International Livestock Research Institute Position Announcements

ILRI is a globally networked research institute based in Africa. ILRI works to help reduce poverty, hunger and environmental degradation by enhancing animal agriculture in developing countries. ILRi positions its work at the dynamic interface of poverty alleviation and sustainable livestock livelihoods.

Our Staff work in partnerships and alliances with hundreds of organisations in developed and developing countries, including some of the finest universities and research institutions in the world.

ILRI's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with a principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our Staff are also based in partner institutions in other parts of Africa and in Asia and Latin America.

We employ more than 700 staff from about 40 countries and are one of 15 centres around the world sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Position Announcements

ILRI seeks to recruit two (2) Research Technicians in the Livestock, Livelihoods and Poverty project of the Targeting and Innovations Theme. The appointees will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to implement research on the multiple roles of livestock in rural livelihoods in order to identify and evaluate livestock-based strategies and options to reduce poverty, inequity and vulnerability for livestock-dependent people and communities.

Ref: RTSSc/TG02/01/2009 Research Technician – Social Scientist

This position will have a particular focus on the role of natural resource management institutions in reducing poverty.

Specific duties will include:


Contribute to analysis of the actual and potential impacts of livestock-related interventions on household and community welfare, including gender disaggregated impacts, in different countries and contexts.
Assist in the design and implementation of both community level and household level surveys and other forms of primary data collection.
Work with communication specialists to package scientific results and lessons about the role of technologies, policies, and institutions in agricultural development and natural resource management into formats that are accessible and useful to development practitioners, policy makers and other non-academic audiences.
Contribute to the development and implementation of a dissemination strategy for training materials and other information outputs.

Provide other research support as needed.
The successful candidate should have:

A minimum of a Masters degree in social science (sociology, anthropology, agricultural economics or related field).
Good understanding of the role of technologies, policies, and institutions in economic and social development, including implications for poverty and gender.
Knowledge and experience in research for development in agriculture and/or natural resource management .

Knowledge of communication-related fields and/or capacity building in agriculture and NRM is desirable

Familiarity with research and development organizations in the region
Good writing and communication skills and excellent spoken and written English and Kiswahili

Experience working with partners and as part of multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams

Knowledge of French highly desirable

Ref: RTDM/TG02/01/2009 – Research technician – Data Management

This position will have a particular focus on data management to facilitate the integrated analysis of different types of data and data from multiple sites.

Specific duties will include:

Identify, compile and characterize data sets relevant to household and community welfare, food security, agriculture and livestock and other areas.
Interact with partners and with the owners of data sets to obtain access and permission for use.
Contribute to the design of a data base that links data at different units of analysis—community, household, herd/flock, in order to facilitate management and analysis.

This will involve working with users of the data to assess their needs.

Contribute to the design and implementation of surveys.
Contribute to analysis of the actual or potential impacts of livestock-related interventions on indicators of household and community welfare in different countries and contexts
The successful candidate should have:

A minimum of a Masters degree in statistics, information systems or related field
Demonstrated skills and experience in data management (database design and storage, data collection, query design and data analysis) and statistical computer software
Demonstrated skills and experience in statistical data analysis, including mixed model analysis, analysis of rating data, and/or panel data analysis, using standard and statistical computer software
Knowledge and experience on SQL language is required.
Knowledge of and experience with computer programming in C++, Java or Delphi is a plus.
Knowledge of and experience with relational databases like Mysql is a plus.
Experience working with partners and as part of multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams
The above are Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) positions based at ILRI's Nairobi campus and are on a 2-year contract renewable subject to availability of funds and individual performance.

Salary and benefits will be in line with those provided within ILRI's NRS scheme.

Applicants should send a letter expressing their interest and suitability for the position, attach an up to date Curriculum Vitae with names and contact details (Telephone, E-mail) of three professional referees.

All applications should be sent to the address: recruit-ilri @ cgiar.org by 28th January 2009.

The title and reference number of the position for which the application is made should be clearly marked on the subject line of the email application.

Only those short listed will be contacted

To find out more about ILRI, visit our website at http://www.ilri.org

We are an equal opportunity employer.