CABI is seeking to appoint a Chief Financial Officer.

The new CFO will work in partnership with the CEO, Members of the Executive Management Team and Board to identify and pursue major new opportunities and collaborations, contributing to expansion and enhancement of CABI’s offer to its stakeholders.
They will provide financial leadership to the organisation and be a real catalyst to enabling... more step-change actions like aquisitions, licencing/IP deals, and major new strategic initiatives.

Key accountabilities include:

Partner with the CEO and other members of the Executive Management Team and Board in developing and shaping strategy, and work with the Executive Management Team to drive successful implementation.
Partner with the entire organisation to provide strategic financial insight and support, providing robust business performance forecasts and analysis to inform strategic decision making.
Partnering with the CEO to represent the strategy and organisation to a range of stakeholders including Member Countries, key donors and partners, delivering a well-defined message and compelling vision for CABI.
Lead the effective delivery of all corporate finance activities, creating robust financial frameworks to deliver on all aspects of organisational strategy and ensuring a culture of accountability, financial rigour and transparency.
Maintain high quality compliant and transparent financial control and reporting standards.
Manage the relationship with the auditors, obtain necessary financial and legal advice to ensure all corporate legal, regulatory and compliance responsibilities are met, and oversee the risk management structure and process.
Provide financial support to the Board, and Audit
Committee, including overseeing preparation and quality control of Board reports.
Develop efficient operational processes, systems and data to underpin the organisation’s finance activities and obligations delivered through agile technology and high-quality management information.
Provide executive sponsorship and leadership to organisation wide initiatives to increase capacity, improve efficiency and effectiveness or to reduce cost.
Establish clear succession and talent management strategies to ensure talent within the function have clear and rewarding career paths.
Ensure statutory group accounts and reports are published to agreed timetables and in line with all applicable accounting standards.

The Person

Experience and Competencies:

Qualified accountant with proven experience in senior financial leadership roles within complex, international operating environments.
Ability to contribute to the development of an organisation’s growth strategy through effective development of business relationships.
Strong multi-divisional operational experience, with the ability engage and manage across multiple locations, geographies and cultures.
Demonstrated ability to develop successful relationships with external stakeholders and internal colleagues at all levels within an organisation.
Able to ensure integrity of the financial and business information required by, and produced for, the organisation.
Outstanding stakeholder management, leadership and communication skills, able to flex stakeholder style and build trust across Board, Executive
Management Team, business and functional colleagues.
Experience of leading organisations through technology change and transformation would be advantageous.

Personal Attributes:

Passion for the mission and vision of the organisation, with intellectual curiosity and interest in the science, innovation and technology that underscores all of CABI’s work.
Ability to act as an ambassador for CABI, representing the organisation effectively when engaging with Member Countries and donors.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the leadership skillset to build a strong and collaborative working environment across an internationally dispersed team.
A way of working that is collaborative, pragmatic, transparent and open.
A practical and ‘can do’ attitude to delivering organisational change and improvement.
Able to approach an organisation from the top and the bottom – as on top of the detail as they are the strategic plan.
The maturity to challenge ideas, balance opportunities and threats and be creative/ innovative when identifying solutions.
High level of integrity and dependability. more

Purpose of the study
In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work under goal three of CABI’s Medium-Term Strategy 2023-25, it is necessary to conduct a baseline study for women’s economic empowerment in agriculture. This will provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by women. It serves as a foundation for evidence-based policy-making, targeted... interventions, and collaborative efforts aimed at fostering inclusive and sustainable agriculture development. It allows us to gather vital information, establish a benchmark for progress, and design effective interventions that promote gender equality and enhance women’s economic empowerment. By investing in this study, we can take significant strides towards achieving gender equality, empowering women, and realizing the full potential of agricultural sectors. This baseline study will serve as a benchmark for PlantwisePlus implementing countries to increase its impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Scope of the study
The baseline study will be carried out at the country level in two PlantwisePlus countries: Ghana and Kenya. The study aims to collect information on the following:

Women’s economic empowerment levels: based on knowledge and awareness of the key gender issues and gendered power dynamics in the target countries, establish baseline data on current levels of women’s economic empowerment in agriculture at a local level, that can also be used at a more general (national) level. Specifically, the baseline will provide data on:

women’s access to and control over farming inputs (land, labor, finance, advice, technologies, etc.)
existing knowledge of women farmers and their capacity to access digital information
women’s capacities and access to information on pest management, plant health
existing gender disparities
barriers women farmers encounter
specific areas where intervention and support are most needed and propose targeted strategies to address their needs.


Income generation: the baseline will collect data on existing women’s empowerment levels, agricultural productivity, farming income, and market access. The study will also suggest new income and employment opportunities for women and youth as agricultural services providers.
Understand local challenges and context: the study will develop comprehensive case studies of localities where interventions have been fruitful, explaining key success factors that can potentially be replicated. Active engagement with the local stakeholders, such as women farmers community leaders, NGOs, and government officials, will be expected to gain first-hand insights and identify scalable solutions. This approach should deliver a robust understanding of local contexts while delivering broad insights useful for future interventions.

Methodology
The baseline study should employ a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. The selected consultant, consultancy team, or firm will be expected to adopt a multi-faceted approach in conducting the work including performing cross-content comparisons and thematic analysis across various local contexts to discern shared challenges and successful strategies.
The study should collect data through methods such as household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The consultant will apply Pro-WEAI and other suitable tools for the data collection on access to equitable extension advisory services and the use of agricultural technologies. Specific gender assessment tools should be suggested in the proposal documents. A tailored assessment framework should be developed that can be used across all countries.
Deliverables
The consultant will be responsible for delivering the following outputs:

Inception report detailing the study design, methodology, and data collection tools
Raw data collected from the fieldwork
Draft baseline study report for review and feedback
Final baseline study report incorporating feedback received
Presenting the findings of the study

Reporting and coordination
The consultant will provide regular progress updates and reports to the PlantwisePlus management team and CABI’s Gender Coordinator.
Proposal
Consultants are requested to submit:

A full proposal detailing their interpretation of the TOR, proposed methodology including, sampling, sample size, work schedule, and detailed plan of activities. The proposal should ideally not exceed 10 pages
Proposed budget, including a breakdown of the budget and a justification of expenses. The budget should include only those costs that can be directly attributed to the activities proposed, with an explanation of budget line items. A technical and financial proposal must be submitted separately
Copies of all relevant certificates, curriculum vitae, and company profile, and submit the affidavit
A sample of a similar gender baseline report, completed within the last 18 months (this will be treated as confidential, and only used for assessing suitability for assignment)
Three referees (including, one from a most recent assignment). Upon a review of the submission, CABI may require additional documentation to fulfil due diligence requirements. Requests for this will be made on a case-by-case basis, and a timeframe for turnaround agreed.

In addition to the above, the selection process will also consider the submission of the following:

A copy of the Company Registration
A copy of the VAT certificate
A copy of the tax clearance for the last fiscal year from the Inland Revenue Office
All proposed professionals must sign the copy, clearly indicating their proposed position in this assignment

Timeline
The consultant is expected to commence the assignment by early September 2023 and complete the task by December 2023. Please refer to the CABI website for the schedule
Expertise and management:
The consultant selected for the study should possess the following expertise and qualifications:

Extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative gender research methodologies.
Clear understanding of similar studies, including baseline, midterm, and end-line assessments
Minimum of 10 years of proven work experience in gender studies, socio-economic studies, and similar fields
Proficiency in gender analysis, and gender-related assessments and research methodologies, Women Economic Empowerment Agriculture Index (WEAI) and economic empowerment tools
Previous experience conducting assessments using the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture baselines
Previous work experience in programme areas, particularly in conducting baseline studies related to agriculture, digital tools, access to agri-inputs, markets, and climate resilience
Experience in integrating gender and promoting women's empowerment, preferably in agricultural projects would be desirable
The consulting team should comprise at least three members, including a Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Expert
The Gender Expert should have Master's degree in Humanities and Social Science/Social Work/Gender Studies
The consulting firm should clearly specify their work experience in the Kenya and Ghana, when submitting a proposal.

Evaluation criteria
All received proposals will be evaluated based on various indicators, including but not limited to:

Sound understanding of the assignment
Competent methodology
Consistency, coherence, and compliance with the TOR
Experience of the team leader
Composition of the team
Efficient budget planning more

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

Support the implementation of existing projects with international, national and local partner organisations;
Either individually, or as part of a team, grow the existing project portfolio and develop new projects and funding opportunities, including the preparation, writing and submission of research proposals;
Carry out internal and partner capacity building in ILM through... training, mentoring, learning by doing etc.;
Develop and support gender aspects in project work;
Publish the outcomes in peer reviewed journals, in particular focusing on the impact of CABI’s work as well as contributingto the dissemination of research findings to stakeholders through presentations, media and other outreach materials;
Ensure adherence to CABI policies and procedures.

ABOUT YOU:

PhD degree in ILM, restoration ecology, soil health, natural resource management, land use planning or related subject areas with a minimum of 3-4 years of relevant post-doctoral experience;
Proven experience in inter- or transdisciplinary project work as well as participatory approaches;
Proven experience in project development and obtaining funds;
Proven experience in successful project planning and management, both technically and financially;
Good knowledge of quantitative (and qualitative) research methods and statistical analyses would be desirable;
Background in biological control of invasive alien plants would be a benefit;
Fluency in English with excellent written and oral communication skills;
Fluency in at least one other language, preferably Swahili;
Strong scientific publication record. more

THE ROLE:
The Youth Programs Manager will spearhead the formulation and implementation of CABI’s youth engagement strategy. He/She will coordinate and be responsible for conceptualization and implementation of CABI’s youth programs while supporting colleagues to integrate youth engagement in other programs. He/She will also contribute to project development endeavors in the region, in alignment... with CABI’s strategy, country and donor needs and opportunities. Reporting to the CABI’s Senior Global Director, Development Communications and Extension, this role will work closely with project and programme staff to increase engagement with the youth in actions designed to improve their economic well-being.
WHAT YOU’LL DO:

Identify, establish and maintain a network of like-minded youth-focused implementing and development partners within the national, regional and international development community. This should particularly be focused on addressing youth unemployment, under employment and youth economic empowerment within the agriculture and environment sectors.
Project and program development, management and implementation. more