Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Projects Senior Associate Contract

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. Our 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across six core countries in Africa, 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 harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund.

To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.

About the Role

As the PES Projects Associate you will support work in Payments for Ecosystem Services across our countries of operation.  Your primary responsibility will be to build high-quality PES programs that create meaningful impact for farmers. You will deliver excellent support to country implementation teams on high quality, participatory program design and implementation; you will support carbon certification, monitoring and sales; and you will conduct research in service of improving existing projects. As part of the Global Impact team, you will work with many different teams to accomplish a complex shared goal. You will report directly to the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Manager and will co-manage or directly support 1-4 country pilot leads (Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia).

Responsibilities

Carbon Program Design. Lead One Acre Fund’s work in developing carbon projects that boost farmer resilience and climate change mitigation. Specifically,

• Use participatory methods to co-design carbon projects with farmers that stand up to rigorous certification standards
• Test new technology(ies) that improves smallholder access to carbon markets

Carbon Project Implementation.

• Help implement carbon work across the organization
• Work with country teams to develop actionable plans for operations
• Build and keep detailed impact/business models updated with latest pilot learnings
• Provide excellent technical support to field teams to ensure that project implementation, monitoring, and verification meet certification requirements.
• Work with our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning team to build a world-class monitoring system

External partner engagement.

• Support One Acre Fund’s work in building relationships with global buyers and financing partners
• Support (and lead, in some cases) work with main external partners including carbon standards and technical consultants

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:

• 3+ years experience in designing and managing complex projects
• Experience designing data collection tools, quantitative analysis, and impact modeling
• Technical knowledge of agroforestry or agricultural systems
• Excellent project management skills
• Strong team dynamics, cooperation, and humility
• Experience developing collaboration with implementers, technical advisors, or certification bodies in the carbon sector is ideal.
• Familiarity with carbon emissions reductions verification methodologies and standards a plus
• Experience leading nature-based carbon projects, including participatory design, implementation, certification, and sales.

Preferred Start Date

• As soon as possible

Job Location

• Kigali, Rwanda or Nairobi, Kenya or any One Acre Fund offices with PES programs (Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia)

Benefits

• Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Contract Duration

• 2 years

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.

Application Deadline

• 26 October 2023

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 (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), 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.