Access to Finance Officer

Description

Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. Heifer International is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) whose mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. We work with farmers and their communities to identify opportunities that deliver living incomes, creating solutions to local challenges designed to build inclusive, resilient economies. With Increased livestock and crop productivity, farmers provide for their families and improve the health of their communities. Heifer International is partnering with Cargill Inc. and the International Poultry Council to implement the Transformational Strategies for Farm Output Risk Mitigation or “TRANSFORM” in Kenya. TRANSFORM is a USAID-funded project and a critical part of the Health Security Program that seeks to advance market-driven animal health solutions to increase global health security and access to safe, affordable, animal-sourced nutrition while improving farm productivity and farmer incomes. TRANSFORM focuses on protecting human health by improving practices related to animal production through the mitigation of antimicrobial resistance and preventing emerging infectious diseases (zoonotic and transboundary animal diseases-TADs) while improving farmer livelihoods in Kenya. Heifer is leading the deployment of biosecurity, farm management and Antimicrobial Use Stewardship Practices training to farmers and other value chain players through community agro-veterinary entrepreneurs (CAVEs) and farmer agro-businesses; Social and Behavior Change awareness campaigns in biosecurity measures using different approaches; supporting farmer and value chain actors’ access to finance and market linkages to input suppliers, off-takers, and other actors in the market system. The project is expected to end in February 2026. FUNCTION The role of the Access to Finance Officer will be to support and coordinate between the financial institutions, agribusiness, and farmer cooperatives of the TRANSFORM Project to improve the deployment of bio-secure focused financing products in the project. S/he will coordinate with the financial institutions to develop biosecurity-focused financial products for targeted project participants while promoting and tracking the deployment and repayment of project loan products. The Access to Finance Officer will work with the program to assess the gaps in the adoption of biosecurity practices promoted by the project and that can be addressed through access to finance. S/he will communicate these needs and opportunities to the financial intermediaries identified by the project to facilitate the development of specific financing products. S/he will work with the financial intermediary in training the farmer cooperatives and agribusinesses in these products and promote the deployment of loan products in the project to adopt biosecurity practices. S/he will work with the financial intermediary and programs to ensure and track the repayment of loans and monitor specific impact parameters identified by the project. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER TRAITS Understanding and experience of financing to smallholder farmers, women entrepreneurs, and value chain players in agriculture. The candidate should be empathetic, emotionally intelligent, honest, and display a positive attitude. Strong leadership, communication and team-building skills will be essential. In addition, the ability to impart a shared vision, drive impact and create an environment that has respect for procedures and norms, while remaining curious, analytical, socially sensitive, and values-oriented. RESPONSIBILITIES AND DELIVERABLES(A) Financing Pipeline Development and Technical Assistance (30%)