• Regional office: West & Central Africa - Coastal & Humid Regions
  • Application deadline: December 12, 2026
  • In-person interviews: Dec. 2026

Overview

The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) is a non-profit, autonomous international agricultural research center headquartered in Taiwan and with five regional offices worldwide. WorldVeg delivers science and innovation for enhanced vegetable production and consumption in a rapidly changing world. For more information, please visit our website: www.worldveg.org and our new global strategy.

WorldVeg seeks a dynamic, innovative, and impact-driven leader to serve as Program Director for the recently launched program “HortiFuture: Seed Systems Supporting the Growth of West Africa’s Horticultural Sector”. The program is aimed at creating an inclusive and competitive vegetable and potato seed sector that provides smallholder farmers with access to affordable, quality seeds of a wide range of adapted varieties. Funded by the government of the Netherlands, the five-year program operates in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal. Using an Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) approach, HortiFuture strengthens the seed sector in the partner countries along four intervention domains: 1. seed market development; 2. biodiversity, varieties, and seed supply; 3. seed sector regulation; and 4. seed sector governance. The program supports international, domestic, and community-based seed producers through business development, variety testing, biodiversity conservation, improved seed production, regulatory reform, and enhanced sector coordination.

This senior position requires technical expertise in seed sector development, thought leadership, and excellent management skills. The Program Director will take full accountability for the delivery of the program against its approved results framework. She/He will lead a multi-country project implementation team of international and local partners, each contributing unique expertise and experience, ensuring smooth collaboration, communication, and continuous progress toward achieving the program objectives.

The Program Director will be based at the WorldVeg regional office for West and Central Africa in Cotonou, Benin. The position will report to the Regional Director for West and Central Africa and the Research Director for Social Sciences and Nutrition, with strategic oversight from a WorldVeg Program Committee chaired by the Director General. The respective reporting responsibilities and delegated decision-making authorities will be confirmed before appointment. The Director will be supported by program staff responsible for finance, procurement, administration, communications and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), alongside Country Coordinators and country teams.

Key Responsibilities

  1. Strategic leadership and program delivery
  • Direct HortiFuture as an integrated five-year program across four countries and multiple implementing partners, with overall accountability for delivery against approved results, budgets and contractual commitments
  • Lead the project team and partners to produce annual and multi-year workplans, ensuring plans are realistic, adequately resourced, and have clear, achievable milestones.
  • Ensure that the program has the right level of staffing and delivery arrangements.
  • Resolve or escalate significant implementation challenges to supervisors.
  • Exercise day-to-day program management authority within approved workplans, budgets and delegated limits; seek appropriate approval for major financial, contractual and strategic changes.
  1. Team leadership and organizational effectiveness
  • Build and lead a high-performing and delivery-focused team.
  • Ensure that individual responsibilities and supervisory relationships are known and effective.
  • Ensure alignment and effective communication between the program coordination office in Benin, country teams, and partners.
  • Identify training needs and design a capacity development plan to ensure that team members have requisite skills.
  • Conduct performance evaluations based on agreed metrics in line with the WorldVeg performance management framework.
  • Lead and assess multidisciplinary teams, including remotely based country staff, with clear performance expectations, delegation and accountability.
  1. Financial management
  • Oversee program budgeting, forecasting, and expenditure to align resources with delivery priorities and value for money.
  • Ensure program financial management practices align with the Partnership Agreement, funder’s Audit Guidelines, and WorldVeg financial policies and procedures.
  • Build strong working relationships with WorldVeg business units, such as finance, procurement, R&D Support, and human resources, to ensure systems, subgrant agreements, and service contracts support effective program delivery.
  • Identify financial risks and develop and manage the mitigation plan.
  • Track program budgets, monitor burn rates, and manage fluctuations caused by external factors.
  • Ensure audit readiness by communicating clearly with the team and preparing auditable documents within parameters agreed upon with the funder.
  • Oversee the preparation of periodic annual financial reports for submission to the funder on a timely basis.
  • Oversee partner agreements, service contracts and procurement planning, ensuring compliance with donor requirements and WorldVeg procedures.
  • Oversee consolidated program budgets, expenditure forecasts, burn rates and corrective actions across all participating countries.
  1. Partnership management
  • Serve as a day-to-day program contact with the funder in coordination with the program management team and WorldVeg senior management.
  • Coordinate implementation partners, country teams, seed companies, governments, and other stakeholders around shared goals and priorities, with clear responsibilities and accountability.
  • Ensure smooth, well-coordinated, and effective communication between the project management office and all program partners.
  • Set up a conflict resolution mechanism for effective resolution or escalation of differences and conflicts that may affect program delivery.
  • Organize periodic review meetings with partners to gauge their progress in implementing activities, achieving outcomes, program governance, and any risks and challenges that need attention.
  • Direct implementation across countries and partner institutions, holding partners accountable for agreed deliverables, contractual obligations and timely reporting.
  1. Technical oversight
  • Ensure the program implementation is technically sound and that all outputs are of high quality and in line with the program’ results commitments.
  • Ensure that the program team, comprising WorldVeg staff and local and international partners, has all relevant technical and socioeconomic expertise, applies interdisciplinary thinking, and builds on state-of-the-art knowledge of seed systems development.
  • Link the program to other relevant initiatives on seed sector development in Africa.
  1. Program monitoring and reporting
  • Monitor the progress of the program in line with the MEL Plan, ensuring robust measurement systems, data quality assurance, evaluation, and learning processes.
  • Ensure credible measurement of access to quality seed of diverse vegetables among smallholders in the target countries.
  • Coordinate and support the production of reports by implementing partners.
  • Integrate the reports into a high-quality annual narrative report for submission to the funder.
  • Oversee monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities and report key performance indicators to the funder.
  • Provide consolidated program performance, financial and risk reporting to senior management, the Program Committee and the donor, as required.
  1. Communications:
  • Together with the WorldVeg Communications Lead, supervise the program communications team, ensuring that high-quality materials are prepared, reviewed, and shared appropriately.
  • Ensure communication ethics and safeguards are established and maintained throughout the program countries.
  • Gather feedback from various program participants and stakeholders (e.g., farmers, seed companies, extension officers) to analyze the program’s progress toward achieving outcomes and impact and initiate adaptation if necessary.
  1. Risk management
  • Develop, disseminate, and support the application of the program risk management framework.
  • Review the program risk management plan and escalate significant risks to WorldVeg management for mitigation.
  • Oversee compliance with the funder’s and WorldVeg requirements on fiduciary standards, gender policy, and environmental and social safeguards, using the program’s compliance tracker.
  • Make timely decisions on unresolved grievances and compliance gaps, including escalating matters to WorldVeg senior management.
  • Oversee safeguarding across the program.
  1. Perform any other duties as required by the Center.

Desired Background

  • At least an MSc or MA in business management, agronomy, plant science, agricultural economics, or another relevant field.
  • Strong track record in contract management, financial oversight, procurement, donor reporting, risk management and results-based delivery.
  • Sound understanding of the seed sector in West Africa, including the vegetable seed sector, particularly regarding regulations and governance issues.
  • Full professional proficiency in written and spoken English and French.
  • Culturally agile team builder comfortable with extensive regional travel and able to work independently.

Required Experience

  • At least 10 years of relevant experience in complex donor-funded agricultural or international development programs, including at least five years in senior program leadership and demonstrated management of annual program budgets of approximately €5 million or more.
  • Proven experience coordinating complex programs across countries and implementing partners, including leadership of multidisciplinary and remotely distributed teams.

Reward

This is an Internationally Recruited Staff (IRS) position with competitive pay and benefits. The initial appointment is for three years. The position is available immediately.

How to Apply?

Submit the following documents to recruitment.wca-ch@worldveg.org before 12 December  2026:

  • A tailored cover letter in English outlining your suitability and indicating your earliest date of availability
  • Curriculum Vitae (including a publications list)
  • Contact details for three professional referees

Please use “Program Director – HortiFuture” as your email subject line. This position is being re-advertised. Anyone who previously applied for “Regional Program Manager– West Africa Seed Sector Development” should not reapply.

The World Vegetable Center is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and provides equal employment opportunities without discrimination.

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