Scientist – Adoption, Scaling, and Innovation Systems

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, known by its Spanish acronym, CIMMYT®, is not-for-profit agricultural research for development organization with partners in over 100 countries. Please refer to our website for more information: www.cimmyt.org

CIMMYT is looking for an outstanding, self-motivated, and result-oriented professional for the position of Adoption, Scaling, and Innovation Systems, to work in the Sustainable Agri-food Systems (SAS), and be part of Transforming Agri-Food Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA), a One CGIAR regional integrated initiative to support actions that improve equitable access to sustainable healthy diets, improve farmers’ livelihoods and resilience, and conserve land, air, and water resources in South Asia. For more information: Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia – CGIAR.

The position will be based in CIMMYT’s campus in Bangladesh or India.

Specific duties:

• Work with senior staff to facilitate the research and partnership activities implemented in TAFSSA’s Work Package 2 on ‘Transforming agroecosystems and rural economies to boost income, generate jobs’, and contribute to scaling, extension, and adoption monitoring and evaluation efforts in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan
• Lead research efforts to assess how public-private partnerships and rural service provision markets be made socially inclusive to support innovations generating income and lowering production costs for farmers diversifying production
• Lead efforts to partner with the private and public sectors to co-develop business approaches reducing market entrance barriers for farm machinery companies, farm machinery dealers, and farm services providers through research studying socially inclusive farm services markets.
• Lead research in technology adoption and scaling assessments
• Take a lead role in catalyzing public-private collaboration towards increased technology availability for poor farmers, including women.
• Design research and contribute to participatory multi-stakeholder interactions with institutions and agencies involved in agricultural production and marketing, land-use planning, and extension to identify potential pathways towards multi-functional production diversification at the landscape level
• Provide technical backstopping to research and agricultural development collaborators to develop efficient and dynamic research and development programs
• Work closely with an interdisciplinary team of social scientists, agronomists, data scientists, remote sensing specialists, and soil scientists to advance TAFSSA’s goals
• Assist in the design and implementation of capacity building strategies with an emphasis on developing appropriate training content, materials and developing decision support tools for different stakeholder groups.
• Contribute to the development of innovation learning platforms with a diverse set of public and private sector partners, including advanced research institutions.
• Summarize and communicate project activities to various audiences, while contributing to annual and semi-annual reports.
• Properly maintain and archive agricultural and field data records and maintain data archiving and back-up systems.
• Publish research results in peer-reviewed publications.
• Provide technical support for the work of the project’s monitoring and evaluation team.

Required qualifications, skills, and attitudes:

• PhD in agricultural economics, agricultural sociology or anthropology, scaling science or related social science disciplines, with emphasis on understanding agricultural change processes
• At least three years of professional experience contributing as a core team member to agricultural research for development projects with a focus on participatory impact evaluations and explorations of scaling/change processes.
• Demonstrated practical experience training/working with both the public and private sector in the context of research for development programs.
• Demonstrated experience with designing and/or implementing development project monitoring, evaluation, and learning programs.
• Demonstrated experience in the implementation and management of farmer-participatory research and community-based research approaches.
• Prior experience collaborating with national research institutions and/or NGOs focused on agricultural development, technology development and dissemination, and/or agricultural machinery or farm services provision.
• Good communication skills for farmers, agricultural service providers, extension and outreach professionals, and private sector partners.
• Competence with common computer software packages for communications, data management, and statistical analysis.
• Record of quality peer-reviewed publications.
• The selected candidate should exhibit the following competencies: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Teamwork, Critical and Creative Thinking, Communication, and Client Orientation.

The position is for an initial fixed-term for two (2) years, after which further employment is subject to performance and the continued availability of funds. CIMMYT’s internationally competitive salary and benefits include housing allowance, car, comprehensive health and life insurance, assistance for children’s education, paid vacation, annual home travel airfare, contribution to a retirement plan, and generous assistance with relocation shipment.

Candidates must apply online for IRS22139_Scientist – Adoption, Scaling, and Innovation Systems.

Screening and follow-up of applications will begin on Friday, September 30^th, 2022. Applications must include a CV and a cover letter. Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration. For further information on the selection process, please contact Yessica Castillo, at y.castillo@cgiar.org

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

This position will remain open until filled. 

CIMMYT is an equal opportunity employer. It fosters a multicultural work environment that values gender equality, teamwork, and respect for diversity. Women are encouraged to apply.