Job Title: Portfolio Coordinator – Agri Food Systems
Location: Kabarole with travel within districts of implementation (Ugandan nationals only)
Reports to: ASTYE Program Lead
Application Deadline: 8th March 2026
Program Background
The Agrifood System Transformation for Youth Employment (ASTYE) Uganda program
ASTYE is a 5-year transformative initiative designed to enable dignified and fulfilling work opportunities primarily for financially disadvantaged young women, refugees, and vulnerable groups by addressing structural barriers in Uganda’s Agrifood system. Aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040, the National Development Plan and Government of Uganda Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy, the program will contribute to national efforts toward poverty alleviation, economic growth, as well food and nutrition security. Additionally, ASTYE is part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Uganda, which aims to empower 4.3 million young Ugandans, particularly young women, by addressing structural barriers to employment and providing them with the skills and resources to succeed.
Specifically, GOAL will implement component one to reach 500,000 financially disadvantaged young people, with 456,000 transiting into work and 336,000 securing dignified and fulfilling work. As the program is young women-centric, 80% of the total outreach target will be young women within Uganda’s agrifood ecosystem. Furthermore, 5% of the total youth in work target will be refugees, and another 5% will be people with disabilities.
General Description of the Role
The Agrifood Systems Portfolio Coordinator is a position reporting directly to the ASTYE Program Lead. The Agrifood Systems Portfolio Coordinator will lead, facilitate partner management processes and coordinate with multiple partner private sector actors to design and deliver robust, high impact programming and strategies to expand access to critical goods and services, that will culminate into effective inclusion of rural young females and males into productive markets. She/he will be required to apply a wide variety of market development tools and approaches in order to catalyze innovative services and facilitate linkages between market actors (seed companies, agricultural output buying companies, financial service providers and young female and male farmers). The Agrifood Systems Portfolio Coordinator will also be responsible for the empowerment and upskilling of other Programme team members to successfully and seamlessly implement all aspects of the market systems development component, while ensuring timely and accurate reporting. He/She will work closely with the Youth, Financial Services and Skills Development Portfolio Coordinators as part of the programme delivery approach to ensure that 300,000 Rural young women and men are enabled and actively participate in agricultural markets.
The key responsibilities of the role will be:
Strategic Technical Leadership
- Bring a broad range of knowledge, experience and networks in the agrifood system sector in Uganda, to inform program strategy, programmatic partnering opportunities including a comprehensive knowledge of key actors in the agrifood system sector and their market offering.
- Lead the research, mapping and documentation and implementation of the ASTYE agrifood system strategies and represent and integrate these strategies across other program strategies and the PMU.
- Identify and champion innovative interventions in the agrifood sector targeted towards improving the inclusion of youth, women, refugees and PWD.
- Take the lead in the relationship management of agrifood system partners, building skills, confidence and experience of team members to do the same.
- Using GOAL Private Sector Partnering (PSP) toolkit, identify a portfolio of agrifood system partners and lead the development of co-designed and cost shared initiatives to increase access to a broad range inputs, services and access to markets for youth in the agri-food system.
- Work with the Finance / Partnership team to ensure the appropriate due diligence assessments are undertaken and completed to a high standard, approved and filed.
- (See MEAL below for monitoring, adaptive management and measurement)
- Work closely within the PMU and lead the development of program work plans that relate to the agrifood system sector.
- Overseas the development and verification of partners milestone, approval of milestone payments within the scheduled timeframe, and timely payments to agrifood system partners.
- Work closely with the Partnership team to ensure that all partnering documents are completed and approved correctly and documented in the Global Partnership Centre (GPC) management information system.
- Work with the ASTYE Program Lead, MEAL Coordinator and PMU to provide high quality timely reporting in line with the program documents and donor requirements.
Budget management
- Work closely within the PMU and lead the development of program budgets that relate to work plans for agrifood system strengthening.
- Be responsible for the monitoring and adjustment of the agrifood system components of the budget in collaboration with the PMU and ASTYE Program Lead.
Program Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
- For each partnership with agrifood system actors, ensure that an appropriate short list of business facing KPIs are built into partners proposal and review these with the team and partner on a 1-2 monthly basis.
- Based on the KPIs, lead the adaptive management of partnerships with a broad range of agrifood system actors and provide the leadership and documentation on adaptations over time by partner.
- With the PMU and MEAL team contribute to and monitor data from the case management system.
- Provide technical direction and input to monitoring and evaluation tools for the agrifood system components of ASTYE.
- With the PMU, MEAL Coordinator and ASTYE Program Lead, and using program data and evidence, plan and conduct regular reflection and learning events with relevant stakeholders and revise the agrifood system strategy as required.
- Develop at least one learning brief a year
- Develop an agrifood system project brief and update every year.
People Management
- Inspire and empower when managing relationships up, down and horizontally.
- Build skills and confidence in agrifood system using a MSD approach across the program team.
- Provide inspirational management of direct line management team members as well as matrix managed teams in line with GOAL HR policy.
- Develop effective professional technical relationships with the PMU and MEAL teams responsible for design implementation, management and measurement of the program.
- Provide technical training and mentoring in all aspects of agrifood system programing
External Stakeholder Engagement
- Network, coordinate, and cooperate with key finance and agrifood system market actors at national, regional and district level, including government ministries, and their departments and agencies, ensuring buy-in for interventions to maximize impact and affect system level change.
- Represent GOAL Uganda in a range of external fora and building strategic relationships and partnerships.
Job Level Specifications
Essential Criteria
- A Master’s degree in Agriculture, Agri-Business Management, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Engineering
- At least seven (7) years’ experience in the agrifood system sector and a broad knowledge of local, national and international actors and their business offerings
- Experience of financial products and services that support agrifood system development.
- Experience in the inclusion of youth, women, refugees and PWD in the agrifood sector using a market systems development approach (those with only direct delivery programming experience should not apply).
- Experience in formally partnering with agrifood system actors in Uganda.
- Demonstrated experience of managing budgets of at least $3million.
- Demonstrated line management experience of program technical teams.
- Demonstrated experience in program monitoring, evaluating, adaptive management and learning in programs using an MSD approach in the agrifood system sector.
Desirable Criteria
- Self-motivated and continually adaptive within a dynamic self-directed working environment
- Strong communication skills and commitment to capacity building
General Terms and Conditions
At GOAL, we welcome people of all abilities and want to ensure that our hiring and interview process meets the needs of all applicants. If you require a reasonable accommodation to make your application or interview experience a great one, please just contact our Recruitment Team at [email protected]
How to apply
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More Information
- Job City Uganda
