Consultancy - Socio Economist (RESADE project)

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture(ICBA) is an international, non-profit agricultural research center established in 1999 through the visionary leadership of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), and the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). ICBA is a unique applied agricultural research center in the world that is focused on marginal areas where an estimated 1.7 billion people live. It identifies, tests and introduces resource-efficient, climate-smart crops and technologies that are best suited to different regions affected by salinity, water scarcity and drought. Through its work, ICBA helps to improve food security and livelihoods for some of the poorest rural communities around the world. ICBA is an equal opportunity employer and appoints qualified staff regardless of race, creed, color, age, gender, religion or national origin. We demonstrate our commitment to each member of our team through a competitive benefits package designed to assist our employees to cover their needs and the needs of their immediate family members.

Job Summary

The RESADE Project funded by IFAD and BADEA is being implemented in 7 sub-Saharan countries, namely The Gambia, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leonne, Mozambique, Namibia and Botswana. The project aims to improve the productivity of smallholder farmers in salinity-affected areas by introducing and promoting adapted climate-smart technologies and crops with high tolerance to salinity and drought. Furthermore, the project seeks to develop value chains around salt-tolerant cropping systems and to build the capacity of farmers and extension workers in salinity-resilient and climate-smart agriculture.

The project has used best practice hubs and farmer-field schools approaches to disseminate technologies, increase awareness and to empower smallholder farmers with requisite knowledge on technologies to overcome salinity challenges and increase crop yields. The technologies explored include use of salt-tolerant crop varieties, use of soil amendments, irrigation methods to reduce salinity through leaching, and soil and moisture conservation and management practices.  

Foods and recipes based on crops tested at the BPH were also developed in a bid to create value chains of the crops. Community-based seed production and processing units were established and strengthened through training and provision of the necessary equipment to enable them to produce good quality seed of the recommended crop and forage varieties for dissemination to farmers in the targeted and other areas. Farmer’s cooperatives were established or identified, in order to create economies of scale in production, harvesting, aggregation, processing and marketing, as well as to enhance farmers’ collective bargaining power.

Purpose

The project has been running since 2019 and farmers were engaged in project activities at the BPH from the onset. The details of the costs and the related benefits of the technologies the project has been working on, market analysis of the promoted crops and developed foods, value chain linkages, socio economic impact among others have not been studied in detail hence the need for this assignment. 

Job Responsibilities

The consultant will facilitate and oversee the following tasks in consultation with RESADE ICBA team and local RESADE PIUs.

  1. Facilitate base line data collection on socioeconomic country related profile.
  2. Oversee cost-benefit analysis of technological interventions (all 5: Fertilizer, irrigation, crop mgt, crops/varieties and soil amendments) under RESADE project in partnering countries.
  3. Oversee market study to identify market opportunities for the crops and technology promoted by the project.
  4. Oversee value chains linkages between farmers’ cooperatives, credit institutions, input suppliers, processors, and local/regional markets in partnering countries.
  5. Oversee mapping of the farmers’ needs: Collect data and information on farmers’ needs (e.g., infrastructural and equipment gap: machineries,irrigation facilities, milling, etc.) to spot the areas where policy options can make the deepest impact (e.g., seeds value chain). 
  6. Review the evidence collected by the project so far (e.g., climatic and vulnerability mapping) to formulate policy proposals inferred from the project’s knowledge (e.g., climate change considerations, etc) beyond water use and irrigation. Focus on one hot topic per country.
  7. Enabling policy environment: Consolidate the endorsement from the Ministries of Agriculture of the partner countries through the relationship with the NARES to create an enabling environmental for the development of policy proposals.

Key Deliverables

  • Countries baseline survey reports.
  • Countries cost benefit analysis reports of technological interventions.
  • Countries market study reports for crops and associated technology promoted by the project.
  • Value chain linkages between farmers cooperatives, credit institutions, input suppliers, processors, and local/regional markets in partnering countries.
  • Mapping report of farmers’ needs 
  • Countries policy proposals informed by project’s knowledge.
  • Project success stories /highlighting project impact.
Qualifications and Experience
  • Masters in social science or related discipline
  • A minimum 5 years experience in the related field
  • Excellent command of econometrics and other quantitative methods
  • Experience working in the  Sub-Saharan Africa region is a plus
Post Date
25 April 2023
Status
Closed
Vacancy Type
Consultancy
Closing Date
open until filled
Location
ICBA, Dubai
Report To
Program Leader - CDG
Job Number
NA
Duration of the assignment
10 months
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