Social Behaviour Change Research Associate

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. Our 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across six core countries in Africa, we make farmers more prosperous by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. On average, the farmers we serve harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund. 

To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.

About the Role

We are looking for someone with 2 or more years of qualitative research, behavior change, development, or extension experience in sub-Saharan Africa. One Acre Fund is committed to transforming our 1-million-farmer core program into a force against climate change. The Social Behavior Change Research Associate will identify, prototype and scale behavior change interventions to improve farmer adoption of practices which enhance sustainable practices. As part of the Global Impact team, you will report to the Global Impact Lead.

Responsibilities

• Improve Extension: The ultimate goal of this role is to improve One Acre Fund extension and impact. You will develop and coordinate research, prototyping and testing to improve OAF products and extension system.
• Behavior Change & Farming Systems Research: One Acre Fund's ability to promote adoption of climate-smart farming practices depends on understanding farmers' needs and constraints. You will accomplish qualitative research to characterize farmer use of climate-smart recommendations and causes of adoption vs non-adoption, understand farmers' livelihoods and farming systems. This work includes surveys, barriers analysis and participatory research methods.
• Support Social Marketing, Strategy and Prototypes: You will provide support to multiple teams within One Acre Fund on innovation, intervention design and testing. You provide rapid responses to social marketing, strategy development, creation of decision-support tools for independent teams, design creative intervention prototypes, and incentives that increase adoption of impactful practices.

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:

• 2+ years experience in the development sector preferably with social and behavior change research and practice emphasis.
• 1+ years experience with research and extension project design and management, including participatory methods, rural appraisal, human-centered design, surveys and focus groups.
• Postgraduate degree in development, sociology, communications or a related field is an advantage. 
• Experience with rural extension services, climate-smart agriculture or marketing is an asset. 
• You will be asked to have at least basic proficiency in statistical analysis, and comfort with Excel.
• Humility. We place a lot of value on open and frank feedback to grow as a team. 
• A willingness to commit for at least two years. This is a long–term, career–track role.
• The role may require 25-50% travel for at least the first year (reduced over time) 
• Language: English required; French or Kiswahili desirable.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kigali, Rwanda

As part of the Rwandan government's Covid-19 prevention measures, citizens and Rwandan residents must be fully vaccinated in order to access public places and different services including work-related activities (e.g. physical conferences and meetings).

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.

Application Deadline

6 September 2022

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.

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