Agriculture and Natural Resource Adviser

Jan 10, 2021 | Concern Worldwide
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Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and the elimination of extreme poverty in the world's poorest countries. Concern is headquartered in Dublin with other principal offices in London, New York, Belfast, Seoul and in each of the countries of operation.

Concern Worldwide works to develop and scale up effective, evidence-based interventions to promote sustainable livelihoods, particularly among the extremely poor and vulnerable.  The organisation actively supports integrated programmes in 25 countries in the Livelihoods (including agriculture and Natural Resource Management), Health (including WASH and nutrition) and Education sectors.  Concern currently supports livelihood programmes in emergency, transition and development contexts in all countries of operation.

The Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Advisor will sit within the Strategy, Advocacy and Learning (SAL) team and closely liaise with the other Livelihood Advisers in the head office (Agriculture, Food Security, Social Protection, Cash and Markets, Climate and Environment). The adviser’s primary responsibility is to ensure that Concern country programmes are enabled to deliver high-quality Agriculture and NRM interventions. S/he will be expected to provide high quality technical support to Concern’s Agriculture and NRM work across the range of countries in which Concern works—emergency, fragile/transitional and stable development contexts—and with special focus on extremely poor and vulnerable populations. S/he also contributes to organizational learning through documentation of best practices and development of tools/resources designed for Concern programme staff in the field.

The Agriculture and NRM Advisor will be an active part of Concern’s global Livelihood team. Up to 30% international travel is anticipated for this position. Focal countries currently include Chad, DPRK, DRC, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Lebanon, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Syria (but are subject to change).

Key Responsibilities:

  • Provide technical and strategic support on climate-smart agriculture and natural resource management to country teams to ensure programmes are designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated to ensure optimum impact on the extreme poor.
  • Build the technical capacity of Concern country teams through formal training, webinars, remote mentoring, and production and sharing of key technical resources.
  • Synthesize and document practical evidence and learning from our programmes; identify ways to apply it in a timely fashion to improve policy and practice within and beyond Concern.
  • Support and develop relationships with other agencies, including research institutes, technical working groups and represent Concern in national, regional and international fora as required.
  • Support Fundraising and the New Business Development Directorates to develop relationships with donors and support the development of new proposals in line with the organizational strategic plan.
  • Support the Advocacy unit to feed into international policy discussions related to agriculture, natural resource management and pastoralism.
  • Support the prioritization, design, implementation and dissemination of operational research undertaken within Concern programmes – in collaboration with field teams and research partners.
  • Support the recruitment of country programme staff, support development of programme proposals and engage in multi-sectoral/ inter-departmental initiatives such as staff induction, M&E guidance, etc.
  • Potentially be deployed to support emergency responses for up to six weeks.

Skills and Experience Required:

Essential:

  • A postgraduate degree in agriculture, crop science, animal production, veterinary medicine, soil science, natural resource management,  environmental science or related field.
  • A minimum of five years’ experience working in the area of agriculture and livestock in an NGO, development agency or the private sector, three of which should have been based in a developing country in Sub Saharan Africa or Asia.
  • Strong understanding of how agriculture, livestock and natural resource management fits within the wider framework of promoting resilience and positive climate change adaptation, particularly in drought-prone contexts.
  • A strong understanding of gender issues in relation to agriculture and livelihoods programmes and practical ways to promote gender equality within them.
  • Ability to work both as part of a team and independently.
  • Excellent interpersonal, communication, and writing skills in English and French.
  • Prior experience in emergency, conflict settings, or fragile states.
  • Ability to travel internationally up to 30% in poor and fragile contexts, sometimes on short notice.

Desirable:

  • Experience in dryland agriculture, soil and water conservation and rangeland management.
  • Experience working with research institutions, coordination fora and other relevant international agriculture and livestock institutions.
  • Experience working in integrated, multi-sectoral programmes; a specialization in livestock production and animal health; and experience or knowledge of issues facing pastoralists.
  • Experience in livelihoods analysis, field surveys, use of PRA tools, and GIS / mapping software.
  • Prior work experience with Concern either in one of the head offices or country programmes.

To apply: 

CVs should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date: