Role overview
What you'll be stepping into
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Uganda is seeking highly qualified and motivated individuals to join its dynamic team as Team Leader – Climate and Food Security (2 positions).
Important: This position is contingent upon the successful securing of funding for the project.
Overall Purpose of the Role
The Climate and Food Security Team Leader will be responsible for providing technical quality assurance and due diligence for all outcome activities under DRC’s Food Systems and Economic Self-Reliance Project across the six districts of Terego, Madi-Okollo, Yumbe, Koboko, Obongi, and Moyo.
The role will ensure the appropriateness and quality of project activities while supporting farmer group training, restoration initiatives at community and household levels, and staff management.
The Team Leader will work closely with the MEAL team and coordinate and represent DRC in engagements with local governments, refugee and host-community structures, private-sector actors, financial institutions, and other relevant stakeholders. The objective is to ensure effective delivery, complementarity, sustainability, and achievement of project results.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
1. Administrative Role
Oversee the day-to-day coordination, management, and administration of the Food Systems and Economic Self-Reliance Project in designated locations.
Ensure programme activities are aligned with donor requirements, national policies, and local government development plans.
Supervise technical and support staff and manage relationships with implementing partners, including local partner organisations.
Support budgeting, financial management, and reporting processes.
Represent the programme in coordination forums, donor meetings, and stakeholder engagements.
Ensure compliance with and promote all DRC policies and procedures, including the Code of Conduct, Anti-Corruption, Whistleblowing, Fraud, Health and Safety, and related policies.
Coordinate internal and external communications systematically.
2. Technical Leadership and Programme Quality
Provide overall technical leadership and quality assurance across the project’s food systems, food and nutrition security, and economic self-reliance interventions.
Oversee the implementation of climate-smart and regenerative agriculture interventions, including block/cluster farming, Resilience Design, provision of agricultural inputs, good agronomic practices, soil and water conservation, post-harvest management, and farmer learning.
Ensure effective implementation of nutrition-sensitive approaches, including kitchen gardening/permaculture, diversified household food production, and nutrition education, particularly for refugee households with limited access to productive land.
Provide technical oversight of market systems interventions, including value-chain development, aggregation and collective marketing, value addition, market information, and linkages between farmer groups, off-takers, and other market actors.
Guide the implementation of financial inclusion approaches, including access to financial services and strengthening farmer groups toward associations, cooperatives, and SACCOs.
Oversee natural resource and ecosystem management interventions, including Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), agroforestry, restoration of degraded landscapes, water for production, soil and water conservation, and household tree-growing approaches.
Ensure the technical quality and sustainability of alternative livelihood interventions, including beekeeping, fish farming, small-scale solar irrigation, tree nursery enterprises, clean-energy solutions, and fodder systems, as applicable.
Ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment are integrated across project interventions, including women’s participation in leadership and decision-making and equitable access to land, productive resources, and economic opportunities.
Ensure youth, persons with disabilities, refugees, and host communities are appropriately included across project interventions in line with agreed targeting and inclusion approaches.
Ensure project interventions build upon and strengthen existing farmer groups, delivery systems, extension structures, local-government relationships, and tested technical approaches rather than establishing parallel systems.
Facilitate access to appropriate technical expertise from DRC specialists, District Local Governments, and other relevant actors, and ensure identified technical gaps are addressed.
Ensure required technical training programmes for project employees are implemented.
Prepare quality progress reports in line with agreed outcomes and activities in annual work plans.
3. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)
Work closely with MEAL staff to operationalise the project MEAL framework and ensure systematic monitoring of outputs, outcomes, indicators, and project quality.
Ensure timely and accurate collection, analysis, and use of project data to monitor progress and inform programme and management decisions.
Ensure appropriate accountability and feedback mechanisms are accessible to refugee and host-community participants, and that feedback is analysed and used to improve project delivery.
Promote documentation of project results, success stories, lessons learned, innovations, and good practices for learning, communication, and potential replication or scale-up.
Monitor the implementation of project activities and support the implementation of M&E processes.
4. Team and Resource Management
Provide clear technical and managerial direction to project staff and ensure roles, responsibilities, deliverables, and performance expectations are clearly understood.
Provide regular supervision, coaching, feedback, and performance management to direct reports and identify staff capacity-development needs.
Ensure efficient and accountable use of project financial, human, and operational resources while promoting value for money.
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and accountable working environment consistent with DRC values and the Code of Conduct.
5. Coordination, Partnerships and Representation
Initiate and maintain effective engagement with key stakeholders at District Local Government (DLG) and Lower Local Government (LLG) levels and follow up on recommendations within the assigned jurisdiction.
Coordinate closely with district technical departments and extension structures to strengthen technical quality, alignment with local priorities, government ownership, and sustainability.
Represent DRC and the project in relevant donor engagements, coordination forums, technical working groups, government meetings, and other external platforms as delegated.
Strengthen engagement with farmer groups, refugee and host-community structures, women and youth groups, and other community institutions to promote meaningful participation, ownership, and sustainability.
Facilitate strategic engagement with private-sector actors, including agro-input suppliers, off-takers, millers, financial institutions, and other service providers, to strengthen market access and commercially viable livelihood opportunities.
Coordinate with other humanitarian and development actors to promote complementarity, leverage existing investments, and avoid duplication.
Lead and participate in joint field monitoring, technical supervision, learning visits, and review missions with government, donors, and other relevant stakeholders.
Maintain strong linkages with other relevant DRC programmes and projects to ensure complementarity, shared learning, and efficient use of established systems and structures.
Coordinate the implementation of all project activities and ensure all outcome targets are achieved.
About You
To be successful in this role, you must have a minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience in food security, agriculture, livelihoods, resilience, or related programming, including at least 2 years in project management and/or technical leadership roles.
Required Qualifications and Experience
Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Food Security, Natural Resource Management, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience managing complex projects, including planning, budgeting, implementation oversight, team management, monitoring, and donor reporting.
Strong understanding of climate-resilient agriculture, food systems, and market-oriented livelihoods programming, with the ability to provide technical oversight and ensure programme quality.
Experience managing and coordinating multidisciplinary teams and working across different technical and operational functions.
Strong understanding of project cycle management, financial management, and results-based management, with demonstrated ability to manage budgets, workplans, risks, and project performance.
Experience working with government, private-sector actors, community structures, and other programme stakeholders, preferably in refugee-hosting or displacement-affected settings.
Demonstrated ability to integrate gender, inclusion, accountability, and safeguarding into programme implementation.
Strong leadership, analytical, communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver results.
Full professional proficiency in both written and spoken English is essential.
Desirable Qualifications and Experience
Master’s degree in Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Food Security, Rural Development, or a related field.
Professional training or certification in project/programme management, climate-smart agriculture, market systems development, or related areas.
Knowledge of one or more local languages widely spoken in the covered districts.
DRC Core Competencies
In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’s five core competencies:
Striving for Excellence: Focus on achieving results while ensuring an efficient process.
Collaborating: Involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
Taking the Lead: Take ownership and initiative while pursuing innovation.
Communicating: Listen and communicate effectively and honestly.
Demonstrating Integrity: Uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to DRC values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment.
What DRC Offers
Contract Length: 12 months
Band: G2
Duty Station: Imvepi, Moyo
Expected Start Date: October 2026
Salary and conditions will be in accordance with the Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for national employees.
Application Process
All applicants must upload:
A cover letter
An updated CV of no more than four pages
Applications must be submitted in English
Applications sent by email will not be considered.
Closing Date: 13th September 2026
How to apply