Director, Haiti Food Systems Alliance

Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Contract: Full-Time Employee
Start Date: ASAP
Travel: Approximately 25% travel

About the Haiti Food Systems Alliance:
In addition to the ongoing global pandemic, Haiti is struggling with a number of growing issues – increasing inflation, growing food insecurity, climate change and limited investments in the agricultural sector leading to lower farmer yields and incomes. The Haiti Food Systems Alliance is a new, locally-led approach to change how Haiti responds to these issues. The Alliance consists of partners that have been working together for years and are now formalizing efforts to scale and expand activities to transform Haiti’s food systems from the ground up. The Alliance believes that Haitian farmers can feed Haiti, and that every Haitian should be fed. The Alliance also believes that if coordinated, supported and data-driven, Haitian youth, women, farmers and organizations have the knowledge and power to transform their food systems and uplift their communities. Over the coming ten years, the Alliance will impact the lives of tens of thousands of farming families in Haiti, while creating new opportunities and catalyzing new investment in rural communities throughout the country. Additionally, the Alliance will serve as an example for community and locally-led food system transformation, demonstrating this new approach to drive inclusive and sustainable development.

About this role:
The Director, Haiti Food Systems Alliance, working in close collaboration with all Alliance partners, will be responsible for oversight of all Alliance activities, including achieving project milestones, developing work plans, overseeing budget and reporting on execution and progress. The Director will have full programmatic and impact responsibility and lead the Alliance to impact tens of thousands of farming families in Haiti, while creating new opportunities and catalyzing new investment in rural communities throughout the country.

Key Responsibilities

1. Overarching responsibilities:
   • Develop programing, support partners and increase coordination to cement, leverage, and strengthen partnerships among 14 organizations working across diverse aspects of food system and value chain development including research, training, production, and feeding.
   • Develop programing, support partners and increase coordination to improve nutrition for thousands of children in schools, hospitals, and vulnerable rural communities through locally sourced production in strategic value chains.
   • Develop programing, support partners and increase coordination to improve the incomes of thousands of rural farming households and women through increased distribution and purchasing of local production in strategic value chains.
   • Develop programing, support partners and increase coordination to increase competitiveness, profitability, and sustainability of five or more agricultural value chains by using applied research, leveraging existing operations, and cementing market access.
2. Specific responsibilities:
   • Oversee development of Alliance website and communications strategy.
   • Develop, share and promote Alliance case studies, research and training materials and tools.
   • Develop sustainability and fundraising plan for Alliance and its members.
   • Develop Alliance gender strategy to maximize inclusiveness and equity at all levels of Alliance activities from smallholder and food systems workers to governance.
   • Align and closely collaborate with UniQ’s new campus and ecosystem development in Centre Department.
   • Develop and engage an Alliance advisory board consisting of diverse Haitian experts and thought leaders, with focus on incorporating women as well as community organization leaders.
   • Develop community and farmer engagement strategy for Alliance to ensure maximum participation of all voices.
   • Develop and oversee Alliance data, impact and reporting strategy and execution.
   • Recruit additional Alliance production, service and feeding partners.
3. Additional responsibilities:
   • Develop new programs, including budgets, operational plans and projected output and outcome estimates.
   • Draft presentations, concept notes and full project proposals.
   • Establish and maintain strong relationships with community stakeholders, including funders, relevant government departments, private sector companies and business associations.
   • Maintain project work plans and ensure timely project implementation.
   • Ensure project activities are implemented with sound managerial, technical, human resource and overall programmatic practices.
   • Conduct visits with field managers to expand operations, lead and motivate staff, manage farmer training and induction programs and resolve challenges.
   • Manage and monitor project budget variances to ensure spending rates are on target and realign as required.
   • Produce and share project performance metrics, including dashboards, Program Status Reports (PSRs) and impact data.
   • Proactively identify successful strategies and tactics, or bottlenecks to effective execution of Alliance objectives.
   • Represent programs and the Alliance at internal and external functions.
   • Interface with program funders and engage them around the Alliance and other projects.
   • Understand, respect and promote the Alliance’s mission, vision and strategy in implementation of assigned duties.

Qualifications:

1. Hard Skills
   • Ability to conceive and implement new opportunities to drive impact.
   • Experience engaging successfully with economic development funders and a broad understanding of the development sector in Haiti.
   • Ability and desire to travel to remote locations in Haiti and deal directly with farmer groups, intermediaries, processors and buyers.
   • A Master’s degree or major course work in business, international development agriculture or economics, or a related field.
   • Seven years minimum experience managing development programs in Haiti.
   • Advanced user of MS Office Suite applications (experience with accounting and operations software a strong plus).
   • Experience working with several Alliance members
2. Soft Skills
   • Entrepreneurial spirit and ambition for growth.
   • Has an ‘it can be done’ mind set and prepared to go the extra mile to do what it take to support the Alliance’s partners and beneficiaries.
   • Good analytical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills.
   • Passionate about poverty alleviation and improving farmer livelihoods and adopting new solutions to solve poverty.
   • Proven effective leadership skills and ability to mentor and manage groups of managers, staff and farmers.
   • Strong project management and budgeting skills, and experience leading multi-year, multi-million program budgets.
3. Language skills:  Oral and written fluency in French, Kreyol and English.

Application Instructions:
To apply, please upload your CV/Resume and Cover Letter in the form below. In order to be considered, we ask that you submit your application materials in English.

For more information about Acceso and careers with us, please visit Acceso.org/careers.

Acceso is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.