NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Job Details
Description
At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Program Overview:

HortiMAP 2.0 is a proposed 5-year horticulture sector development program funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and slated to begin in late 2025. The project aims to strengthen inclusive and resilient horticulture markets in Uganda by building on a foundation of participatory planning to increase production and incomes, catalyze access to finance, enhance food safety and quality, and improve market systems for farmers, farmer organizations and agri-SMEs.

The program targets 100,000 smallholder farmers and will closely coordinate with other EKN-funded programs (e.g., FORT, INSPIRE, A-GRIP, Common Ground) as well as private sector actors and financial institutions.

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.

This position is contingent upon donor funding and approval.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe’s vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.