Development Economist, Nairobi, Kenya

ICRISAT invites applications for the position of Development Economist. This position is based at ICRISAT - Kenya.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi-arid tropics have over 2 billion people, and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor.

ICRISAT is headquartered in Patancheru, near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and five country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. In WCA, ICRISAT has its regional hub in Mali and country programs in Niger and Nigeria.

ICRISAT, established in 1972, is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. For more details, see www.icrisat.org.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) wants to strengthen its capacity for understanding the economics of farm and food system transitions in low- and middle-income countries. ICRISAT is therefore looking for a Development Economist with capabilities of analyzing the economic implications of a wide range of topics including crop improvement, seed system development, nutrition, insurance and social protection. This will be in support of the design of effective food system interventions for key commodities (with emphasis on grain legumes and dryland cereals) and tracking progress towards the SDGs across households, countries and regions. Based in Nairobi, the candidate will be housed in the MIND (Markets, Institutions, Nutrition and Diversity) team and work in cooperation with the Research Program ‘Eastern and Southern Africa'.

 

Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement conceptual frameworks to guide farm and food system transitions in relation to dynamic markets and humanitarian settings
• Conduct theory-led scientific research addressing various aspects of economic behavior, including, but not limited to: adoption patterns, impact assessment, cost-benefit analysis, economic trend analysis
• Support crop improvement and seed system teams with better targeting their research to respond to market demand, with specific emphasis on grain legumes and dryland cereals
• Within ongoing research programs, provide research designs, develop data collection protocols, conduct data collection and lead the statistical analysis
• Writing winning research proposal and actively fundraise, contribute to technical reports, and lead peer-reviewed journal articles
• Develop presentation materials and help developing economics capacity across ICRISAT's research program, mentor research officers and data management teams in Africa and Asia

 

Requirements:

• Doctoral degree in development economics (or equivalent social sciences)
• 5+ years of experiences in agricultural economic research in low and middle-income countries (preferably in Eastern and Southern Africa, West Africa, India)
• Demonstrated research excellence as proven by first and senior author articles and prestigious economic journals, and grant record
• Thorough knowledge of the academic literature, the ability to formulate research questions, ability to design experiments and quasi-experiments
• Experience in household level economic modeling, and experience in large-scale digital data collection and data analysis (highly proficient in STATA/ SPSSS), and open to learn new statistical tools as required by research projects
• Thorough knowledge of applied micro-economic theories and familiarity with the contemporary macro-economic literature as relevant for food systems
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and intercultural teams, ability and willingness to publish research findings in peer- reviewed journals and willingness to travel extensively across the ICRISAT focus countries

 

General:

This is an internationally recruited staff (IRS) position for 3 years, renewable based on the performance of the incumbent and continuing availability of funding.

 

How to Apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 24 September 2018, with the letter of motivation, a latest Curriculum Vitae, and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable of the candidate's professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged. However only short listed candidates will be contacted.

 

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer