Head, Agrifoods Systems – WAEMU at Mastercard Foundation.
About mastercard foundation
Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. Through its Young Africa Works strategy and Canadian EleV program, the Foundation works with partners to ensure that millions of young people, especially young women, access quality education, financial services, and dignified work. Mastercard Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. The Foundation is independent with its own Board of Directors and CEO.

The work at the foundation
We are currently in an exciting period at the Mastercard Foundation as we intensify the implementation of the Young Africa Works strategy, aiming to empower 30 million young people throughout Africa to access dignified and fulfilling employment.
To ensure the Foundation’s accessibility to our partners and program participants, we have established offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda. These offices provide strong in-country support for the implementation of Young Africa Works. We collaborate with governments, the private sector, educators, and other funders to enhance the quality of education and vocational training, equip young individuals with the necessary skills for the workforce, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and facilitate connections between job seekers and meaningful employment opportunities.
Our values serve as our guiding principles, transcending and surpassing all other considerations. We wholeheartedly encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work.
If you are an experienced Head, Agrifoods Systems professional looking to increase your impact, read on!


The opportunity
Reporting to the Country Director, WAEMU, the Head, Agrifoods Systems will support the development and lead the implementation of Agrifood priorities within the WAEMU Roadmap. S/he will also be responsible for development and implementation of programs to support the realization of the agriculture and food processing pillar priorities.


Ways you can contribute
• Interpret and cascade the Agrifood thematic area from the WAEMU roadmap to enable execution of programs portfolio in support of Young Africa Works.
• Develop partnerships with a variety of partners for scale and impact.
• Partner with other program thematic teams to provide timely and context aligned support for the implementation of Agriculture and processing related portfolios.
• Lead in the creation of collaboration platforms and networks relevant to enable the scaling and acceleration of Agrifood programs.
• Play a key role in driving the Foundation’s thrust on agricultural and processing systems and climate resilience.
• Support thematic teams to regularly collect and collate learnings from agriculture and processing related program implementation.
• Socialize, and integrate learnings from the WAEMU countries and cluster programs to feed into future development/co-creation processes.
• Ensure thematic teams have tangible access to technical expertise in agrifood systems.
• Lead the definition and launch of a community of practice to aid the learning agenda internally and externally.
• Represent the Foundation and its overall agricultural and processing programs as senior spokesperson at key conferences, workshops, and media events.
• Build relationships with senior figures within donors, foundations, private sector, and governments to build awareness and strengthen the brand and public profile of the Foundation and its programs.
• Lead, manage, motivate, and develop staff within the Agricultural and Food processing thematic team and ensure they have clear objectives and accountabilities against which individual and team performance is assessed regularly.
• Provide functional leadership to Agriculture and related sectors staff, ensure they have a complete understanding of objectives and approaches aligned with the WAEMU Agriculture and processing priorities.
• Collaborate with colleagues across functions and countries and senior leadership to deliver the Foundation’s agriculture-related areas and expertise.

Who you are
• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in education, business, or a technology-related field.
• Minimum of fifteen (15) years of experience in the agriculture or related sector, with five (5) years of experience leading and managing a team.
• Working experience in the Francophone West Africa region, with deep knowledge of the policies, networks, business landscape.
• Native level of French and fluency in English are mandatory.
• Demonstrated expertise and established networks and relationships in Agriculture and development in Africa, West Africa or the WAEMU.
• Experience with initiating new operations, preferably in the agriculture and Food processing space.
• Proven experience engaging and collaborating with high-level government officials, key partners, media, business leaders and other network influencers.
• Experience with public speaking at conferences and other forums including media interaction. Formal media training would be an asset.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the WAEMU, economic and political contexts and entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship.
• Exposure to systems thinking with an ability to understand and engage with stakeholders in an education ecosystem and design programming that addresses root causes and critical needs.
• Knowledge of key issues and emerging trends and barriers in education and technology integration and strong understanding of education policy and practice across Africa, West Africa or WAEMU.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Proven excellence in verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures and to distill complex information and data into accessible conversation and written pieces.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• You have a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.