About ACTS

ACTS is a pioneering development research think tank on harnessing applications of science, technology, and innovation policies for sustainable development in Africa. ACTS is an Intergovernmental organization founded in 1988 to pursue policy-oriented research towards strengthening the capacity of African countries and institutions to harness science and technology for sustainable development.  ACTS envisions a sustainable economic, social, and environmental future for Africa, through science, technology, and innovation.

About AFNS programme

The Agriculture Food and Nutrition Security (AFNS) program’s mission is to contribute towards realising a sustainably food and nutrition-secure Africa. The program’s strategic objective is to support African countries through cutting-edge STI focused policy-relevant research and knowledge brokerage that guides policy choices, targeted investments, and interventions at different levels to accelerate sustainable, climate smart, inclusive agrifood systems transformation, integration of digital technologies, agribusiness development for food and nutrition security and enhanced livelihoods. For more information about the programs please visit https://www.acts-net.org

About the RF position

The AFNS program is implementing a range of research, policy and capacity building projects related to sustainable foods systems, water, energy nexus linked to issues of climate change, agribusiness development, financing models and cross cutting issues on gender equity and social inclusion. We are seeking a motivated and high performing RF that will be involved in implementing on-going AFNS research projects and lead in acquisition of new projects. The successful candidate will work under the Head of the AFNS programme.

Core duties of the Research Fellow

The Research Fellow core tasks include the following at minimum:

• Contribute to conceptualizing research and policy issues for resource mobilization through grant proposals in line with AFNS strategic plan, and in collaboration with other programs within ACTS where it is strategic.
• Contribute to development and implementation of applied research linked to ACTS partnership with the African Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Cooling and Cold chain (ACES).
• Design and deliver various capacity building activities that are part of the AFNS program.
• Responsible for production of high-quality research and policy outputs (including but not limited to peer reviewed journal publications, policy briefs, technical working reports, non-scientific outputs) and other innovative forms of knowledge translation and dissemination.
• Identifying opportunities for expanding AFNS project portfolio including through mobilizing necessary national and international partnerships.
• Supporting stakeholder engagement processes through organizing workshops, roundtable meetings, policy outreach events among others and dissemination of research findings to policy makers, researchers and/or the public
• Supporting the AFNS Programme Head in setting and advancing programme's direction through writing strategy documents and organizing policy outreach events among others.
• Supervise and mentor researchers and other staff in the program.
• Develop and monitor program/ project budgets and preparing technical reports and outputs

Required Qualifications and expertise:

• A PhD in Agricultural related field including Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Food Science, Agronomy, Social Sciences with a focus on Agriculture (Inter-disciplinary focus (natural science/social science) is an added advantage). At least four years post-PhD applied research experience.
• Demonstrated experience and success in project proposal development and resource mobilization for applied research and policy informing projects.
• Experience in meticulously undertaking fieldwork including supervision of field teams with excellent knowledge of digital data collection platforms like ODK, CSPro, etc.
• Demonstratable experience in handling and analysing large primary data sets and in harnessing secondary data.
• Strong proven skills in using quantitative analysis including modelling and integration of qualitative analysis. Proficiency in R, Stata, MAXQDA and/or similar software
• Demonstrable achievements in designing and implementing applied agrifood systems related applied research and policy influencing projects.
• Proven experience in developing, managing, monitoring and reporting on program/ project budgets.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of issues related to agriculture, and food systems climate-change and resilience, informed by state-of-the-art global research insights and policy discussions.
• Knowledge in project management and coordination including Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning and Impact (MELI).
• Excellent written and spoken English. The written skills will be demonstrated by high quality publications record of scientific and non-scientific outputs. Capacity to speak and write in French will be an added advantage.

Skills and competences

• Capacity to work with both social sciences and natural sciences in developing research ideas on the broad range of topics related to the AFNS program and integrating cross-cutting themes especially gender equity and social inclusion perspectives.
• Strong team building, project management and networking skills.
• Excellent oral presentation skills and ability to engage technical and non-technical audiences including policy stakeholders on research findings and generally about our work.
• Demonstrated leadership in implementing collaborative research including experience in building and managing teams and partnerships in multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary projects.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to work with people from different national and cultural backgrounds.

Terms of Employment

The initial appointment is for one year, subject to a probation period of three (3) months with the possibility for renewal based on performance and availability of funding.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates should send their applications and CV along with names of three referees by 17:00hrs Friday 17^th May 2024 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.