Programme Manager, Capacity Building

Do you understand the importance of continuous improvement for farmers in the organic cotton and textiles sector? Do you have the drive to positively impact smallholder farmers around the world through your work? Acre is supporting the Organic Cotton Accelerator in recruiting a Capacity Building Programme Manager based in Amsterdam.

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The Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA) believes organic cotton is a catalyst for a truly sustainable textiles sector. As a multi-stakeholder organisation, OCA unites the sector to unleash the potential of organic cotton, from field to fashion, for people and the planet. OCA envisions a future where, every time a farmer switches to organic cotton, there is a ripple effect of positivity; farmers earn more, and their land and soils are fertile for future generations, protecting our planet. OCA calls this the Organic Cotton Effect.

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​OCA is committing to enabling this future by creating a transparent, responsible and resilient organic cotton supply chain that prioritises delivering farmer prosperity and meeting the sector's shared sustainability goals. As an accelerator, OCA wants to get to this future, faster.

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About the role

Capacity building is one of the three pillars of OCA's farm programme. As the Capacity Building Programme Manager, you are an expert trainer with a social and/or agronomist background, who is a natural cross-functional and international team player. Reporting to the Programme Director and a boots-on-the-ground colleague, you work as a key member of the OCA team based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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The role will require you to have strong project management skills and the managerial ability to develop, coordinate and verify continuous improvement. In your role, the focus will be on developing tools and mechanisms which oversee, monitor, and implement OCA's capacity-building tools, training cadence, and resource planning for all programme impact areas. Developing close working relationships with our stakeholders, organic input suppliers, and implementation partners allows OCA to continuously fine-tune its efforts to the needs of the field in order to drive continuous improvement.

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Your Responsibilities

Capacity building and training

Continuously evolve OCA's Organic Cotton Training Curriculum based on annual learnings and geographical expansion.

• Contextualise the Organic Cotton Training Curriculum at a training of trainers as well as direct to farmer level.

• Together with the local team deliver and define a cadence of OCA farm training / capacity-building workshops as per OCA's Organic Cotton Training Curriculum. Proactively ensure that Farm Group's needs are covered.

• Ensure that OCA's implementing partners have the resources to facilitate training directly to farmers.

• Recruit, develop and engage well-suited trainers for regional trainings.

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Oversee the development OCA's key impact areas

• Provide support to OCA's Farm Groups for setting up, maintaining, evaluating, and reporting on seed evaluation trials. You coordinate the actions needed to ensure that there is ample availability of organic cotton seed for the farm programme.

• Collect, manage and publish agronomic and seed cultivar performance data resulting from field trials and demo plots. Measure and track agronomic progress at key locations.

• Own and implement OCA's decent work strategy and decent work training modules.

• Monitor and enhance the Farm Programme usage of agreed supplies of non-GMO seed and organic inputs.

• Enrich OCA's online training platform with actual agricultural performance results and findings from the ground up.

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Stakeholder engagement

• Develop a global programmatic capacity-building approach combined with locally adapted tools and components which allow OCA to nurture long-term relationships with the agronomy and extension staff of our Farm partners.

• Develop and share agricultural knowledge, learnings, and best practice, as well as trial agricultural innovations for continuous performance improvement at organic cotton farms.

• Develop and participate in OCA's monitoring approach to record the continuous improvement achieved in and through our demo plots.

• Provide input and operational direction in developing a portfolio of work streams for shared learning across Farm Groups based on local needs and priorities. Set up and co-deliver these work streams using joint online and offline activities agreed upon with the Farm Groups.

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What you bring

• Relevant degree such as Agronomy, Social Sciences or demonstrated relevant professional experience.

• Prior experience (5+ years) in a programme or standards environment in the agriculture, sustainability or textiles sector is expected or demonstrated a similar level of experience.

• Proven track record in developing training programmes and budgets in a project environment, with affinity and familiarity with the variety of actors OCA works with (producers, value chain players; brands, NGOs, and government) and the principles of the organic standard.

• Familiarity with managing an international team will be a plus.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, along with the ability to work in a collaborative manner.

• Comfortable multi-tasking and taking on diverse responsibilities within the organisation.

• Driven and delivery-oriented - comfortable working with established deadlines.

• Good IT skills in Microsoft Office, particularly Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel.

• Fluency in English.

• You should be eligible to work within the European Union.

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OCA's offer

• A one-year contract with a long-term perspective.

• Travel cost compensation (public transport).

• Joining a passionate and collaborative international team committed to making a difference in the world.

• Flexible working hours and hybrid arrangement with the opportunity to support significant sustainability impact, working from the bustling Fashion for Good Centre in Amsterdam.

• An international, warm, and collaborative environment that champions our team's diversity of interests, skills,

  and backgrounds.

• The opportunity to contribute to a critical mission: realising the true potential of organic cotton.

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For more information about OCA, see: https://www.organiccottonaccelerator.org/

​Please note that this position would require you to be based in Amsterdam and be able to work in the Netherlands.

​​If you've realised this is the opportunity for you to bring significant impact or would like to know more, please apply directly via Acre's website/link.

​​If you have any questions, please contact Thaddeus Tan at thaddeus.tan@acre.com to enquire further.