Heifer International is a global nonprofit dedicated to partnering with smallholder farmers to sustainably address hunger and poverty in their communities while caring for the Earth. Since 1944, we have helped more than 52 million families around the world break the cycle of poverty. We operate in 19 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, including the U.S., working with small-scale farmers to achieve living incomes and ensuring that they have adequate food, housing, and other essential resources to lead decent and dignified lives.
Core Responsibilities
Program Leadership
- Lead the design and execution of the Africa regional strategy, aligning with Heifer’s global vision and the Twelve Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development.
- Align the program model, lead, and drive the Africa program for program quality and impact.
- Champion Locally Led Development by empowering country programs to act as strategic and operational centers, ensuring they have the autonomy, capacity, and resources to thrive.
- Establish an enabling environment with Global Support Functions and Regional Nodes to support successful program design, delivery, and adaptation.
- Ensure program goals, budgets, and timelines are met, and adhere to compliance requirements while driving cohesion.
- Maintain awareness of the competitive development landscape, expansion opportunities, and industry trends in Africa.
Strategic Partnership, Relationship Building, and Management
- Represent Heifer Africa with bilateral, multilateral, corporate, and philanthropic partners, cultivating long-term, trust-based relationships and strategic partnerships driven by the business model and inspired by the ambitions of the program model.
- Collaborate with global revenue and partnership cultivation teams to align Africa’s priorities with donor engagement strategies and secure sustainable funding pipelines for long-term and innovative partnerships.
- Elevate Heifer’s visibility and influence in Africa and abroad through strategic partnerships, advocacy and policy engagement, and thought leadership.
- Position Heifer Africa as a top-tier development ecosystem, thought leader, and impactful organization fostering effective communication and external collaboration.
People Leadership and Culture
- Build and mentor a high-performing regional leadership team, fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning, and champion talent fluidity by nurturing a connected ecosystem of leaders, ensuring skills, insights, and experiences flow seamlessly across country, regional, and network nodes to strengthen collective capacity.
- Champion a culture of equity, inclusion, transparency, and integrity that aligns with Heifer’s values and regenerative leadership model.
- Develop leadership capacity within country programs to strengthen locally led and sustainable organizations.
- Translate organizational vision into specific, actionable strategies that mobilize and inspire teams across the region.
Execution, Risk, and Operations
- Oversee internal program execution, operations, finances, and compliance within Africa to ensure Heifer’s reputation as a trusted and high-performing organization.
- Collaborate across functions to mitigate risks, optimize resources, and accelerate results.
- Enable country programs to adopt adaptive strategies rooted in evidence, learning, and contextual realities.
Foster Engagement, Learning, and Transformation
- Actively contribute to Heifer’s organizational transformation, ensuring Africa serves as a leading example of semi-autonomous, regenerative, and learning-driven node.
- Institutionalize learning loops that capture insights from Africa programs and share them across Heifer’s global network.
- Promote a culture of shared leadership and interconnectedness across Africa and globally.
- Promote internal engagement and foster uncommon collaboration across Africa and globally to maximize learning.
- Other tasks as assigned.
Leadership Model
- SVP – Africa will champion a Regenerative Leadership Model grounded in shared leadership, stewardship, systems-thinking, trust-building, and courageous humility. The SVP – Africa will lead not through control, but by cultivating coherence, presence, and shared purpose; also model a leadership approach grounded in wholeness and well-being, recognizing that personal renewal, empathy, and care are foundational to sustainable impact.
Minimum Requirements
- A minimum of fifteen (15) years of international development experience with a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., international development, business administration, agriculture, economics, or public policy), or a combination of education and experience can be considered.
- Extensive experience living and working in Africa in the field of agriculture, agri-business, and food systems, etc., with strong knowledge of the continent’s development dynamics.
- Knowledge of small holder business development and agriculture.
- Proven success leading complex programs and organizations, including financial and operational management in the non-profit space.
- Demonstrated experience of engaging institutional donors (IFAD, DFID/FCDO, UN agencies, Foundations, Corporations).
- Fluent in English.
- The ability to travel within Africa and globally up to 50% of the time.
Preferred Requirements
- Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., international development, business administration, agriculture, economics, or public policy).
- Six to seven (6~7) years of experience in executive leadership roles.
- Prior experience working in the INGO space.
- Proficiency in French or another widely spoken African language.
Method of Application
Meet the Qualifications? Apply now at Heifer International on jobs.jobvite.com