Job Title: Portfolio Coordinator – Agri Food Systems
Location: Kabarole with travel within districts of implementation
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 recruitment@ug.goal.ie

GOAL Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
GOAL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all employees. We foster an inclusive culture where all voices are heard and valued. We know that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling GOAL’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and equal treatment. GOAL does not discriminate against any employee on the basis of sex, race, colour, ethnic background, tribe, birth, creed or religion or social or economic standing, political opinion, disability.

Code of Conduct and Accountability within GOAL

GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has values and behaviours framework which defines our code of conduct. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability.

• Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults a must be safeguarded to the maximum extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

GOAL 

Established in 1977, GOAL is an international humanitarian agency and works with the most vulnerable communities to help them respond to and overcome humanitarian crises, and to assist those facing poverty and exclusion achieve greater resilience and well-being. GOAL envisions a world beyond humanitarian crises where poverty no longer exists, where vulnerable communities exposed to shocks and stresses are resilient, where barriers to well-being are removed and where everyone has equal rights and opportunities.

General Description of the Country Programme 

First operational in Uganda in 1979, the current GOAL Uganda country programme focuses on Health, (including WASH, Health Accountability and Nutrition); and a market-based systems approach to improving agricultural livelihoods and WASH. GOAL Uganda mainstreams gender, child protection, social behavior changes and resilience strategies across all programming. GOAL uses a mixture of direct implementation and partnerships with national and international civil society organizations, local government, the private sector and communities to give effect to our mission.

GOAL Uganda has a skilled team of over 110 personnel and has a head office in Kampala and field offices in 7 locations across Northern, Southwestern and Eastern regions of Uganda.  GOAL Uganda’s donors include the Mastercard Foundation, charity: water, Irish Aid, The Kingdom of Netherland Embassy in Uganda (EKN) and other private donors.

Interested applicants who meet the requirements should apply through the link with at least 3 reference contacts (current or former Line Manager) from the last three employers and daytime contact number by 8th March 2026.