Agroforestry Innovations Associate

Job description

The Agroforestry Innovations Associate will be part of our dedicated international agroforestry team and will support ten embedded agroforestry teams – one in each country program. This role will report to the Agroforestry Director.
Location: Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa’s farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions.

To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

About the Role
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One Acre Fund is home to Africa’s largest agroforestry programs, serving over 2 million farmers, providing more than 100 million seedlings per year, and engaging a network of over 2,500 rural nurseries run by local entrepreneurs. We see these programs as part of the solution to three key challenges facing smallholder farmers – poverty, climate change, and biodiversity loss.  As an Agroforestry Innovations Associate, you will strengthen and improve these programs with new approaches to generate positive change for farm families and the environment.  You will work on a variety of complex challenges, including strengthening our supply of quality tree seed, improving training and management tools for nursery managers, and diversifying our species offerings.

The Agroforestry Innovations Associate will be part of our dedicated international agroforestry team and will support ten embedded agroforestry teams—one in each country program.  This role will report to the Agroforestry Director.

Responsibilities

Scope, pilot, and scale new investments to improve program impact and reach.  Example initiatives could include:

Developing solutions to improve seedling survival rates
Building planning solutions to better support nursery managers
Researching and trialing sustainable socket alternatives
Implement improvements to tree seed supply systems
Supporting tree tracking systems at the farm level
Conducting sitespecies matching research (field and desk) to expand species diversity

Provide short-term direct support to agroforestry operations in cases where team bandwidth isn’t adequate.  This could be in the form of high-touch operational support or even a short-term secondment.

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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:

Experience in Agroforestry and Landscape Restoration

3+ years of leadership and demonstrated results in agroforestry, restoration, or related domains in Sub-Saharan Africa
University or advanced degree in agroforestry, ecology, restoration, or related fields
Familiarity with biodiversity projects or nature-based carbon projects is an additional advantage

External Relationships

Exceptional written and verbal communication to engage a range of audiences, including rural farmers, internal staff, external partners, and organizational leadership
History of collaboration with primary actors in the forestry and landscape restoration sectors, including implementers, technical resources, and policy-makers
Experience launching new programs or building successful partnerships

Management Skills

Experience coordinating complex and scalable programs
Penchant for data-driven decision-making with structured analysis and fact-based recommendations

Other

Willingness to travel within the region at least 25% of the time
English Fluency. Other preferred languages include Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Chichewa, Amharic, or French.
Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Nigeria.

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Nigeria.

Application Deadline

13 May 2026

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.