Senior Program Officer, Knowledge Exchange & Extension Job

Requisition Number 5581BR

Foundation Overview          

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Group Summary       

The goal of the Global Development Program (GDP) is to increase opportunities for people in the developing world to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty and to help deliver targeted healthcare solutions in these regions. Our strategies focus on Agriculture Development; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; Financial Services for the Poor; and Family Health which includes Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Family Planning, and Nutrition. These strategies are supported by functional teams that focus on Vaccine Delivery and Integrated Delivery. GDP also has Special Initiatives that focus Urban Poverty, Emergency Relief, Global Libraries and Value for the Money.

The Agricultural Development Department focuses on sustainable productivity growth for smallholder farmers to achieve the impact that we seek: poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Productivity growth for smallholders depends upon improved seeds, livestock and other technologies, incentives to adopt these improvements through functioning input and output markets, and an improved policy environment. We currently define our goals by commodity, with a focus on delivering tangible productivity gains for a priority set of crops and livestock products within a handful of target geographies. In developing and executing on their strategies, our commodity portfolio managers rely on functional and context expertise from three groups: Research & Development, Farmer Services & Systems, and Country & Policy.

Responsibilities        

We are looking for a senior leader with a background in agricultural extension and knowledge exchange systems to serve as the Senior Program Officer (SPO) within the Farmer Services & Systems team. The SPO for Knowledge Exchange & Extension (KEE) is responsible for championing new ways to improve the quality and relevance of information reaching smallholder farmers in our target countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, as well as new ways to improve the systems delivering that information and knowledge so they reach more farmers (with an emphasis on women) and function more cost-effectively. The KEE portfolio in Agricultural Development is wide ranging, across diverse food crops, livestock, inputs, financial services, and more. The portfolio focuses on the critical value of knowledge that has value to the smallholder farmer - and improving content and delivery of that knowledge to farmers.

Grant making in Knowledge Exchange and Extension is designed to contribute to the larger Agricultural Development portfolio of investments. The SPO, therefore, will collaborate with many others to create, manage, and oversee investments while also serving in a technical advisory role to bring KEE expertise to other grants in the portfolio. The work requires collaboration with diverse stakeholders within the foundation as well as externally, including with national government partners, private sector and NGOs, and development organizations.

Qualifications

We are looking for people who enjoy the challenge of working on complex problems and collaboratively creating solutions that have the potential for transformational change in the lives of smallholder farmers. The candidate must be prepared to work across diverse sides of this field, bridging a wide range of expertise, including that of: farmers, development practitioners, technical experts, analysts, policymakers, business people, investors, and philanthropists. S/he will be a solid team player, with a demonstrated ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a fast-paced, challenging environment, using use a hypothesis-driven approach and analytical rigor to develop sound strategies and implementation plans.

The candidate should have the following qualifications:

• Ten or more years relevant work experience in Knowledge Exchange and Extension, or related field with responsibility for developing, implementing, and managing projects/programs. Outstanding record of achievement required.

• Employment history in a low income country context, strongly preferred.

• MBA, or Master's in information science, economics, development studies, social sciences, agricultural engineering, agronomy, or related field.

• Solid knowledge of information and communication technologies and how they work differently in rural emerging and developing country markets, as well as the ability to communicate how they can improve Agricultural Development investments by the foundation in KEE.

• Solid knowledge of developing country public and private extension systems at national and state levels.

• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior with a diverse range of people

• Ability to orchestrate effective decisions across a broad range of issues and stakeholders, assess progress, analyze gaps, and make necessary changes

• Innovative and open-minded approach; ability to question and challenge colleagues including managers and partners in a constructive manner

• Ability to travel up to 25% of time as needs dictate.

The position will be based in Seattle, WA and will report to the Deputy Director, Farmer Services & Systems.

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

 To apply, please visit: http://bit.ly/1LcK0QS