Agricultural Economist (Evidence Creation and Reporting) NOB, Nairobi

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

BACKGROUND AND JOB PURPOSE

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) seeks to support the Government of Kenya (GoK) to build inclusive, climate-resilient and sustainable food systems and support rural and urban communities’ resilience capacities to adapt to climate and other shocks to meet their food and nutrition needs in line with the GoK’s Vision 2030 and development plans. Building on WFP’s extensive knowledge, footprint, and comparative advantage in reducing vulnerabilities and building the resilience of food insecure Kenyan communities, the “Climate Resilient Livelihoods and Food Systems Programme” covers a set of multiple interventions and partnerships that supports communities to anticipate and adapt to climate and other shocks and stressors using a food systems approach. WFP works closely with among others the GoK, communities, research institutions, and private sector to promote local climate adaptation, strengthen local and regional market linkages, enhance access to credit through financial inclusion models and promote the consumption of safe and nutritious foods.

WFP supports county governments in the Arid- and Semi-arid Lands (ASAL) to build sustainable demand-led value chains linking smallholder producers (farmers and pastoralists) to other value chain actors to services such as suppliers of agricultural finance, inputs, and technical expertise. In western Kenya, WFP operates through the Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA) which is a consortium of six organizations (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa/AGRA, Bayer, Rabobank, Syngenta, WFP, Yara) with a joint vision to empower farmers to increase their yields, incomes, and resilience and to improve global food security. This successful model is currently being scaled-up to the nine arid counties in northern and north-eastern Kenya. Throughout this programme portfolio WFP seeks to create transformative change to rural and urban populations with a focus on women and young people.

To support the scale of these successful interventions and business models, WFP seeks a dedicated professional to support the Food Systems and Resilience team in Nairobi to create the evidence for designing new business cases and proposals, manage research partnerships, guide monitoring processes, prepare donor reports, manage unit communication and visibility, documenting and sharing best practices, and support in maintaining and establishing efficient business processes.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Ensure cross-learning and close interactions across FtMA project areas and the arid counties, where the FSC model is being scaled-up (including the documentation of success stories and best practices).
2. Support the technical units on key programmatic areas including but not limited to gender transformation and youth empowerment.
3. Produce and review analyses, strategies, and papers for WFP’s climate resilience and food systems interventions.
4. Generate analysis that investigates cost-benefit of different intervention packages, return of investments and related research question
5. Create evidence generation and knowledge management strategy for the climate, food system and resilience portfolio
6. Coordinate monitoring and evaluation activities under Outcome 2 in close collaboration with the Monitoring & Evaluation Officer.
7. Coordinate and draft the development of funding proposals and concept notes as required and support on ad-hoc donor engagements.
8. Produce corporate reporting products and donor reports in close collaboration with technical units.
9. Develop and maintain relevant partnerships with private sector, research institutions and Government of Kenya.
10. Create content for communication for internal and external channels, working closely with WFP communications unit.
11. Support the development of tools and processes to manage FSC performance and ensure intended smallholder impact is achieved.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES ( Continuation)

1. Evidence created that supports the development of new business cases (including return of investment studies).
2. Timely and quality corporate/donor reports and proposals and other communication materials produced.
3. Efficient climate, food system and resilience knowledge management system established and corporate monitoring and evaluation processes supported
4. Rural entrepreneurs' models within operational areas mapped out.
5. Experience setting-up scalable and sustainable middle and last mile value chain solutions targeting small holder farmers and other actors along the value-chain of advantage
6. Demonstrated ability to engage with public and private entities, planning and working together
7. Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relations across multi-functional teams as well as with a results-oriented private sector, research, think tanks and other key stakeholders
8. Solid operational skills including creative thinking, problem solving and project management skills
9. Resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, and negotiating skills.
10. Strong presentation skills and experience in public speaking of advantage.
11. Ability to frequently travel within the country.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Experience : At least five (5) years of experience in agribusiness, either in private sector enterprises or in non-profit value chain related projects, with exposure to the private sector segment and research institutions.

Language: Fluency (oral and written) in English and Kiswahili necessary; proficiency in other languages spoken regionally in Kenya is an asset.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Excellent analytical, communication and report-writing skills
• Ability to conduct economic and analysis, including cost-benefit analysis, preferably in the agriculture, water and land management sector
• Experience in proposal development as well as monitoring and reporting processes and ability to create/manage databases
• Experience working with agro- and agro-pastoral/pastoral communities and organizations, and designing and implementing development projects

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Type of Contract: Fixed Term, NOB

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya

Contract Duration: 01 Year

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. The World Food Programme DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS. WFP embraces diversity and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that celebrates diversity and inclusivity in all ways. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications and merit. Applicants profile MUST match the C.V attached. Any discrepancies between the C.V and the profile will lead to automatic disqualification.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline for application is 17 April 2023.

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WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.