Food Systems Expert, Restore Local Project, Greater Rift Valley

This position is hybrid requiring a few days per week in the WRI Africa office in Nakuru County, Kenya. Existing work authorization is required at the time of application submission. WRI is unable to sponsor any visa work sponsorship for this position.

About the Program:

The Restore Local project provides Restoration Champions (community-based organizations, and small and medium enterprises) in priority landscapes across Africa with the support they need – finance, technical capacity, policy and monitoring to support to scale restoration of degraded land and forests. Because agriculture remains a key driver of deforestation and land degradation, the success and sustainability of the restoration program is contingent upon its ability to effectively integrate restoration and agricultural practices that enhance agriculture productivity, provide households with diversified sources of income, and food and nutrition needs whilst delivering positive outcome for nature and climate. Champion under Restore Local are already integrating some of these practices. However, there is room to improve outcomes on productivity, track the outcomes through our M&E systems and provide evidence for improvements, if we develop shared, systematic and consistent understanding and guidelines for implementation.

Job Highlight:

Reporting to the to the Food Systems Transformation Associate, you will develop and facilitate delivery of practical and technical knowledge on context-specific best practices that integrate food and nutrition security in restoration to the restoration champions. This will include practices that improve different dimensions of food and nutrition security – availability, access, utilisation, and stability. You will lead the evidence generation on local degradation challenges and production suitability across different agroecological zones within the focus landscape, especially at the Restoration Champions sites. You will also carry out a review of the Restoration Champions proposals, to identify gaps and opportunities for integrating food and nutrition security in proposed restoration activities.

You will lead the contextualization of guidelines for integrating food in restoration and develop training materials to meet the needs of the individual champions. You will also build internal capacity of the restoration team – TerraFund, Land Accelerator, Policy, and Monitoring - on integration of food dimension in restoration. You will identify strategic partner(s) to deliver practical and technical capacity to the Restoration Champions. You will coordinate training delivery, and support of champions to adopt and implement the practices they will be trained on. You will coordinate the setting up of farms demonstration plots and experiment/trials, and monitor progress by tracking and reporting on identified indicators. The training, adoption/implementation support and trials will help the program to expand and scale restoration practices that have a clear impact on food and nutrition security. For local embeddedness and sustainability, you will convene and coordinate with the local government agencies and stakeholders and ensure harmonization with the existing programs and strategies.

What will you do:

Research (50%):

• Conduct need assessment to build evidence on local degradation challenges and production suitability across the different ecological zones within the restoration champions sites
• Conduct analysis on agronomic and restoration practices, degradation trends and contributing factors in restoration sites
• Analyse existing data on soil health (from government institutions) or coordinate data gathering and analysis on the same if absent or limited
• Review Restoration Champions proposal for gaps and opportunities for integrating food and nutrition security dimensions in proposed activities
• Support market assessment for restoration products
• Coordinate participatory trials with restoration champions and development of field level data collection tools
• Support the monitoring, tracking, learning and reporting on food outcome area key indicators
• Participate in selection and training of enumerators
• Lead field data collection – mobilising enumerators, monitoring data quality and uploading the data on ODK or other software

Technical assistance / capacity building (30%):

• Lead the development of context-specific training modules, and training program for respective Restoration Champions
• Identify strategic partner and coordinate capacity development (internally and externally), on best restoration practices that enhance local food and nutrition security – on-site/in-farm training, workshops, and other forms of in-person events to champions, farmer cooperatives, individual farmers and other stakeholders
• Coordinate the setting up of farm demonstration plots and field experiment/trials
• Coordinate the support of select Restoration Champions to adopt and implement restoration practices to enhance local food and nutrition security
• In collaboration and coordination with the Regeneration and other partners, support the Champions with market linkages or market systems development for the restoration value chains’ products

Engagement and Partnerships (20%):

• Ensure coordination and harmonization between restore local program and government and other stakeholders’ programs vis-à-vis food systems transformation and forest and landscape restoration in the focus countries/counties
• Participate in the establishment of market partnership for the restoration products by facilitating connection between the Champions and market stakeholders
• Collaborate with stakeholders in different sectors in the value chain; county government department of agriculture, private sector and other stakeholders in the landscape to enhance sustainable consumption and production, including market systems development
• Contribute to policy strengthening for restoration practices that enhance food and nutrition security
• Represent WRI in key events, increase the public profile of WRI’s work on integrating food security in restoration at the landscape level.

What will you need:

• Education: You have completed a bachelor's degree in agriculture, agronomy, agroecology, agroforestry, sustainability, environmental science or related fields
• Experience: You have a 6+ years of experience working with smallholder farmers on sustainable land and water management practices, such as agroecology, agroforestry, managing soil erosion, landscape restoration
• Demonstrated practical and technical expertise in food systems transformation in Africa, especially in soil and water management, regenerative agriculture and agroecology and other restoration practices that positively impact different dimension of food and nutrition security
• Experience in research, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting with the ability to support field data collection processes by mobilising enumerators and respondents, data analysis and drafting reports
• Experience in field level experiments in the agriculture sector
• Experience designing training materials and programs for smallholder farmers
• Experience coordinating farmers training
• Experience coordinating farm demonstration plots and field experimentation/trials
• Demonstrated knowledge of farmers market linkages or market systems development
• Languages: Proficiency in verbal and written English and Swahili
• Requirements: Existing work authorization is required where this position. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization.

Potential Salary:

Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply:

Please submit a resume with a required cover letter by 9 April 2024. We are unable to consider your application without a cover letter.

You must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered.

What we offer:

• A competitive salary
• Access to the WRI global network with the opportunity to exchange with and learn from passionate colleagues working at the cutting edge of their fields across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US
• The chance to have an impact and to develop your career within a mission driven organization with access to varied learning and training opportunities
• A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• The opportunity to join and get involved in different working groups and affinity groups to shape the future of WRI
• Commitment to hybrid working model with flexible working hours
• Generous leave days that increase with tenure.

About Us:

Founded in 1982, World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean. WRI has a global staff of over 1,800 people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency, Independence and Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices. We are committed to providing equal opportunities in employment; we embrace all diversity and encourage women, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply. Recognizing our strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications.