International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Program Manager - REAP Jobs in Kenya
About the Programme
REAP is a five-year multi-country initiative designed to advance education and reduce poverty by enabling one million financially disadvantaged young women and men aged 18–35 to access work opportunities in sustainable feed and livestock value chains across seven countries.
The programme equips youth with technical, entrepreneurial, financial, digital, and workplace skills linked to real economic opportunities.
The initiative targets 70% young women, at least 5% youth with disabilities, and 20,000 refugees and displaced young people.
The programme supports youth-led and youth-inclusive enterprises, strengthens market systems and services, improves access to finance and productive assets, and promotes policy, innovation, and extension systems that create employment opportunities.
The programme is led by ILRI in partnership with ICARDA, IITA, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and icipe, working alongside delivery partners, financial institutions, governments, and private-sector actors.
Role Summary
Work within the Programme Management and Coordination Unit (PMU) and country teams to translate programme strategy into coordinated workplans, delivery schedules, management routines, and accountability frameworks across seven programme countries.
Serve as the operational engine of the programme by maintaining oversight of milestones, deliverables, risks, decisions, dependencies, and resource requirements.
Collaborate closely with the Programme Director, country leads, workstream leads, MEL, Finance, Grants, Communications, Safeguarding, and corporate service teams to remove implementation barriers and ensure timely, compliant, and effective programme delivery.
Provide delivery leadership through influence, collaboration, and accountability in a complex multi-country and multi-partner environment.
Key Responsibilities
Programme Coordination, Planning and Delivery Oversight
Coordinate integrated programme planning across the PMU, country teams, workstreams, consortium partners, and relevant ILRI functions.
Ensure activities, milestones, deliverables, and interdependencies remain aligned with programme objectives.
Track implementation against agreed milestones, deliverables, outcomes, and budgets and coordinate corrective action where required.
Maintain consolidated programme risk, issue, dependency, and decision registers.
Identify operational bottlenecks and institutional constraints and coordinate mitigation measures.
Escalate critical issues to the Programme Director with practical recommendations.
Support adoption and continuous improvement of programme processes, workflows, tools, and reporting systems.
Governance, Reporting and Management Information
Strengthen programme governance and management structures by ensuring decision-makers receive timely and accurate information.
Ensure decisions are translated into accountable action and unresolved issues are escalated appropriately.
Consolidate inputs from countries, workstreams, and partners into reports, dashboards, presentations, leadership briefs, and donor updates.
Provide analysis and recommendations to support programme leadership and decision-making.
Collaborate with MEL teams to align workplans, tracking systems, and management information with the programme results framework.
Use monitoring evidence and implementation feedback to support adaptive
management and course correction.
Partner, Stakeholder and Internal Liaison
Act as a liaison between programme leadership, technical teams, country teams, consortium partners, corporate functions, and the Mastercard Foundation where delegated.
Secure coordinated support from Finance, Grants, People and Culture, Procurement, Legal, Communications, Safeguarding, ICT, and other institutional functions.
Resolve service-delivery constraints and escalate risks that may affect programme outcomes.
Support engagement with government, private-sector, development, research, and community stakeholders where operational issues affect implementation.
Compliance and Safeguarding
Promote adherence to donor, ILRI, and programme policies, procedures, and standards.
Ensure safeguarding, ethics, risk management, and responsible data practices are integrated into programme planning and implementation.
Undertake other strategic programme management responsibilities aligned with the purpose and seniority of the role.
Requirements
Master’s Degree in Project Management, Programme Management, Development Studies, Public Administration, Business Administration, Agricultural Sciences, Livestock Sciences, or a related discipline.
Professional certification such as PMP, PRINCE2, or an equivalent programme-management qualification is desirable.
Training or demonstrated knowledge in results-based management, adaptive management, risk management, safeguarding, or partnership management is an advantage.
At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience managing or coordinating complex, multi-country, and multi-stakeholder programmes.
Experience in international development, research, agriculture, enterprise development, or related sectors.
Experience using project and programme management tools, systems, and dashboards.
Experience working across Africa and within multicultural institutional or consortium environments is strongly preferred.
Key Competencies
Execution-Oriented Leadership and Accountability.
Ability to drive implementation, maintain follow-through, resolve challenges, and build accountability through influence and collaboration.
Strategic Planning, Organization, and Adaptability.
Ability to manage competing priorities, anticipate risks, navigate ambiguity, and maintain programme coherence.
Stakeholder Engagement, Communication, and Influence.
Strong facilitation, negotiation, stakeholder-management, and cross-cultural communication skills.
Analytical Judgment and Decision-Making.
Ability to analyse complex information, identify risks and implications, and translate evidence into practical recommendations.
Excellent written and spoken English.
French language proficiency is an added advantage for engagement across programme countries.
How to apply
For more information and job application details, see; International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Program Manager - REAP Jobs in Kenya
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