The Ugandan Jobline

Job Title:  Program Associate – Social Enterprise & Innovation Program

Organisation: Imagine Her (IH)

Duty Station: Fort Portal City, Kabarole, Uganda

Reports to: Program Lead

Contract: 1 Year Renewable

About Imagine Her:

Imagine Her (IH) is a local non-profit working with communities to accelerate the power and potential of women, girls, and youth as active leaders and social entrepreneurs creating sustainable solutions within their communities.

Our purpose is to accessibly provide young vulnerable women and youth with robust innovation skills and essential resources to create sustainable social ventures and social impact in Uganda and we envision a world where Ugandan women, girls, and youth are actively harnessing their potential, by initiating and advancing innovative and sustainable solutions to pressing needs in their communities.

We work through community partnerships to target women and youth who are significantly marginalized and vulnerable due to poverty, the growing education-to-employment gap, geography, and the social constructs of gender. We implement a human-centered impact model that equips these community members with the skills they need to respond to the most critical challenges they face. The guiding principle of our model is that those we work with decide what they want to do, and choose the support and resources that they need to do it.

Position Overview: The Social Enterprise & Innovation Program Associate will be a core part of the Social Enterprise & Innovation team responsible for overseeing entrepreneurship training and supporting the growth of the program’s participants and Alumni. The program empowers women and youth through social enterprise training with a focus on thematic areas of food insecurity/Agribusiness, climate change, and rural housing.

The Social Enterprise & Innovation Program Associate will take a lead role in the execution of the following objectives.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Program Implementation and Partnerships: Ensuring that the Social Enterprise and Innovation Program is implemented according to the work plan and organization goals

• Supporting the program participants to come up with viable, research-based, and market-needed social ventures using design thinking methodologies.
• Keeping updated on technical aspects of thematic areas above while sharing learnings with staff, participants, and program alumni
• Conducting basic research and analyzing data to assess the effects of climate change and identify investment opportunities in the area/region of operation
• Leading the development and implementation of strategies to address climate change challenges in the areas of operation through the business lense
• Support the smallholder/medium entrepreneurs to conduct market studies, business planning, and product development for sustainability.
• Developing strategic linkages with other value chain actors to create market access and collaborations that will be beneficial to the participants’ social ventures.
• Supporting in fostering partnerships with key government departments and other stakeholders to promote collaboration.
• Leading in the identification of communities where the program is implemented
• Liaising with the local leadership teams to pitch and identify the right program participants according to the organization’s criteria
• Ensuring that entrepreneurs’ launched start-ups are supported to survive beyond their first birthday by identifying potential risks and suggesting solutions to enable the entrepreneurs to nurture their ventures sustainably

Field Staff Management and Coaching

• Supporting the recruitment process and leading training, and coaching of Community Coaches to help them become the best trainers and mentors in the areas of social enterprise development and management
• Participating in the recruitment process of Community Coaches
• Empowering Community Coaches through monthly refresher training in areas of social entrepreneurship, facilitation, and community leadership.
• Providing one-on-one mentorship to Community Coaches for personal and professional development.
• Ensuring Community Coaches are following program procedures and policies during program implementation.
• Supporting Community Coaches to conduct Social enterprise and innovation sessions by co-training, session training observation, and giving feedback
• Matching Community Coaches with the appropriate mentors and coaches based on the skills required
• Request for Community Coaches’ facilitation and ensuring proper accountability

Social Entrepreneurs Support and Management of IH funds

• Provide support to entrepreneurs to ensure that their ventures are sustainable, IH interest-free revolving funds are appropriately utilized and paid back on the agreed timelines, and tailored support is given in the form of mentorship and coaching
• Leading the due diligence process of individual social enterprises for possible funding by IH
• Leading the recovery of lean startup interest-free revolving funds from individual entrepreneurs supported by the organization according to the agreed schedules
• Leading in the identification of experts, mentors, and artisans and linking the social entrepreneurs to them for extra training or mentorship.
• Supporting entrepreneurs to access external financial support for their social enterprises and other capacity-building opportunities like grants, fellowships, workshops, awards, competitions, and scholarships among others

M&E, Reporting & Documentation

• Ensure that the data from Community Coaches are accurate and that all M&E activities are smoothly conducted by the Knowledge and Impact team
• Ensuring regular accurate data collection, and reporting of the program sessions by Community Coaches with minimal errors
• Support all the program assessments and learning processes by mobilizing target participants within the area assigned
• Attending program review meetings, and documenting lessons and program impact to facilitate adoption in the process of program implementation.
• Contextualizing and using reporting guidelines to track and develop quality, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and end-of-project reports.
• Writing monthly and quarterly reports on the program activities and submitting such reports to the program lead in a timely manner
• Recommending relevant improvements in the social enterprise curriculum that would enable the entrepreneurs to realize better returns on their investments
• Disseminate program impact reports to local government and any local sponsors/partners.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant must hold a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and related courses, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Management, Business Management, Education, or any other relevant field
• A post-graduate qualification is a plus.
• Must demonstrate at least 2 years of relevant experience in facilitating entrepreneurship and community training
• Ability and willingness to ride a motorcycle (a MUST)
• Possession of a class A (Motorcycle) driving permit is an added advantage.
• Must demonstrate proficiency in the use of computers for word processing, presentations, excel, and e-mail
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• The ability to speak and write in the local language of the district is an added advantage

Personal Attributes

• Willingness to work with the rural communities
• Passion for social impact and the empowerment of women and youth.
• Enthusiastic and adaptable with a positive attitude.

How to Apply:

If you are passionate about driving social change, empowering communities, and leading innovative initiatives in agribusiness and climate change, we encourage you to apply

Please submit your resume/CV and a cover letter (as one file) to jobs@i-her.org indicating in the subject area the job title and district, for example, Program Associate-Kabarole

Deadline: 5th January 2024

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline

Related Jobs