Scientific Officer – Gender Research (Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals) – ICRISAT

Scientific Officer – Gender Research (Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals) – ICRISAT

About our Organization: ICRISAT is a non-profit, apolitical, international organization for science – based agricultural research for development.

Established in 1972, it is one of the 15 Centres of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and supported by more than 48 governments, foundations, and development banks.

ICRISAT with its Headquarters located in India has regional centres and research teams in Asia and Sub- Saharan Africa.

In the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), ICRISAT has country programs in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Ethiopia.

For further details please visit our website www.icrisat.org.

ICRISAT Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) is located in Nairobi, Kenya and is currently seeking a qualified candidate to fill the locally recruited position of a Scientific Officer – Gender Research (Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals).

Background: CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs): It has been recognized for more than a decade that the ever more complex issues facing agricultural research for development require an innovative approach to research.

No single research institution working alone can address the critically important issues of global climate change, agriculture, and food security and rural poverty.

Therefore, the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) tackle the cross-cutting issues in agricultural development across the globe by aligning the research of the CGIAR Centres and their partners into efficient, coherent, multidisciplinary programs.

CRP on Grain Legumes: The CRP on Grain Legumes is a global alliance for research on grain legumes; the partners in this include four CGIAR Centres (ICRISAT as Lead Centre, CIAT, ICARDA and IITA), and six others who have complementary grain legume research-for-development (R4D) efforts (EIAR, Embrapa, GDAR, Generation Challenge Program, ICAR and the USAID-supported legume CRSPs).

CRP on Dryland Cereals: The CRP on Dryland Cereals is designed to achieve sustainable, farm-level productivity increases of the major dryland cereal crops now grown in some of the world’s harshest environments.

This CRP comprises of a unique international effort to combine the experience and resources of two CGIAR Centres (ICRSAT as the lead Centre and, ICARDA) with those of France, India, Iran, the USA and many other partners to better coordinate and expedite research-for-development (R4D) initiatives related to four key dryland cereal crops – barley, finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum.

Gender research in the CRPs: Strategic gender research outputs will inform other areas of research of the gender-related constraints and opportunities faced by women along the value chain including technology access and adoption; the development of strategies to address gender inequalities in access to and control over resources and services; and identification of aspects of technology design needed for research be responsive to gender differences in adoption and the distribution of benefits from new legume technology

About the Position: The Scientific Officer – Gender Research (Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals) will be based at the ESA Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya.

He or She will report to the Scientist/Gender Coordinator, Grain Legumes CRP. The incumbent will assist in implementation of ongoing and planned gender research activities under the Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals CRPs in the East and Southern Africa Region.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist in developing research questions and survey instruments for strategic and applied gender research in the Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals Research Programs in the ESA region;
• Assist in the implementation of CRP Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals cases studies that are part of the global gender and norms in agriculture studies in the CGIAR;
• Participate in field research to obtain relevant data and information on gender-related issues in grain legume and dryland cereal production systems using gender sensitive questionnaires and participatory tools;
• Assist in production of research reports, publications and other communications;
• Assist in preparing and making presentations on summaries of recent developments on gender and agriculture as relates the Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals at forums and other meetings;
• Assist in Gender Research integration activities in the Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals CRP including proposal development, planning and budgeting;
• Contribute to the fulfilment, in a timely and accurate fashion, of the various mandatory reporting requirements for the ongoing projects in the Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereal CRPs;
• Any other related duties as assigned by the Scientist/Gender coordinator, CRP Grain Legumes.

Requirements

• MSc, MPhil or Master in Social Sciences (including Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science), Agricultural Economics or Agriculture Development or a similar degree in a closely related discipline;
• Academic study on gender and development (whether as a substantive focus of another discipline or course work that complementes a degree or experience in Gender research work;
• Knowledge and research experience in issues of agriculture, livelihoods or gender;
• At least 3 years of experience in fieldwork and good understanding of gender issues and dimensions in agriculture, or natural resource; management or rural development. Candidates with less experience but proven ability to deliver may be considered;
• Experience in preparing, implementation and managing large household surveys and/or case studies;
• Good knowledge of softwares that analyse qualitative data (RQDA, Nvivo etc), data management methods and ability to use spreadsheets (eg. Excel, MS Access);
• Good proficiency in spoken and written English;
• Knowledge of local language(s), Swahili, will be an added advantage;
• Ability to work independently with strong sense of initiative, discipline and self-motivation;
• Preferably having experience of working in multi-cultural and interdisciplinary teams. Great interpersonal skills;
• Experience in an gender research in a research system, NGO or international organization environment will be an added advantage
• Must be a Kenyan citizen.

Terms of Offer
We offer a collegial, diverse and gender-sensitive working environment, and we strongly encourage applications from qualified women.

This position is remunerated on Local terms.

The appointment will be for an initial period of three (3) years, subject to a six (6) months’ probation period.

How to apply
Go to http://worldagroforestry.org/working-for-icraf/vacancies

Applications will be considered until 14th July 2014.

Please note that only short-listed applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about ICRISAT and World Agroforestry Centre by accessing our web siteswww.icrisat.org and www.worldagroforestry.org