Program Partner, Digital Economy - Agriculture at 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 have entered a very exciting time at the Foundation as we scale up our operations across Africa to realize our Young Africa Works strategy. Our role at the Mastercard Foundation is to be a catalyst. Our Young Africa Works strategy focuses on working with others to spur systemic change so young people have the opportunity to find work that is dignified and fulfilling.

The Foundation has opened offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda, building a broader leadership presence in Africa to develop specific strategies that support youth employment. Within a country, we work with governments, the private sector, educators and other funders to improve the quality of education and vocational training, prepare young people for the work force, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and connect job seekers to dignified and fulfilling work.

We are ambitious and driven. Our values transcend and rise above everything else as our guide. We encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work. We laugh at ourselves and with each other. We are a team. Our journey together makes our impact even more meaningful.

If you are an experienced digital economy professional looking to increase your impact, read on!

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Lead MSME and Agriculture Finance Ghana, the Program Partner, Digital Economy will engage partners for successful program design and implementation. The job holder will work collaboratively with Foundation staff, such as Program country team members to ensure the integration of the digital economy agenda in country strategies in agriculture.

The successful candidate will be based in Ghana.

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

• Supporting the implementation of the country agriculture roadmap.
• Provide support in diagnosing and contributing to expertise on digital economy enabling environment and policy to guide implementation of the country strategy, partnership development, and monitoring processes.
• Provide implementation support to partners and identify collaboration opportunities with Fintechs and Financial institutions
• Conduct research on the country digital agriculture environment and capacity by performing a wide range of analyses
• Establish local partners contact, nurture relationships, coordinate and working closely with national and local stakeholders
• Identify demand areas for digital value-added services for inclusive and sustainable agriculture growth
• Based on the capacity assessment, contribute to the planning, implementation and design of monitoring an evaluation of impact assessment of the capacity development program
• Provide digital technology expertise to support the design and management of programs that leverage technology to scale country-level inclusive agriculture
• Explore emerging fintech and digital agriculture solutions and recommend solutions to can add to existing and upcoming projects
• Collaborate with Program Leads/Partners to review proposals, develop strategic outcomes and program roadmaps.
• Engage partners to collect feedback on the country roadmap and strategy.
• Contribute to evolution in thinking and new approaches needed to get to scale.
• Work closely with the program and country teams to leverage synergies across programs and across geographies.
• Support the management of current or future programs as appropriate, distilling learnings for the country and technical teams as well as wider Foundation staff.
• Participate in governance activities related to programs, such as investment committees, advisory committees, or other stakeholder fora to provide oversight or elevate and leverage learnings.
• Contribute insights to the Foundation’s thought leadership on digital skills development in Africa by writing blogs, attending, presenting at conferences and identifying other opportunities to share and deepen learning.
• Provide assistance in expanding the Foundation team’s capacity relating to digital skills development and digital policy, by sharing learning and supporting country teams.
• Support the design and delivery of appropriate mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness and impact of skills development interventions in close collaboration with the Impact Learning team.
• Track program progress and collaborate with colleagues in Impact and D&L to collect and validate data and learnings.
• Raise programmatic issues to Country Program Lead / Program Lead and Country Head as they arise and leverage Foundation resources to resolve them.
• Build and manage relationships with implementing partners in conjunction with the Program Lead.
• Build partnerships and maintain relationships with key stakeholders at country-level, communities of practice and global stakeholders.

Who You Are

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in agriculture, business, or a technology-related field.
• Experience in a commercial function in at least one relevant digital technology industry focused on low-income customers
• Familiarity with relevant technologies and sectors with potential for emerging markets – software solutions, app or platform providers, venture capital, incubators, digital financial services providers, e-government, data analytics, etc.
• Experience working with the non-profit or public sectors, particularly in a role relating to digital technology.
• Experience with entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship.
• Demonstrated knowledge of African social, economic and political contexts.
• Excellent project management skills, including multi-stakeholder projects.
• Experience living and/or working in Africa.
• Knowledge of digital inclusion policy is an asset.
• Good organizational skills and demonstrated ability to handle multiple tasks.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Excellent presentation and listening skills.
• Proficiency in English, written and oral is required. The ability to speak a local language is highly preferred.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• High emotional intelligence and comfort with ambiguity.