Agricultural Economist

Agricultural Economist (DDG-R4D/AE//TZ/12/13)

Background: The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the position of Agricultural Economist.

IITA is an international non-profit agricultural research-for-development (R4D) organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our R4D approach is anchored on the development needs of tropical nations. We work with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA.

IITA seeks a highly qualified agricultural economist to undertake impact evaluation and to lead efforts aimed at tracking IITA’s contribution to poverty reduction and other development outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. As elaborated in the refreshed strategy for 2012–2020, IITA’s 2020 vision is to lift 11 million Africans out of poverty and redirect 7.5 million hectares of degraded land to more productive and sustainable use. These targets derive from the four System Level Outcomes defined by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR): reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, addressing under nutrition, and promoting more sustainable management of natural resources. As a member of the IITA Social Sciences and Agribusiness program and in collaboration with our national and international partners, the successful applicant will design and undertake impact evaluation of improved agricultural technologies and other interventions using rigorous methods in a manner that facilitates tracking of IITA’s progress toward poverty reduction goals in terms of the number of people lifted above the international poverty line.

Responsibilities:

1. Develop and implement an operational plan for tracking IITA’s contribution to poverty reduction and other development outcomes with a detailed description of target technologies and institutional and policy innovations, geographic coverage, data requirements, methods and timing of data collection and analysis, and budgets;
2. Build on existing qualitative and quantitative impact evaluation methods and develop extended approaches for aggregating producer and consumer benefits and quantifying the aggregate poverty impacts (i.e. number of poor moved out of poverty) of technological, institutional and policy innovations in a manner that goes beyond establishing causality and estimating average effects including methods for combining household data with general equilibrium models;
3. Undertake and coordinate adoption and impact evaluation studies aimed at quantifying the aggregate effects of IITA interventions on poverty reduction and sustainable natural resources management;
4. Develop and operationalize a mechanism for gathering and archiving critical feedback information and on-farm experimental data and participatory evaluation of institutional and policy interventions from IITA staff and partners involved in agricultural innovations development, dissemination and scaling out and scaling up;
5. Establish a mechanism for providing feedback to M&E and IITA management;
6. Publish research findings and contribute to dissemination of research results and development outcomes to stakeholders;
7. Contribute to capacity strengthening of national partners; and
8. Participate actively in annual review and planning meetings, resource mobilization, and contribute to strategic research planning.

Educational Qualifications:

PhD in agricultural economics, economics, or development economics from a highly recognized university.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrated postdoctoral experience with impact evaluation of agricultural technologies, institutions and policies on food and nutrition security and poverty reduction;
• Extensive knowledge of econometric modeling methods and software (e.g. STATA, GAMS, etc.) as well as geospatial analysis tools (e.g. GIS) for impact studies at micro and macro levels;
• Extensive knowledge of data collection tools and analytical methods for poverty measurement in an African setting and the ability to handle large panel datasets;
• Demonstrated experience with large-scale technology adoption as well as living standard measurement surveys;
• Demonstrated ability to write and publish journal articles;
• Excellent spoken and written English (knowledge of French is an added advantage); and
• Ability to work independently in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural environment.

General information: The contract will be for an initial period of two years with possibility of renewal based on performance and availability of funding. IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.

Duty Station: The position will be based at the IITA Regional Hub for Eastern Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but will involve extensive travel within and outside Africa.

Applications: The applications should include a covering letter summarizing the applicant’s qualifications and experience relevant for this position, a complete curriculum vitae, and the names and addresses of three referees knowledgeable about his/her professional qualifications and work experience. Please complete our online application form using this link:http://www.iita.org/irs-online-application

Closing Date: 17th January 2014 or until a suitable candidate is found.

IITA is an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from women candidates.

Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted.