This position is remote based in Kenya, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Ethiopia; WRI Africa Regional Office. 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:

WRI Africa’s Food Program aims at transforming food systems in Africa to address food and nutritional insecurity for a rapidly growing population while driving economic development, increasing their resilience to climate change while pivoting away from potential future emissions, having positive impacts on biodiversity, and generating greater equity outcomes for women, children youth and other vulnerable groups.

WRI Africa’s Food Program is anchored on four reinforcing principles:

• Producing nutrient dense foods that address food and nutritional insecurity, generating jobs for youth, women and other marginalized groups, while keeping within planetary boundaries on nature and climate. • Reducing food loss and waste (FLW), including evidence generation and building partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders to advance the Target-Measure-Act approach, including building circular food systems models. • Restoring degraded agricultural lands to increase productivity while generating essential ecosystems services for agriculture such as soil health, water and biodiversity that is critical for pollination and other ecosystem services. • Protecting remaining natural ecosystems from conversion to agriculture through sustainable intensification of agriculture without adverse effects on the climate and biodiversity.

Job Highlight:

Reporting to the Director of Vital Landscapes, you will be a thought leader in food systems with experience in research, policy engagement, partnership building, fundraising and people management skills. Your role will include developing and articulating WRI Africa’s value proposition in the food system space and a strategy that is aligned with the WRI Africa and global strategies.

You will work with the team to develop a clear Theory of Change of the Food program that links the produce, reduce, protect and restore streams of work, while working with other WRI Africa staff to integrate relevant work around energy and water with food. You lead research, partnership building and support to local action across WRI Africa priority geographies and/or countries. You will oversee people management in the food program.

What will you do:

Research, Thought Leadership and Policy Engagement (30%):

• Develop a clear and transformative strategy for the food program aligned with WRI’s framework of produce, protect reduce and restore that articulates the value proposition for the food program
• Lead high quality research and technical analysis for the food program to inform policy and practice
• Synthesize findings and develop high quality policy, implementation and communication outputs
• Lead the work on food policies, as well as stakeholder engagement across the food program
• Develop policies and best practices to sustainably close yield gaps and improve food security in WRI priority geographies while helping farmers to adapt to climate change
• Assess scalability of the methods and data developed by the food program in priority countries/geographies to other African jurisdictions and provide relevant guidance to the teams
• Lead the production of written outputs including research papers, reports, internal briefs, blogs, presentations, and press releases for the food program.
• Lead the editing, peer review, publishing of all research and communication outputs of the food program
• Support the monitoring and reporting of the food program, including working closely with the ‘managing of results’ team to develop and monitor the relevant food indicators

Engagement, Convening and Partnerships (25%):

• Develop and lead the partnership engagement strategy for the food program covering strategic stakeholders including government, development partners, private sector, farmer federations and civil society organizations to achieve the food system transformation aligned with national and local food priorities
• Develop and lead the engagement strategy on uptake and use of data and evidence and tools developed by the food program
• Cultivate new and help manage existing relationships to deliver on the food systems transformation agenda. This includes forming or joining coalitions on research, and/or policy in priority geographies, including leading the Food and Land Use Coalition collaborations within Africa
• Represent WRI in key events, increase the public profile of WRI’s work on food systems
• Support policy engagement at national level WRI’s work is feeding into and aligned with relevant national polices on climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as food systems/agricultural policies and strategies
• Lead collaboration with other stakeholders in the food sector in priority countries/geographies to ensure synergies

Fundraising (25%):

• Identify funding and cooperation opportunities for all streams of work identified as a priority in the WRI Africa food strategy
• Lead proposals related to food loss and food waste; and food gap and food security analysis and the deployment of geosciences and their application in monitoring of crop yields in Africa, including the resources (financial and human) required to do so
• Lead and co-lead other proposals developed by other WRI country offices that pertain to Africa on food systems
• Support or lead the development of integrated strategies and proposals with other relevant strands of WRI’s work such as energy, water and others
• Ensure all food related proposal adhere to the highest quality standards including guidance to teams on Large and Small Proposal review Processes, budgeting requirements and approvals

Personnel and Program Leadership (20%):

• Lead and nurture a growing team of researchers under the food program by articulating a clear vision for the food program that they can align with
• Provide leadership of all projects and staff under the food program
• Recruit and supervise staff in relevant work areas of the food program in accordance with WRI regulations
• Identify and nurture young and upcoming researchers and thought leaders within the food program
• Liaise and coordinate with other staff from across the sisterhood on all matters related to food

What will you need:

• Education: You have a Master’s degree(PhD preferred) in agriculture, food security analysis in relation to sustainable land management practice
• Experience: You have 12 years of relevant, full-time work experience of which 3 years have been in a leadership/management capacity
• Demonstrated knowledge and expertise on issues related to food systems transformation in Africa, including international climate policy, and sustainability challenges related to land and natural resource management
• Experience designing and managing complex, multi-partner projects in an NGO setting
• Experience creating and communicating theories of change, results frameworks, and other components of a MEL for project donors, partners, and stakeholders
• Experience with fundraising as a lead as well as part of a team
• Experience with geoscience methods and tools for assessing croplands in Africa
• A record of relevant publications
• You are willing and able to travel internationally
• Languages: Full fluency in English required and working knowledge of French would be desirable.
• 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 cover letterby the dateof 28 November 2023. Youmustapply 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 drivenorganizationwith 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 researchorganizationthat 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 ourorganizationaland 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.Recognizingour strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications.