Director – REAP Consortium

Role Overview

The REAP Director will lead a five-year, seven-country programme that connects young people aged 18–35 with employment and enterprise opportunities across sustainable feed and livestock value chains. The role brings together research, country delivery and private-sector partnerships to turn technical and business support into measurable, inclusive work outcomes for one million financially disadvantaged young people, while using evidence to improve programme delivery over time.

Led by ILRI with a consortium of research and delivery partners, REAP aims to reach 70% young women, at least 5% youth with disabilities, and 20,000 refugees and displaced young people. The Director is accountable for programme strategy, performance, partnerships, resources and risk, and for ensuring that gender equality, social inclusion and safeguarding are reflected throughout implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the programme across countries and consortium partners, translating its theory of change and results framework into achievable plans, clear accountabilities and coordinated delivery.
• Oversee annual and multi-year workplans, staffing, budgets, milestones and partner commitments; address major barriers to implementation and ensure country arrangements are suited to the scale of the programme.
• Use performance and learning evidence to refine delivery models, interventions, partner roles and resource allocation. Secure governance or donor approval for changes that exceed delegated authority.
• Ensure credible reporting on youth employment and progression towards dignified work, as well as enterprise performance, market development, inclusion and broader systems outcomes. Support the MEL Lead to deliver the approved measurement, data-quality, evaluation and learning plan.
• Serve as the senior day-to-day programme contact for the Mastercard Foundation, working with ILRI leadership on communications, reporting, programme reviews, governance and escalation of significant issues.
• Align consortium members, country and workstream leads, and downstream delivery organisations around shared priorities. Set clear responsibilities and decision-making arrangements, and resolve partner-performance challenges through negotiation and escalation where needed.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, performance management and development of senior programme staff, building an inclusive, collaborative team with clear reporting lines and high standards of conduct.
• Connect climate-smart feed and livestock solutions with enterprise development, processing and supply chains, market access, finance, digital innovation, extension and policy, ensuring approaches are commercially practical and suited to country contexts.
• Oversee budget forecasting, expenditure, value for money and major programme risks. Work with ILRI’s finance, procurement, HR, grants, legal and operations teams to ensure that agreements and delivery systems meet institutional and donor requirements.
• Represent REAP with relevant government, business, finance, youth, producer and development stakeholders in line with ILRI’s representation arrangements, and promote safe, gender-responsive and disability-inclusive participation.

Requirements & Qualifications

• PhD in agriculture, natural resource management, agribusiness, economics, development studies, market systems, business administration, public policy or a related field.
• At least 15 years of progressively senior experience in development, agriculture, food systems, market systems, youth employment, enterprise development, inclusive finance or a closely related area.
• Substantial experience directing large, donor-funded programmes, ideally spanning multiple countries and implementing partners, with responsibility for strategy, budgets, operational delivery, risk and results.
• Previous experience as a Programme Director, Chief of Party, Country Director or in an equivalent senior leadership position.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary, geographically dispersed teams and manage complex partnerships through influence, negotiation and shared accountability.
• Experience engaging institutional or foundation donors, government, private-sector organisations, research institutions, financial institutions and delivery partners.
• Strong understanding of results frameworks and monitoring, evaluation and learning, including how to use evidence to address underperformance and improve programme design or delivery arrangements.
• Experience in agricultural value-chain or agribusiness development, large-scale youth employment programming and government engagement; experience with inclusive finance, investment facilitation or growth finance is also required.
• Ability to connect agricultural innovations with viable enterprises, markets and employment outcomes, while drawing on technical specialists to shape delivery.
• Significant experience working in Africa; professional training in programme management, organisational leadership, finance, risk management, market systems or a related discipline is an asset.
• Fluency in English. Working knowledge of French and/or Arabic is an advantage.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly across REAP programme countries.