven, farmer-defined priorities, in line with EKN’s bottom-up, supply-driven vision.
• Lead planning, execution, and adaptation of project work plans and milestones during inception and implementation phases.
• Ensure effective integration of cross-cutting issues including participatory planning, power dynamics and equity, and market development into program outcomes.

2. Team Management and Capacity Building

• Supervise and support senior team members including Technical Leads, MEL Manager, Finance & Operations Manager, and Regional Coordinators.
• Ensure the project is adequately staffed to implement the participatory planning approach, including agronomists and community-level facilitators.
• Foster a collaborative team culture that emphasizes learning, adaptive management, and local ownership.

3. Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination

• Serve as the key point of contact with EKN and other donors on project strategy, performance, and reporting.
• Facilitate alignment and collaboration with EKN-funded partners (e.g., Agriterra, GOAL, SNV) and relevant government bodies (e.g., MAAIF, local governments).
• Engage farmer cooperatives, private sector actors, and financial institutions to build inclusive and sustainable value chains.

4. Monitoring, Learning, and Adaptive Management

• Guide the development and use of a robust Results Framework and MEL system, ensuring flexibility and responsiveness to evolving field realities.
• Incorporate lessons learned from HortiMAP 1.0, including the need for stronger impact modeling, power dynamics analysis, and post-project sustainability.
• Lead internal reviews, donor reporting, and strategic learning moments with EKN and partners.

5. Operational Oversight and Risk Management

• Oversee program budgeting, procurement, and compliance in coordination with TechnoServe’s finance and operations teams.
• Ensure adherence to EKN’s guidelines and regulations.
• Mitigate program risks through proactive planning, scenario analysis, and regular communication with field teams and the donor.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Agricultural Economics, or another relevant field, and at least 12 years of experience in relevant private sector or development programs,
• Or a Master’s degree plus 8 years of relevant experience.
• Significant program management experience in commercial agriculture, agribusiness development, access to finance, market access, trade facilitation, and partnership development

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional qualifications that would make a candidate more desirable. We seek candidates who bring experience with:

• Leading complex horticulture or other agriculture programs in Uganda and/or Sub-Saharan Africa strongly preferred
• Brokering and nurturing public-private partnerships using a high-touch approach to partnership development and implementation
• Influencing and collaborating with senior management of agribusinesses (input suppliers, producer organizations, processors, traders, etc.), financial institutions, and other private sector actors to achieve partnership results
• Implementing market systems development approaches, including a nuanced understanding of when to implement hybrid MSD-value chain approaches depending on the maturity and needs of market actors
• Sourcing and delivering demand-driven technical assistance and business development services particularly through technical assistance facility mechanisms
• Deploying a broad variety of catalytic financial instruments, including matching grants, credit facilities, and access to commercial finance, and a demonstrated understanding of factors that influence which instruments or combination of instruments to select
• Designing and implementing inclusive business models that integrate women and youth (farmers, entrepreneurs) and successfully removing structural barriers that bar entry from entering or thriving in agricultural value chains
• Designing and implementing climate-smart approaches that improve the resilience of value chain actors and agricultural sectors as a whole
• Implementing consumer-facing campaigns to promote food safety and nutritious diets
• Implementing large, complex programs funded by the Government of the Netherlands

Required Languages:

Fluency in English required. Understanding of Luganda, Swahili, and other native languages is an advantage.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills and ability to effectively motivate and manage teams in a multi-cultural environment
• Ability to work under tight deadlines while managing multiple tasks and activities
• Ability to develop well written, cohesive analyses and reports
• Understanding of capacities and constraints of smallholder farming and agribusiness development
• An honest broker who is able to build win-win partnerships between multiple agriculture sector stakeholders, including agribusinesses, public sector, financial institutions, technology providers, and others
• Ability to clearly communicate a high level strategy to internal and external stakeholders, while driving execution of a workplan and achievement of short-term milestones. Ability to use adaptive management principles to make strategic, data-driven decisions in the face of uncertainty and complexity

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Typically, 4 to 5 senior level staff including tech specialists, financial directors and M&E staff. Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams is desired.