Foodscape Innovation Specialist

Nanyuki, Kenya.

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Our goal is to cultivate an inclusive work environment so that all our colleagues around the globe feel a sense of belonging, and that their unique contributions to our mission are valued. We know we’ll only achieve our Mission by hiring and engaging a diverse workforce that reflects the communities in which we work. In addition to the requirements in our postings, we recognize that people come with talent and experiences outside of a job. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to innovation and a culture of inclusion! Please apply – we’d love to hear from you. To quote myriad TNC staff members, “you’ll join for our mission, and you’ll stay for our people.”

Since establishing the Africa Program in 2007, The Nature Conservancy’s vision in Africa is to work towards fostering a sustainable future for people and nature, partnering with indigenous communities across 55 million acres on the continent. Our efforts are firmly rooted in people, leveraging scientific and technical expertise as we collaborate with governments and organizations to conserve and enhance Africa’s shared resources in the nine countries where we operate.

Progress toward key conservation goals will either stall or even regress if food systems are slow to adopt and integrate disruptive change. It is increasingly clear that engineering for landscape scale change differs in fundamental ways from typical short term project planning.  The journey to deliver and sustain a large landscape scale initiative is founded in data. It is the foundation of a realistic assessment of the prospects and parameters for engaging governments and corporate and private sector, policy, and confronting the challenges that stand in the way, operationally, politically, and financially.  It requires factoring in what is being scaled, for whom, where, and by whom.  The summary is that data is key to driving this innovation, designing it with scale in mind, rather than a prototype-test-rollout model.

TNC is working with partners to catalyse a transition to regenerative food systems; productive socio-cultural/economic arrangements that enable food security, food sovereignty, secure livelihoods, while supporting and valuing nature. Regenerative food systems go beyond sustainability. They ensure benefits and eliminate trade-offs. By developing smart strategies in partnership with producers and communities, we work to make farms, rangelands, ranches more productive, protect freshwater, increase biodiversity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions whilst securing the food supply for a rapidly growing population. This work constitutes TNC’s systemic effort in regenerative foodscapes across the globe. For more information on TNC’s work in Foodscapes, visit:

TNC has for the last one year led several partners to codesign what is called the Central Highlands Ecoregion Foodscape (CHEF). CHEF aims to develop incentives and initiatives that promote land health, water resources management, and biodiversity in food systems, against the backdrop of climate change, environment degradation and rural poverty. CHEF is tailored to connect different geographies, climates, ecosystems, social and economic contexts, and the motivations of relevant stakeholders, including local communities. CHEF will cover an area spanning from source water locations in counties around the Mt Aberdare and Mt Kenya, through production areas leading to the rangelands of Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu Counties. Solutions from the CHEF will be cross-border, national and local in nature. It is a partnership program for integrated action around solutions that fall in five action areas. (1) Foodscape innovation hub.  (2) scaling regenerative practices in crop, livestock, fish, and forest (margin) systems. (3) Market systems and business models and innovations that enable sustainable livelihoods. (4) Policy engagement.  (5) Building capacities and multi-actor processes for social-ecological resilience.

The Foodscape Innovation Specialist will lead the Agriculture Strategy scaling programme by utilising transdisciplinary data to guide the development and implementation of innovative solutions that significantly contribute to TNC 2030 Goals.  You will manage (collect, collate, analyse, share) various data types related to climate, water, biodiversity, and livelihoods outcomes. You will use these data to catalyse collective and/or coordinated action among diverse actors involved in the CHEF, to drive an ambitious scaling program.  The data will not lead to a static how-to plan to scale, but rather a living strategy that serves as a “north star” to guide the scaling mechanism through the Foodscape Innovation Hub.  This strategy will consist of CHEF-wide key actionable products tailored to meet TNC’s unique Ag-conservation work across four ecologies, a variety of production systems, and to serve corporate partners. You will support the CHEF Director to regularly convene CHEF actors: governments, corporate and private sector, CGIAR, NGOs, funding partners, producer entities to review foodscape implementation progress, share lessons learned, and adapt as necessary based on the contextual, internal and external factors.

You will lead TNC staff and partners to deliver the CHEF scaling strategy, including working closely with TNC regional and global Corporate Engagement Teams to organise customised training and engagement programs in regenerative systems to enable the private sector transition into nature-positive actors.  You will work closely with the Africa Agriculture Strategy members, the Freshwater Strategy team, Global Provide Food and Water teams, CHEF partners, Kenya Country program teams, and the Africa Business Unit staff to advance progress across the five action areas of the Agriculture Strategy. You will work with the full range of CHEF actors, including government agencies, other conservation organizations, foundations, communities, and other stakeholders.

The Foodscape Innovation Specialist reports to the CHEF Director and will be based in Nanyuki Town, Kenya. No employment visas or relocation assistance is being offered with this position except for the local labor employment requirements.

Are you looking for a career to influence the transition to regenerative food systems for people and nature?  We are looking for you.  We are looking for a data professional to lead our scaling strategy. You will apply data science to extract and integrate knowledge (from CHEF five pillars of regenerative practices, market systems, capacity, policy and finance) to guide the development of new producer & foodscape Innovation Hubs.  You will lead a structured process founded in policy, to identify and implement immediate next steps, arrive at cost projections for different scaling scenarios.  You will be the main contact point for the entire Agriculture Strategy for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) and the TNC Integrated Data Management Database (HUB).

Specific Roles and Key Responsibilities:

1. The principal role (70%) of this position is to lead the utilization of data models to make strategic decisions in solving complex agriculture-conservation problems:
   1. The core role is to extract knowledge from large data sets and apply the knowledge and insights from those data to guide CHEF’s transdisciplinary five pillars.
   2. Lead the coordination of data management among TNC partners, TNC strategies/ programs, and develop products and plans for the CHEF scaling strategy.
   3. Execute the CHEF monitoring and evaluation plan, ensuring that projected actions are taken.
   4. Collaborate with the CHEF Field Coordinator, Africa Ag. Ecologist, TNC MEL specialists to gather data on the scaling process and put in place a learning continuous adaptation plan for CHEF.
   5. Ensure the process of validation and development of producer hubs & foodscape Innovation Hub (FIH) from initiation to full-scale feasibility.
2. Work directly with the Africa Ag. Ecologist to bring to visibility advances in CHEF field regen portfolios using analytics, presentations, and social media product designs.
3. Contribute to drive the CHEF portfolio and investment decisions using data analytics, necessary for private sector participation work closely with internal and external MEL partners.
4. Leverage overall TNC conservation portfolio data along with CHEF partner data to create a detailed analytics plan tailored for strengthening Agriculture Strategy pathways to 2030 Goals.
5. Reviewing and contributing to recommendations of action plans in collaboration with other CHEF staff as required.
6. Assessing partner organizational technical capacity required to fully implement the CHEF, including making recommendations on how to bridge any gaps.
7. May work in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain and under physically demanding circumstances.

• BSc degree in statistics, business statistics, behavioral/development economics, business administration or equivalent degree.
• 5 years’ experience in scaling, program development, partnerships, or management consulting.
• Experienced in data management skills, analytical, leadership, intellectual curiosity, and partnering skills.
• Experience in developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation plans, including working with partners to undertake collaboration, learning and program adaptation activities.
• Experienced in data analytics and visualization tools e.g., Power BI and/or Tableu.
• Experienced in making and executing project decisions.
• Experience in indirectly influencing or managing senior leaders across multiple organizations.
• Agriculture or conservation experience is preferred.
• Mastery of systems such as Agile, Oracle ERP, and cloud software.
• Experience working in technology with some experience e.g., in SaaS enterprise software or equivalent.
• Experienced in using technology in creating records, sourcing, executing, and nurturing strategic partnerships.
• Experienced with problem solving and decision-making processes.
• Collaborative with other team members to achieve sound outcomes.
• Experience managing complex or multiple projects, including staffing, workloads and finances under deadlines.
• Supervisory experience, including motivating, leading, setting objectives, and managing performance.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• MSc degree or a combination of training in statistics or business statistics and behavioural/ development economics or business administration.
• Multi-lingual and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
• Over 7 years’ experience in agriculture-environment field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience in the utilisation of complex data sets to plan and adapt agriculture-conservation projects, and to influence, develop, and implement related policy.
• Knowledge of current trends and practices in agriculture-conservation discipline and regions.
• Ability to work effectively and pragmatically under pressure within a variety of simultaneous competing initiatives and issues. Track record of success negotiating complex partnerships with varying interests.
• Knowledge of methods and standards of biodiversity information systems and initiatives or related field.
• Communicating clearly via written, spoken, and graphical means in English and other relevant languages.
• Demonstrated experience or knowledge in fundraising. 
• Politically savvy.

Since 1951, TNC has been doing work you can believe in. Through grassroots action, we have grown from a small non-profit into one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world. Thanks to more than 1 million members, over 400 scientists, and the dedicated efforts of our diverse staff and partners, we impact conservation around the world! 

TNC offers competitive and comprehensive benefits packages tailored to the individual countries where we work. These may include health care benefits, retirement benefits, parental leave, paid time off, life insurance, and disability coverage as well as an employee assistance program and other life and well-being benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our on nature.org/careers. 

We’re proud to offer a flexible work environment that supports the health and well-being of the people we employ.

To apply for job ID 55103, submit your materials online by using the Apply Now button at . Need help applying? Visit our page or contact .

The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to diversity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.

TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.

An attractive salary and benefits package is part of TNC’s value proposition to our employees. TNC strives to provide competitive pay and bases salaries on the geographic location of the role committing to being equitable across groups and providing hiring salary ranges when possible.

Since we support flexible and remote work for our employees, many positions have a flexible location within countries where we’re registered as a Non-government Organization and established as an employer. This may mean we’re unable to provide a hiring salary range in the posting for some of our positions. However, candidates invited to be part of our interview process will be provided their location specific range upon request.