Partnerships Officer

Overview

Partnerships Officer Jobs in Kigali City, Rwanda at AGRA

Title: Partnerships Officer

Company: AGRA

Location: Kigali City, Rwanda

AGRA and its Work

AGRA is an African-led institution that actively supports the drive towards inclusive agricultural transformation and sustainable food systems. We do this by empowering the continent’s 33 million small-farming households to transform their agriculture from a struggle to survive to profitable businesses. The continent’s farmers regularly face challenges, and we aspire to provide uniquely African solutions that respond to their agricultural and environmental challenges, leading to increased harvests for reduced hunger and more income.

Working in alignment with the development priorities of our focus countries, we enable farmers to access improved and high-yielding seeds, gain knowledge on sustainable farming, and link to profitable markets.

In our work, we aspire to build the alliances, partnerships, and networks required to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation. We work with our partners to create an equitable youth-friendly environment that harnesses the youth dividend on the continent to drive growth and facilitate open employment opportunities for young women and men. We achieve our key objectives through a focus on the following five areas of intervention:

1. Policy and state capability – We support governments in creating an enabling environment for private sector involvement in agricultural transformation.
2. Seed systems – We trigger higher productivity by increasing the availability and access to improved seeds by farmers, allowing them to increase their harvests for food security and better incomes.
3. Sustainable farming – We support farmers in building resilient farming systems for sustained high yields through interventions such as mechanization and irrigation.
4. Inclusive markets trade and finance – We work to increase the linkages between farmers and other market actors for a positive, sustained cycle of commercialization and reinvestment.
5. Youth, Gender, and Inclusiveness – We enable women and youth to contribute to and benefit from agriculture for their economic empowerment.

Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) is widely recognized as the world’s premier forum for African agriculture and food systems. Hosted by the Government of Rwanda, the AFS Secretariat is headquartered in Rwanda. The role will be part of the AFSF Secretariat.

The Position

The Partnership Officer will work closely with the Managing Director – AFSF and various teams across AGRA to strengthen and grow the AFS Forum Partners Group, identify, maintain, and disseminate information, and deliver on partnership and public sector-led opportunities that scale AFS Forum’s resource mobilization efforts.

The ideal candidate will build and maintain relationships with predominantly public sector partners to scale AFS’s existing financing (Governments, institutional partners UN agencies, Development Banks, Philanthropies), to identify new opportunities for investments and sponsorships, adopt innovative approaches and develop opportunities to leverage additional resources (i.e., catalytic co-investment) from new partners to improve access to affordable financing and reach the 50 million USD targets of AFSF by 2027. S/he will work closely with the head of thematic platforms to ensure that proposals are developed to mobilize institutional partners, multiyear partners, and annual sponsors. He/she will lead the day-to-day partnership management with existing partners as year-round engagement to increase investment into African agriculture and food systems and to position AFS Forum partners, including AGRA, as a preferred partner for public sector-led agriculture development and food systems transformation, and a leading initiator, convener, and catalyst of multi-stakeholder partnerships that drive transformation

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Build and grow high-value partnerships that advance the AFS Forum’s strategic priorities.
• Maintain, identify, and secure new partners aligned to food systems transformation and regional priorities.
• Create linkages across partners and donor programs to unlock funding for the Forum, including the annual summit and thematic platforms.
• Represent AFSF at key agribusiness platforms to showcase impact and unlock new collaboration opportunities.
• Support the coordination of thematic platforms’ meetings and foster effective collaboration across a diverse partner ecosystem.
• Support governance structures and operating models of AFSF that enhance partnership effectiveness and accountability.
• She/he is the go-to person for record keeping and management of all partners, sponsors, grants, and income-related information and reporting requirements.
• Work with country teams to prioritize needs and implement structured partner coordination frameworks.
• Support the management of a dynamic network of partners, ensuring strong engagement and value delivery.
• Work closely with partners to maximize impact from multiyear and annual sponsorships.
• Share and connect partners with relevant public and private sector opportunities across AGRA and beyond.
• Ensure timely tracking and reporting of partner activities and commitments.
• Manage and leverage partner databases to support engagement and decision-making.
• Support the end-to-end partner coordination, including partners' participation in the annual summits.

Qualifications and Experience Required:

• A Master’s or bachelor’s degree in business administration (strategic analysis focus), International Relations, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Social Entrepreneurship, Education, or related field
• Knowledge of the agriculture sector and exposure to private sector investment processes and policies in Africa.
• Experience working in agriculture development in Africa, including strategic partnership/relationship development and management, public-private partnerships, and agribusiness.
• Experience working with a large multinational development agency in a coordination role for the AFSF platform.
• Fluency in English, knowledge of French will be an added advantage.
• Ability to effectively manage partnership projects through comprehensive planning, execution, and evaluation, ensuring timely delivery of objectives while coordinating resources, monitoring progress, and adapting strategies to achieve desired outcomes.
• Proficiency in crafting compelling proposals and concept notes that attract donor interests, summarize project ideas while emphasizing key objectives, methodologies, and expected outcomes, effectively articulate partnership opportunities, funding requirements, align the project’s significance with the funder's priorities, and display AGRA's capacity to deliver impactful results.
• Ability to effectively represent AGRA at relevant forums and alliances, strategically contributing to discussions, displaying initiatives, and actively seeking opportunities for new partnerships.
• Exhibits strong research abilities to identify potential partnerships, funding sources, and Agri-investment opportunities that align with the strategic goals of the AFS Forum.
• Demonstrated social and humanitarian awareness, along with the diplomatic skills necessary to navigate complex stakeholder environments and advocate for partnership development effectively.

If you believe you are a fit for this position, please submit your application with a detailed CV (including your email and telephone contact information) to [email protected]. Please quote the job reference number PO/AFSF/04/2026 on the subject line of the application email.

Due to the usual large volumes of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For more information on AGRA, visit www.agra.org.

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.