Consultant - Senior Scientist and Technical Expert Advisor

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Research Center is seeking an innovative & multi skilled candidate to join its team as a Consultant - Senior Scientist and Technical Expert Advisor.

The Senior Scientist and Technical Expert Advisor will provide strategic technical advisory support to IWMI’s multi-country research-for-development projects, which aim to improve climate-resilient agricultural productivity through innovative watershed and field management practices. This individual will guide technical interventions, mentor project teams, facilitate stakeholder coordination, and identify synergies to optimize project outcomes across participating countries. The advisor will work closely with IWMI staff, partners, and ensure alignment with broader strategic goals.

The consultant will report to the IWMI Regional Representative for Southern Africa and work in close collaboration with country-based project teams, technical partners, and stakeholders to ensure technical inputs, mentorship, and strategic coordination across the project. The consultant will not be responsible for leading project management or day-to-day execution but will provide crucial advisory and coordination support.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Technical Expertise and Advisory Support:

• Provide expert technical input on water, soil, and landscape management strategies to improve climate resilience.
• Guide the integration of sustainable agricultural practices into project activities by leveraging the latest scientific research and evidence-based approaches.
• Support the co-design of country-based proposals and interventions, ensuring alignment with global best practices and project objectives.
• Offer high-level technical guidance to implementing partners, ensuring consistency and coherence in the application of project innovations.
• Review project activities and deliverables, providing expert feedback and recommendations to enhance impact.
  

Mentorship and Capacity Building:

• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to country teams, ensuring they have the knowledge and capacity to implement innovative agricultural practices.
• Support capacity-building efforts for local stakeholders, partners, and project teams, helping them adopt and scale climate-resilient agricultural practices.
• Share knowledge and provide training on key thematic areas, such as integrated water management, soil conservation, and landscape governance.
  

Partnership Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Facilitate collaboration and coordination among key project partners, including national governments, NGOs, private sector stakeholders, and civil society organizations.
• Act as a technical liaison between project teams and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment on project goals, deliverables, and technical interventions.
• Coordinate the co-creation process for project interventions, facilitating input from partners to ensure innovative and scalable solutions are developed.
• Support the organization of stakeholder consultation meetings and technical workshops to foster collaborative solutions for project implementation.
  

Project Synergies and Strategic Guidance:

• Identify synergies between various project components and initiatives to maximize the overall impact of the project across the region.
• Provide strategic input on how best to integrate and align different interventions, ensuring a cohesive approach across countries and regions.
• Ensure that all project activities align with cross-cutting themes, such as gender, household nutrition, profitability, and climate resilience.
• Offer guidance on scaling strategies for interventions and innovations, ensuring they can be expanded effectively within Southern Africa.
  

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Support:

• Contribute to the development and refinement of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks in collaboration with the project management team.
• Provide expert input to ensure that project outcomes are rigorously assessed and that lessons learned are incorporated into future activities.
• Support the documentation and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned across the project’s target countries.

Requirements

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• PhD in a relevant field (e.g., water resources management, agriculture, environmental science).
• A minimum of 15 years of experience in technical advisory roles, with a focus on agricultural systems, climate resilience, natural resource management, systems approach, and water-agriculture interactions.
• Proven expertise in sustainable water and soil management practices, particularly in the Southern African context.
• Significant experience mentoring and building capacity within multi-country project teams.
• Strong background in agricultural systems in Southern Africa.
• Previous experience working in international development, ideally within donor-funded projects.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Deep technical knowledge of climate-resilient agricultural practices, including water and soil management, landscape management, and climate adaptation strategies.
• Proven ability to coordinate and facilitate multi-stakeholder processes across different sectors and regions.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and mentorship skills, with the ability to guide diverse teams in complex, multi-country projects.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to convey technical information clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities, with a track record of providing high-level technical advisory inputs in large-scale projects.
• Ability to work across boundaries in a multi-disciplinary, multicultural environment.

LANGUAGE PROFICINECY:

• Excellent oral and written language skills in English, including effective listening and strong verbal and written communication abilities.

Benefits

This is a globally recruited consultancy. Individuals or firms with relevant abilities are encouraged to apply. The duration of the contract will be for a period of twenty-four (24) months.

How to Apply: Apply for the position by following the application instructions at www.iwmi.org/jobs. We will be accepting applications through 24:00 (IST) on November 15, 2024 (applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis). Your application must include a CV, cover letter, and three (3) references, which may be contacted if you are shortlisted. Receipt of all applications will be acknowledged, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

IWMI believes that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. We offer a multi-cultural, multi-color, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary working environment. We are consciously creating an inclusive organization that reflects our global character and our commitment to gender equity. We, therefore, encourage applicants from all cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientations, and gender identities.