Announcement: Seeking professional coaches for The Advanced Leaders Programme

USAID Policy LINK is seeking applications from interested professional coaches for the inaugural Advanced Leadership Programme of the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA).

The Advanced Leadership Programme for Africa’s Food Security and Sustainability is a collaborative, hands-on, tailored learning experience for established and emerging leaders in the African agriculture sector. The programme will support leaders in government, private sector and civil society to deliver transformative sector initiatives.

The 16-month highly selective programme will be offered through the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA), an initiative of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) supported by the German Development Cooperation through KfW Development Bank, and will be co-implemented by the African Management Institute (AMI) and USAID’s Policy LINK. The programme will support up to 160 sector leaders to cultivate collaborative leadership skills for Africa’s food security and sustainability.  The start date for the first cohort is August 2021.

Participants will be selected from sector leaders in the public sector, private sector and civil society (associations or civil society organizations) working to advance national priorities in the following countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

To support this programme, we are seeking professional coaches residing in the eight countries listed above to provide:

  • Executive coaching to Permanent Secretary-level participants
  • Team coaching for country cohorts of participants

Coaches will be working in their respective countries with participants who are also based there.

Applicants may be selected for one or both types of coaching based on experience and interest.

All coaching is expected to be carried out virtually, at least initially.

Application instructions

Interested applicants are asked to complete this application including upload of 3 references and coaching CV. Application deadline is June 7th.  Short-listed applicants will be invited to a one-hour virtual information session on the program to be held in late June.

Successful candidates will have:

  • At least 300 hours of coaching experience over at least 5 years
  • An international coaching certification, e.g., COMPENSA, ICF, ACF
  • Experience with team/group coaching
  • Work with public, private and development sector top-level leaders

Familiarity and experience working with the agricultural sector are highly desired.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

 About Policy LINK

The five-year (2019 – 2024) USAID-funded Feed the Future Policy LINK program strengthens the capacity of local actors and institutions to lead and manage the agricultural transformation process and contribute effectively and collectively to improved, broad-based food security policy outcomes.

Specifically, the program aims to strengthen food security policy systems by investing in and reinforcing productive human and social capital and developing strategic partnerships that help bring these innovations and capacity investments to scale in order to achieve a critical mass of local actors with the ability and opportunity to effect positive policy change through collective action.


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The Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA), an initiative of AGRA was established in 2021 to support sector leaders to deliver on top national priorities in African agriculture and nutrition security.

The Centre’s Advanced Leadership programme, a 16-month highly selective and collaborative learning journey, is designed for senior leaders and rising stars spearheading country level priorities across government, private sector, and civil society. Each cohort comprises of leaders from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA) is made possible with the friendly support of:

German Cooperation
KFW