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