This position will be hybrid with on average 8 days per month in office. You can be based in our WRI Africa office in Kigali, Rwanda.
About the Program:
WRIโs Restoration Initiative informs, enables, and invests in people who restore degraded land, creating socially, economically and environmentally productive lands. At WRI Africa, restoration is anchored within the Vital Landscapes Pillar, which aims at revitalizing and protecting landscapes for people and planet. It aims to build the resilience of our natural ecosystems to sustainably provide vital ecosystems services, such as food, water, carbon sequestration and climate regulation. WRIโs restoration work in Africa supports the goals of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) where, with other partners, we have identified more than 700 million hectares of cleared and degraded forest and agricultural lands that are suitable for restoration across the continent.
Since 2023, WRI is supporting landscape-focused restoration in Africa, specifically in the Lake Kivu & Rusizi River Landscape in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi; The Kenyaโs Greater Rift Valley Landscape and the Ghanaโs Cocoa Belt Landscape. To transform landscapes, WRI is supporting โrestoration championsโ to scale up their work. Our flagship investment program for these locally led African community-based non-profits and businesses, TerraFund for AFR100, currently provides finance and training for 192 growing organizations that create sustainable jobs across 27 member countries of the AFR100 Initiative.
WRI has also developed the Land Accelerator, an online and in-person customized mentorship program empowering small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) who restore land with the aim of empowering them to grow their impact, and compellingly pitch to investors like TerraFund for AFR100 and to more effectively sell their products. Since 2018, WRI has trained more than 400 organizations in Africa, Latin America, and India through the Land Accelerator. By fostering entrepreneurship, this first-of-its-kind program provides a cost-effective approach to restore โ and develop โ rural areas around the world.
Job Highlight:
Reporting to the Senior Manager of Land Accelerator Africa, you'll play a pivotal role in driving impactful change within the restoration landscape. You'll be at the forefront of fostering entrepreneurship and innovation to drive landscape restoration across Africa. This role offers a unique opportunity to spearhead capacity-building efforts for restoration entrepreneurs across Africa and in our focal landscapes. The emphasis of the role is on Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin. You will manage partnerships and training programs, collaborating closely with our sister initiative, TerraFund for AFR100. This role provides a dynamic platform to work alongside a diverse team of experts committed to empowering locally led organizations driving Africa's restoration movement.
What will you do:
Development of the Land Accelerator network (50%):
- Identify entrepreneurs and SMEs that contribute to and enhance the business case for land restoration in the priority landscapes, with emphasis on Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin
- Promote the Land Accelerator and recruit entrepreneurs to apply. Outreach partners may include country-level incubators, local academic institutions, and government bodies to educate youth around the restoration economy
- Screen and evaluate applications, interview shortlisted entrepreneurs, conduct reference and other checks regarding each cohort
- Work with Landscape partners to identify capacity gaps for restoration enterprises and plan support areas to address the gaps
- Manage the 4โ6-month training and mentorship component of the Land Accelerator to help entrepreneurs identify and achieve key milestones
- Manage partnerships and implementation with local landscape entrepreneurship partners
- Co-design annual workplans and curriculum with the local landscape entrepreneurship partners to ensure relevance and effectiveness
- Facilitate access to funding opportunities by working closely with TerraFund colleagues and by engaging additional investors and assisting entrepreneurs in refining their pitches and networking efforts
- Recruit and vet speakers and mentors for the Land Accelerator in your geography, organizing panels and event logistics, etc
- Plan interactive cross-regional virtual events between the three Land Accelerator Africa target landscapes
- Implement monitoring & evaluation (M&E) surveys to capture the impact of the Land Accelerator and use the data and key learnings to improve the program and communicate internally and to external stakeholders.
Administration (25%):
- Manage necessary travel and event logistical arrangements, ensuring smooth execution of program activities
- Collaborate in creating and managing contracts with venues, local partner organizations, speakers, ensuring compliance with organizational policies and procedures
- Support payments to participants, trainers, and partner organizations.
External stakeholder management (25%):
- Collaborate with WRI communications team to translate the business case into compelling storylines. This may include writing and editing material including blog posts, op-eds, e-blasts and other communications that translate technical material for various audiences
- Support fundraising efforts by contributing to proposal development, responding to donor inquiries, and conducting impact assessments to demonstrate program effectiveness
- Liaise with the AFR100 initiative (afr100.org) and TerraMatch (terramatch.org) to ensure entrepreneurs from the Land Accelerator network can benefit from these initiatives.
What will you need:
- Education: You have completed a bachelorโs degree in accounting, business, economics, entrepreneurship, or any other related field
- Experience: You have 6+ years of full-time, relevant experience, including in entrepreneurship support, program implementation, partnership management
- Experience working with, training, or supporting small and medium enterprises and community-based organizations
- Demonstrated project management experience
- Familiarity or exposure to land restoration, agriculture development or environmental management in Africa context
- Familiarity with project management tools, such as Airtable, Asana or Monday.com is desirable
- Languages: You are proficient in written and spoken English and French. Proficiency in local languages (Kinyarwanda, Kirundi or Swahili) is desirable
- Requirements: Existing work authorization is required where this position. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization.