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Job Description
About One Acre Fund
Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa’s farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.
One Acre Fund has been working with farmers in the Amhara region of Ethiopia since 2014, with a specific focus on trees since 2018. The Ethiopia program now has expanded in South Ethiopia in 2024. Our aim with the tree program is to provide not only short-term income opportunities but also long-term benefits, such as soil health improvements and erosion control, so that farmers build resilience over time.
About the Role
One Acre Fund-Ethiopia is looking for a Government Relations (GR) & Program Support Coordinator, who will be the primary contact for the Zonal and Woreda offices of Agriculture and other Woreda and Zonal government officials and external partners in Wolaita Zone. You will support our efforts to further establish our program in the South Ethiopia region more broadly. You will also play a key role in de-risking our field engagements through active information gathering, staff training, and compliance management to ensure that our operations can run smoothly with reduced disruptions and risks to our staff and farmers alike. As such, this role is critical to the success of the program.
You will be a key deputy to the One Acre Fund’s Senior Partnerships Associate based in Wolaita Sodo. You will report to the Senior Partnerships Associate.
Travel expectations: You will be required to travel frequently (50% of the time) within the Wolaita Zone and the southern Ethiopia region, and potentially to other regions as needed.
Responsibilities
Manage work relationships with Woreda government and Zonal Focal Persons (FPs)
- Serve as the primary day-to-day liaison with woreda and zonal project focal persons (FP) and other government stakeholders
- Proactively identify woreda and kebele GR issues by communicating with Tree Officers (TOs) and Cluster Leads (CLs) and resolve those issues in consultation with appropriate government stakeholders.
- Participate in the weekly cluster lead meetings to understand GR challenges that may exist in the field and resolve them on time by leveraging run alignment meetings with woreda and zonal FPs as needed
- Attend other government meetings as directed by the Senior Partnerships Associate
- Update contacts and meeting notes on the Customer Relationship Management tool
- Leverage networks and knowledge of the landscape to help identify opportunities to expand and/or improve One Acre Fund’s work
Prepare, organize, review, and submit documents as required on time to project signatory offices and other government offices, especially quarterly reports
- Gather inputs for quarterly reports from department leads or their designee
- Write and develop clear and concise quarterly reports that track progress and inform project stakeholders.
- Coordinate the review from his manager, incorporate comments, and finalize the report.
- Coordinate the submission of the reports to the woreda and regional project signatory offices.
- Prepare project mid-term and terminal reports.
- Prepare outgoing letters for woredas as needed.
- Identify, monitor, and obtain all compliance requirements at the woreda and zonal government level and submit documents as required.
Track woreda FPs’ and DAs’ support to OAF activities and field staff on a weekly basis, evaluate results, and take appropriate actions to increase program efficiency
- Monitor the assistance provided by woreda FPs and DAs to OAF operations on a weekly basis using a tracker
- Evaluate results and resolve issues in consultation with Woreda SHs and zonal focal persons.
- Ensure that the woreda FPs and DAs are fulfilling their roles and responsibilities as per prior agreements with One Acre Fund
- Follow up and ensure the woreda office of agriculture takes appropriate actions on the focal persons and DAs with underperformance issues.
- Track low- to medium-complexity risks and issues emanating at the kebele, woreda, and zonal levels
- Participate in the resolution of identified issues/risks with manager support.
- Track and analyze opportunities and deliver recommendations to the manager.
- Troubleshooting of Woreda Government Relations in consultation with the Senior Partnerships Specialist and with escalation,
Organize and lead meetings and trainings as needed with support from your manager
- Provide GR capacity-building trainings to the field team at least once a year
- Support on GR orientation and onboarding of new Woreda and Kebele employees,
- Co-lead project launch, mid-term, and terminal workshops
- Support/facilitate field visits and events for external stakeholders.
- Provide other administrative support as needed
Other Projects
- Other Partnerships and Program projects as assigned by your supervisor (when time and skill allow)
Special projects are the key to growth at OAF, and we want someone who is excited to grow their responsibilities through projects outside of their core responsibilities. Special projects in the first year might include things like data entry, translating documents into Amharic, scanning and binding of documents, support on inventory, support during input distributions, and support during seedling distribution.
Career Growth and Development
We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.
Qualifications
Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:
- University Degree in a related subject (Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Communication, Management, Law, etc.)
- Minimum three years of work experience
- One year of partnerships or communications work experience
- Demonstrate an understanding of government structures
- Worked and lived in the South Ethiopia region for at least two years
- Some public speaking, training delivery, or teaching experience
- Very good report writing skills
- Excellent communication and social skills
- Excellent attention to detail
- Willingness to travel via public transport to remote kebeles
- Good computer skills – in email, Excel, and Word
- Fluent in English, Amharic, and Wolaytaigna (both written and spoken)
Preferred Start Date
- As soon as possible
Job Location
- Sodo, Ethiopia
Benefits
- Health insurance, paid time off
Eligibility
- This role is open to Ethiopian citizens, permanent residents, and origin cardholders.
Application Deadline
24 January 2026. Please note that we hire on a rolling basis which means that applications are reviewed and processed on a continuous basis until a hire is made.
One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.