Research Officer II - Agricultural Innovation System - Internal/External

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) seeks to recruit a Research Officer II – Agricultural Innovation System to initiate, provide suggestions for, and monitor the small-scale irrigations (SSI) and agrifood systems scaling partnership to promote private and public sector’s investments and interventions in Ethiopia. While primarily dedicated to SSI initiatives, also contribute to various ongoing projects, including Solar and irrigation projects, Digital Innovations for a Water Secure Africa (DIWASA), Ukama Ustawi, and other initiatives and bilateral projects.

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit international research organization, serving a global mandate to improve management of water and land for food, livelihoods and nature. IWMI headquarters is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka and one of its sub-regional office is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. IWMI is one of the 15 research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Key Responsibilities:

Support research on scaling and partnership activities for small-scale irrigation (SSI). Activities include:

• Conducting field data collection, secondary data collection, literature synthesis, interviews and other forms of research activities;
• Analysing data and draft scientific publications, policy briefs and technical reports in the areas of private and public sector’s SSI and agrifood systems scaling interventions;
• Conducting SSI and agrifood systems stakeholder analysis and mapping, market margin assessment along scaling pathways, private sector financing, and identification of blocking and enabling mechanisms to SSI and agrifood systems scaling;
• Facilitating the collaboration among partners and researchers to pilot joint data collection and analysis, and monitoring and evaluating of SSI and agrifood systems scaling pathways to document and present lessons learned to sustainably and equitably incentivize uptake;
• Identifying partnerships, policies and institutional requirements for testing approaches, technologies and investment propositions that have strong scaling potential
• Facilitate collaboration among partners and researchers for joint data collection, analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of SSI and agrifood systems scaling pathways;
• Under direction of the project leaders, overseeing the development of SSI scaling pilots and partnerships in Ethiopia, researchers and external partners;
• Building and maintaining SSI and agrifood systems scaling dialogue platforms and processes with national and regional stakeholders and research partners, including the private sector;
• Perform any other related duties as may be required.

Minimum Requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree in Development Economics, Human Geography, Sociology, or a closely related field relevant to Water Resources Management, Agricultural Development and Agricultural innovation systems and scaling, or similar

Experience:

• At least five years relevant work experience, preferably in areas such as scaling of agricultural innovation, and facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues and/or innovation platforms
• Experience in transforming research into knowledge products for outreach and impact in Ethiopia and wider forms of development policy and practice influence
• Proven track record in communicating research findings in international conferences and other platforms.

Skills:                 

• Ability to facilitate and coordinate multi-stakeholder partnerships in agri-business and irrigation, and gender and youth inclusion issues
• Ability to maintain strong external partnerships and alliances in complex institutional environments, including the private sector
• Ability to apply technical, economic, and institutional reasoning to innovation scaling and policy issues in a critical manner
• Proven ability to work collaboratively and effectively with academic and non-academic stakeholders
• Ability to in using statistical analytical techniques

Duty Station:  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Job Grade: HG 14

Monthly Base Salary: Birr 54,708

Terms of appointment:  This is a National Staff (NS) position. The initial appointment is for three years. IWMI offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and excellent benefits in line with ILRI salary applicable for its National Staff. IWMI is an international and equal opportunity organization and believes that diversity of its staff contributes to excellence.  The ILRI campus is set in a secure, attractive campus with dining and sports facilities. 

Applications: Applicants should provide a cover letter and curriculum vitae; names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to be included in the curriculum vitae. The position and reference number: REF: RO/IWMI/31/24 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter. All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ on or before 22 November 2024.

IWMI/ILRI does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing or training).

To find more about IWMI, visit our Website at http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/      

Suitably qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply