ILRI-DAAD PhD Scholarship: IBLI Project

Reference Number: PHDAM/DAAD/05/2014
Location: Ethiopia
Duration: 3 years

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to enhance the roles livestock play in pathways out of poverty in developing countries. ILRI is a member of the CGIAR Consortium, a global research partnership of 15 centres working with many partners for a food-secure future. ILRI has two main campuses in East Africa and other hubs in East, West and southern Africa and South, Southeast and East Asia. www.ilri.org. CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. www.cgiar.org.

DAAD is a German Academic Exchange service which is a publicly funded, self-governing organization of the institutions of higher education in Germany. DAAD promotes international academic exchange as well as educational co-operation with developing countries through a variety of funding and scholarship programs.

ILRI Research Project: Index Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI)

The IBLI program aims to enhance livelihoods and reduce vulnerability of pastoral communities through the purchase of livestock insurance contracts that provides indemnity payments after a shock arising from drought related livestock mortality. IBLI aims to help pastoralists manage drought risk, and it’s pernicious ex ante and ex post effects in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. The insurance serves as a productive safety net for households affected by drought-related livestock loss and to help them effectively manage the resulting shock. The expected outcome indicators arising from the IBLI program includes increased earnings from livestock as well as improved household dietary conditions.

Graduate Fellowship Project Title: Human and Environmental Impacts of Migratory Pastoralism and Index-Based Livestock Insurance in Arid and Semi-Arid East Africa.

The Position: The fellow will be part of ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) program that seeks to develop and implement risk-management tools to help improve the reliance of pastoral populations against climate-related risks. The position will be based in Addis but involve frequent travel to field sites in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. The position will report to the project Economist but work closely with collaborators working in the intersection between rangeland ecology and remote sensing to exploit project data in understanding the human and environment impacts of migratory pastoralism and the effect of the IBLI intervention.

Responsibilities:

• The fellow will work with the project scientists to exploit the unusually rich panel data collected over several years in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia tracking over 1400 pastoralist households in addition to high resolution migration data drawn from a sample of 60 GPS-collared cattle to estimate spatio-temporal models of herd migration, the drivers of migration, the changes in migration patterns and the impact of migration on environmental and socio-economic factors.
• The fellow will be expected to develop evidence around the factors behind pastoralist movement and change based on analysis of existing data as well as collection of new relevant data.
• The fellow will also be expected to make contributions to project efforts to test new technology for crowdsourcing and verifying rangeland conditions in near real time as both a means to improve the precision of the index-based livestock insurance product but also to help provide relevant information for policy design in support of rangeland development.
• Identify alternative options for improving both pastoralist resilience and effectively managing rangeland degradation.
• Use data to write his/her PhD thesis and publish research findings in peer-reviewed journals.

Essential Skills and Qualifications will include:

• Holder of a Masters degree in rangeland management or rangeland ecology from a recognized university.
• Extensive experience in field survey design, household data collection, and conducting vegetation studies.
• Experience in working with pastoralist populations; knowledge of the key languages spoken in the study sites (Borana, Afaan Oromo) will be an added advantage.
• Good writing skills demonstrated through research reports and relevant publications.
• An effective and energetic team player with the ability to work in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural environment.
• Have completed their last degree less than 6 years ago at the time of application.
• Must be nationals of a Sub-Saharan African Country. Please note that it is not possible to apply for studies in your home country.

How to apply:

Interested applicants should submit the following documents;

• A cover letter explaining your interest in the position, what you can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about your professional qualifications and work experience. The position title and reference number:PHDAM/DAAD/05/2014 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter.
• Curriculum Vitae without photograph; please use the europass CV template athttp://europass.cedefop.europa.eu.
• Certified copies of all university degree certificates.
• Certified copies of all university transcripts.
• Detailed and precise description of the research project (incl. working plan and time schedule until graduation). The proposal has to be in line with the above outlined ILRI’s research projects.
• At least temporary admission letter from the host institution.
• Declaration of acceptance from academic/university supervisor.
• Recommendation letter by the affiliate university head of department.
• Proof of employment with certification that you receive an unpaid leave (where applicable).

Applications: All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com by the the deadline of 10 June 2014

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

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

Suitably qualified women and citizens of developing countries, with experience of working internationally, are particularly encouraged to apply.