IITA Postdoctoral Fellow (Agricultural Economic and Policy Expert)

Postdoctoral Fellow (Agricultural Economic and Policy Expert) Ref: DDG-R4D/PF/AEPE/07/12

Background: The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the position of Postdoctoral Fellow (Agricultural Economic and Policy Expert)

IITA is an international non-profit research-for-development (R4D) organization created in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Our R4D is anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty by reducing producer and consumer risks, enhancing crop quality and productivity, and generating wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA.

IITA seeks a qualified person for the position of Postdoctoral Fellow, Agricultural Economic and Policy Expert in the context of the CIALCA+ project in the Great Lakes region and a new project on Policy action for sustainable agricultural intensification in Uganda.

Position/Responsibilities
The Postdoctoral Fellow (Agricultural Economic and Policy Expert) will report to the Director for East Africa, Social Sciences and Agri-business and the Director of central Africa under the direct supervision of the IITA CIALCA Project Coordinator and IFPRI Senior Economist based in Uganda. He/she will be responsible for the socio-economic research under the CIALCA+ project and for the policy analysis and policy action under the new policy project in Uganda. More specifically, he/she will:

• Undertake adoption and ex-post impact assessment studies of technologies, in particular within the framework of the CIALCA+ project
• Contribute to outcome and impact mapping for IITA’s projects in Central Africa
• Lead teams for the analyses of production systems and market dynamics for agricultural products for IITA mandate regions
• Participate in socio-economic studies for targeting and scaling out/up in CRPs, in particular CRP1.2; CRP3.4, and CRP2.
• Publish findings from research results in peer-reviewed journals and disseminate through participation in international conferences and meetings
• Foster relationships with a wide range of partners (national and international) including policy makers
• Contribute to capacity building through the supervision of graduate students in collaboration with universities
• Develop training materials on business planning and marketing for target groups
• Contribute to the development and implementation of a new policy project on sustainable agricultural intensification e in the region.

Educational Qualifications
PhD in agricultural economics, economics, or development economics from a highly recognized university.

Core Competencies:

• Knowledge of production economics, adoption and impact, and value chain analysis;
• Knowledge of rigorous RCT techniques for impact studies, mathematical modeling methods and software (e.g. GAMS) and/or econometric techniques and software (e.g. STATA, Stochastic frontier, Limdep, SPSS, etc);
• Demonstrated ability to write and publish journal articles;
• Ability to work independently in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural environment.
• Excellent spoken and written English. Fluency in French would be an added advantage.

Duty station: IITA Kampala, Uganda

General information: Initial appointment is for two years. IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.

Applications: Applications including cover letter, curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three referees should be addressed to the Human Resources Manager. Please complete our online application form using this link: http://www.iita.org/irs-online-application.

Closing Date: 15 July 2012 or until a suitable candidate has been identified.

IITA is an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from women candidates.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.