Policy Advisor at HarvestPlus - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.

We are recruiting on behalf of HarvestPlus to fill the position below:

Job Title: Policy Advisor

Ref: IITA-HR-NRS2022-013
Location: Abuja
Recruitment Type: National (1-year renewable contract)

Duties

• Support the country manager to build a network of support across Nigeria’s  stakeholders and policymakers and develop appropriate business models and plans for the implementation and delivery of biofortified crops value chains.
• Provide support on economic and policy analysis and work closely with public policy stakeholders to support the scale up of biofortification.
• Engage relevant stakeholders interviewed during the landscape study and provide support on country level multilateral partnerships and related pipeline projects.
• Support workstreams relating to scaling biofortification through country level public investments with a focus on policy engagement, public investment, government, and multilateral (International Financial Institutions) partnerships.
• Explore and recommend opportunities to better include micronutrient content, certification and traceability in seed regulation.
• Engage the national seed council and national varietal release committee to explore opportunities to include biofortification guidelines, actions and reforms at state and federal level.
• Conduct analysis and required policy engagement with stakeholders to include biofortification with public funding allocations in key national policy and planning initiatives such as the Perspective Plan (Nigeria Agenda 2050).
• Track and assess fund flows for policies which already allocate resources for biofortification.
• Work with relevant officials to include biofortification in actionable terms in key multisectoral policies, strategies and plans such as the Nigeria Agricultural Technology and Innovation Plan (NATIP) the National Guidelines on Micronutrients Deficiencies Control (MNDC) by the Federal Ministry of Health.
• Support the Country Manager on activities within the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) Dialogues to effectively integrate biofortification.
• Explore and recommend policy and advocacy opportunities where biofortified crops can be scaled within Nigeria’s School Feeding Program.
• Contribute or coordinate policy analysis such as cost-benefit research and quantitative modelling. Where needed support the writing of policy briefs and other outputs to inform policymaker and related audiences.
• Build strong country level relationships with key international finance institutions (IFI). Support the integration and scaling of biofortification in related IFI programs.
• Support the program design and management of early stage IFI partnerships.
• Work with the state ministries of agriculture to include biofortification in state agriculture and nutrition policies.
• Perform any other job-related task as may be assigned by the Supervisor.

Qualifications

• Master's in Economic, Agricultural Policy, Public Policy, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness Management or any other Service Management courses with a minimum of ten (10) years’ experience performing similar or related role in a well-structured organization.
• Training in the areas of value chain approach, cooperatives/social entrepreneurship, banking and finance, non-governmental organization (NGO) administration, business development services, policy formulation and advocacy is an added advantage.

Competencies
The ideal candidate must:

• Have good report writing skill and high competency on Microsoft excel and PowerPoint.
• Have excellent oral communication skills in any of the local languages of Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo language.
• Have background experience in agriculture and nutrition especially in biofortification.
• Be self-motivated, ability to work independently and comfortably in a global team, including working well with team members located in multiple time zones and countries.
• Have strong analytical skills.

Remuneration
We offer highly competitive salary with equally attractive benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant campus environment.

Application Closing Date
8th August, 2022.