Program Director – Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Landscapes

Job Description

Job Announcement

Program Director – Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Landscapes

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work are accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Catholic Relief Services has been working in Liberia since 1957 with a current programmatic focus targeting Health (malaria, nutrition and water sanitation and hygiene); Agriculture, Livelihoods and Landscapes; Education; and Emergency Response. The Program Director will lead CRS Liberia’s Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Landscapes portfolio, including strategic oversight of the Gardens for Resilience, Opportunities and Wealth (GROW Liberia) initiative and Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP). This role ensures high-quality program design, implementation, and learning across agriculture, nutrition-sensitive livelihoods, climate resilience, and financial inclusion. The Director will drive innovation, foster strategic partnerships, and position CRS Liberia for scale and donor investment. The successful candidate will play a crucial role in leading technical guidance and support in implementing project activities for potential adverse social and economic impacts as well as planning and implementing impact mitigation measures.

Job Summary:

The Program Director will oversee the overall management of the project’s livelihood activities, including support for core training curricula development and local adaptation, training, guidance in the development of scale up road maps, and exploring opportunities for innovation and collaboration with private sector actors, relevant government ministries and agencies and civil society organizations. S/he will ensure that project outcomes are being achieved and that targeted beneficiaries are reached.

Title: Program Director – Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Landscapes

Location: Monrovia, Liberia

Type of Role: Fixed-Term Contract

Reports to: Head of Programming

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and delivery of training materials and curricula for climate-resilient livelihoods, ensuring effective community-level capacity building.
• Provide technical leadership in planning and implementing livelihoods and local economic development strategies, including stakeholder engagement, community mobilization, and capacity strengthening of target groups.
• Facilitate partnerships with private sector actors, financial institutions, social enterprises, and digital platforms to enhance market access and innovation.
• Oversee the planning, application, disbursement, and monitoring of grant activities, ensuring alignment with project goals and supporting related capacity-building initiatives.
• Collaborate with the Climate Change Specialist to mainstream climate adaptation and mitigation across all livelihood interventions.
• Ensure timely monitoring and evaluation of livelihoods and economic development activities, identify implementation gaps, and lead corrective actions.
• Ensure strategic use of MEAL to foster program quality, generate evidence-based learning, strategic positionings to scale successful models and approaches, and to catalyze transformational change at scale.
• Document and disseminate project successes and lessons learned to inform national-level dialogue and future programming.
• Provide vision and leadership for CRS Liberia’s agriculture and livelihoods portfolio, ensuring alignment with CRS’s Vision 2030 and Country Program Strategy.
• Support the effective implementation of the CP’s Localization, Gender, and Climate Change strategies.
• Lead the design and expansion of integrated, climate-smart agriculture and nutrition-sensitive initiatives, including the GROW Liberia project.
• Ensure high-quality, timely implementation of agriculture and livelihoods projects, including budget management, partner coordination, and compliance.
• Ensure high-quality, timely project reporting in compliance with organizational and donor requirements for all projects in the Agriculture, Livelihoods and Landscapes portfolio.
• Supervise project managers and technical teams, fostering performance excellence and professional development.
• Provide expertise in climate-smart agriculture, SILC, gender-transformative programming, and school-based agriculture.
• Work with global and regional advisors to ensure evidence-based approaches and continuous capacity building.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with government ministries, donors, church partners, and private sector actors. Represent CRS in national and regional forums on agriculture, food systems, and climate resilience.
• Lead donor engagement and proposal development to secure funding and expand program impact.
• Promote innovation in agriculture and livelihoods, including digital tools, solar irrigation, and inclusive finance. Oversee the development of learning products to inform programming and donor positioning.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in agriculture, International Development, Environmental Science, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of progressive experience in agriculture and livelihoods programming, including at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience managing multi-sectoral projects and teams in complex environments.
• Strong understanding of climate-smart agriculture, nutrition-sensitive interventions, and gender equity.
• Demonstrate excellent experience relevant to conducting livelihood and value chain assessments and analysis of national data.
• Demonstrated success in donor engagement and proposal development.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and strategic thinking skills.
• Experience working with different stakeholders, including the private sector, CSOs, NGOs and local government authorities/institutions.
• Digital skills including MS Office and Internet

Required Languages – Strong English speaking and writing proficiency is required; knowledge of Liberian dialects is a plus.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 40% within Liberia.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Excellent relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching/mentoring skills.
• Strong communications and presentation skills; able to develop tailored and persuasive messaging for varied audiences.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented
• Familiarity with CRS programming and MEAL systems

Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and are used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

Lead Change – Continually look for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.
Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.
Supervisory Responsibilities: LWEP – Lead Climate Change Specialist, LWEP – County Coordinators, GROW Liberia – Agriculture and Nutrition Officer.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Country Representative, Head of Operations, Head of Programming, Finance Manager, MEAL Coordinator, Climate Change Specialist, Technical Advisors, and Other Project Staff.

External: Ministry of Gender and Social Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, and other agricultural and gender stakeholders in-country, Local Implementing Partners, Private Sector Actors (Commercial Banks, Cooperatives, etc), Donor Partners.

Applications:

Please send a cover letter and a resume/CV to LR_HR@crs.org by October 15, 2025, 2025, with the subject line “Program Director – Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Landscapes.” Both the cover letter and CV/resume should be in PDF format and submitted as a single document. Applications will be reviewed and assessed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. No phone calls, please. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity; however, if you don’t hear from us after two months of the vacancy deadline, kindly note that your application was not successful.

CRS follows an equal opportunity policy and actively encourages diversity, welcoming applications from all, especially women and people living with a disability.

By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviours related to the above safeguarding-related topics.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.