Chief of Party, Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Portfolio Nigeria

Description Contingent upon Donor Funding** Location: Abuja Nigeria Position Status: Full-time, Exempt or Non-exempt, Regular Salary Level: 7 Risk Level: X Level 3 ☐ Level 2 ☐ Level 1 (Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability. Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children. Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data) About Prosper Global Barely enough is not enough for anyone. Prosper Global is a humanitarian organization working alongside communities facing conflict, climate change, and economic hardship to meet urgent needs and create the conditions for lasting progress. Today's challenges demand new solutions, so we pair local knowledge with global resources to help communities build what's needed, test what's possible, and scale what's proven so that people everywhere can pursue a full life on their own terms. In 2026, we changed our name from Mercy Corps to Prosper Global, to reflect our belief that when every community can prosper, all of humanity moves forward. The Program / Department / Team Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, and its influence spreads across the continent. Yet, inequality and insecurity have consistently undermined Nigeria's development. Prosper Global Nigeria was established in 2012 to respond to these challenges. The Nigeria team is headquartered in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and has programs across 16 states. Prosper Global works with communities to build economic opportunities, enhance water security, drive peace and good governance, and ensure food security. Our activities aim to build resilience through an integrated approach, helping communities and the most marginalized within them cope, adapt, and thrive in the context of numerous shocks and stresses. With a strong and growing team, Prosper Global works to achieve the vision of a Nigeria in which all people are empowered, engaged, resilient, and secure. The Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Portfolio is a three-year Mastercard Foundation investment designed to enable 200,000 young Nigerians, particularly young women, to access and sustain Dignified and Fulfilling Work through climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agrifood systems. The CSA Portfolio is of five complementary programs that respond to a structural disconnect between the growth potential of Nigeria's agrifood economy and its ability to generate D&F Work at scale. Each program contributes through its geographies, value chains and agrifood markets continue to grow, many enterprises, employers, financial institutions and market actors remain constrained in their ability to expand, invest and create jobs, while young women, youth, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) face barriers that limit their participation in emerging opportunities. The Portfolio addresses both challenges simultaneously by strengthening the systems that generate work opportunities while helping marginalized populations access and sustain them. Prosper Global is seeking an experienced and dynamic Chief of Party to drive forward the anticipated USD 45 million Mastercard Foundation-funded Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) investment program for the next three years. The Offer is contingent on securing donor funding and approval of the candidate. The Position The Chief of Party (CoP) will serve as the chief architect and steward of Mercy Corps' flagship Mastercard Foundation-funded Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Portfolio in Nigeria, a transformative investment designed to enable more than 200,000 young Nigerians, particularly young women, to access dignified and fulfilling work through climate-smart agrifood systems. The CoP will shape the portfolio's long-term vision, drive systems transformation, and position the investment as a catalyst for sustainable economic opportunity, market development, and inclusive growth. The role requires an exceptional leader capable of translating bold ambition into measurable impact, navigating complexity, building coalitions, and mobilizing diverse actors around a shared vision for change. As the senior-most leader of the portfolio, the CoP will serve as an ecosystem builder, strategic influencer, and trusted thought partner to the Mastercard Foundation, government institutions, private sector leaders, financial institutions, and development stakeholders. The CoP will cultivate high-value partnerships, influence investment and sector priorities, and position the portfolio as a leading platform for innovation, learning, and systems change within Nigeria's agricultural ecosystem. The successful candidate will be a highly accomplished development leader with a demonstrated ability to steward large and complex investments, inspire high-performing teams, influence senior decisionmakers, and drive transformational change at scale while delivering lasting opportunities for young people, strengthened market systems, and sustainable impact beyond the life of the investment. Essential Responsibilities STRATEGY AND PLANNING Provide visionary leadership for the Climate-Smart Agriculture Portfolio, setting the strategic direction for a flagship investment that advances systemic change, strengthens agricultural market systems, and enables large-scale, sustainable pathways to dignified and fulfilling work for young people across Nigeria. Serve as the principal steward of the Mastercard Foundation investment, shaping portfolio strategy, influencing investment decisions, and ensuring alignment between donor ambitions, partner contributions, market opportunities, and long-term impact objectives. Lead and inspire a diverse ecosystem of portfolio partners, government institutions, private sector actors, financial institutions, research organizations, and development stakeholders around a shared vision for youth employment, agricultural transformation, and inclusive economic growth. The CoP will be expected to identify and unlock opportunities for innovation, co-investment, strategic partnerships, and thought leadership that strengthen the portfolio's contribution to national development priorities and the Mastercard Foundation's vision for transformational impact Drive innovation, adaptive management, and strategic learning across the portfolio, ensuring that evidence, emerging opportunities, and implementation insights continuously inform decision-making, portfolio evolution, and systems-level impact. Champion cross-cutting priorities including youth empowerment, gender equality, social inclusion, safeguarding, climate resilience, and locally led development, ensuring they are fully embedded across portfolio strategy, partnerships, investments, and results. Position the portfolio as a national and continental leader in climate-smart agriculture and youth employment by cultivating high-value partnerships, influencing sector priorities, strengthening policy dialogue, and advancing scalable models that extend beyond the life of the investment. Provide executive oversight of portfolio risks, reputation, performance, and sustainability, ensuring the portfolio remains positioned to deliver transformative outcomes while maintaining the confidence of Mastercard Foundation, partners, and key stakeholders. Represent the portfolio and organization at the highest levels with donors, government leaders, industry stakeholders, and development partners, serving as a trusted thought leader and advocate for innovation, systems change, and inclusive economic opportunity. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT Provide executive oversight of portfolio performance, ensuring delivery of transformative outcomes, achievement of strategic objectives, and responsible stewardship of program resources in alignment with Mastercard Foundation commitments and Prosper Global standards. Lead and strengthen a high-performing ecosystem of portfolio partners, fostering alignment, accountability, collaboration, and collective ownership of results while ensuring the portfolio functions as an integrated platform for learning, innovation, and impact. Drive the design and implementation of partnership, investment, and capacity-strengthening approaches that build the long-term sustainability, effectiveness, and leadership of portfolio partners and wider ecosystem actors. Ensure portfolio interventions are market-driven, evidence-informed, youth-centered, climate-smart, gender-transformative, safeguarding-focused, and responsive to emerging opportunities and challenges within the agricultural ecosystem. Champion a culture of performance, innovation, adaptive management, and continuous learning, leveraging evidence, technology, and real-time insights to inform strategic decisions and maximize impact at scale. Provide strategic oversight of operational, financial, compliance, safeguarding, and reputational risk management, ensuring that portfolio systems, resources, and support functions effectively enable implementation excellence and sustainable results. EVIDENCE AND LEARNING Provide strategic oversight of portfolio learning and adaptive management processes, ensuring evidence, data, and stakeholder feedback are systematically used to inform decision-making, improve performance, and strengthen impact. Champion a culture of learning, innovation, and accountability across the portfolio, fostering collaboration among consortium partners to identify, document, and scale promising practices and lessons learned. Lead periodic portfolio reviews and reflection processes, using performance data, market insights, and implementation learning to adapt strategies, manage risks, and maximize opportunities for achieving sustainable outcomes. Ensure portfolio-generated evidence, results, and lessons learned are effectively communicated to the Mastercard Foundation, partners, government stakeholders, and broader sector audiences to influence policy, practice, and systems-level change. TEAM MANAGEMENT Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing multidisciplinary leadership team, fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, innovation, inclusion, and continuous learning across the portfolio. Provide strategic leadership and mentorship to senior portfolio staff, creating an enabling environment that empowers teams to perform, collaborate effectively, and deliver results at scale. Promote a culture of adaptive leadership, evidence-based decision-making, and shared accountability, ensuring teams are equipped to navigate complexity, manage change, and respond to emerging opportunities and challenges. Foster strong collaboration and alignment across portfolio partners, technical teams, and support functions, ensuring collective ownership of results and effective coordination toward shared portfolio objectives. Champion talent development, succession planning, and leadership growth, strengthening the portfolio's long-term capacity and contributing to the development of future leaders within Prosper Global and the wider ecosystem. REPRESENTATION Serve as Mercy Corps' principal representative to the Mastercard Foundation and other strategic stakeholders, building trusted partnerships and positioning the portfolio as a leading investment in youth employment and climate-smart agriculture. Cultivate and manage high-value relationships with government, private sector, financial institutions, development partners, and ecosystem actors to strengthen collaboration, influence priorities, and unlock opportunities for scale and sustainability. Represent the portfolio at national, regional, and global forums, leveraging portfolio evidence, learning, and partnerships to drive thought leadership, policy influence, and systems-level impact. Foster collaboration across portfolio partners and complementary initiatives to maximize collective impact, accelerate learning, and advance long-term change within Nigeria's agricultural ec